MORGANTOWN — Allie Martin will never forget when she discovered distance running.
“I ran my first race when I was around 5 or 6,” she said. “I started doing these Junior Striders summer races with my cousins. There were one and two mile races that you could do and I would usually just do the one mile race. I remember the day I decided to do the two mile race and then I fell in love with distance running.”
Martin, a 2022 graduate of Preston High, had an outstanding junior cross-country season at Ohio University, finishing second team all-MAC after placing 13th overall at the MAC championships. As a senior this season, Martin was recently named the MAC Runner of the Week after taking first place in the George Dales Invitational with a time of 21:02.4.
To get there, Martin faced an unexpected setback before it all nearly began.
She has had problems with low ferritin levels since high school. Though she takes iron supplements, her body doesn’t seem to absorb iron like it should. During December of Martin’s sophomore season in college, her levels dropped very low (9 NG/ML). A few weeks later, she complained about shortness of breath, tightness in her chest, and a metallic taste in her mouth.
She was taken to the emergency room where doctors noticed she had elevated cardiac enzymes. She was then taken by ambulance to Mon Health for testing. After a full array of tests over a few days, Martin was cleared to run.
Then, during the summer of 2024, Martin was referred to a new hematologist at WVU Medicine. The hematologist decided it was necessary for her to have an iron infusion. After the iron infusion, she began to feel much better from an energy and workout standpoint.
“I feel way better now after the infusion,” Martin said. “I usually start feeling back to myself about 2 weeks after the infusion. After about a month, I start feeling stronger in workouts and my heart rate becomes lower.”
She was never concerned about her career ending.
“The whole experience was definitely scary going from being on a run with chest tightness to then being in the hospital. I wasn’t worried about not being able to run because I knew that I would persist and be able to recover.”
Getting an iron infusion is not a quick process.
“The iron infusion that I get takes about 6 hours,” Martin said. “They administer iron directly into my bloodstream through an IV. First, they do an hour test infusion and then I have to sit for an hour after to make sure that I don’t have a reaction. If I am OK, then the actual infusion starts. It takes about four hours. It does not hurt for me, but I have had many IVs in my lifetime.”
That fall, in addition to earning all-MAC honors in cross-country, Martin followed that up by breaking the school record in the indoor mile with a time of 4:46.64.
“Breaking the school record was one of the most amazing feelings that I have ever felt,” Martin said. “At the time, I wasn’t even thinking about breaking the record. I just wanted to have a good race and run a good time. I remember running the whole race with a girl from Bowling Green and it feeling so smooth. When I came down the home stretch, my teammates were yelling times, and I realized that I was going to be close to it. When I crossed I saw 4:46 and I knew that I broke it.
“My parents hugged me and told me that I had broken it. My dad said that he didn’t tell me before, but he had a feeling that I would break the record that day.”
She earned all-MAC in the indoor 3000 (fifth place) and 5000 (third) meter runs.
“At the 2025 MAC Indoor Championships, I was able to race with a few of my teammates in both the 5k and 3k,” she said. “I remember feeling really strong in the 5k and just going when the first group picked it up. It was mentally challenging when it started to hurt but I knew I could do it.
“I ended up podiuming in that race and getting my first medal for track. In the 3k, it felt hard from the start, but I pulled through and cranked out the last mile. I ended up closing really strong and placing 5th in the MAC.”
She has the second fastest 5K time (16:14) in Ohio University’s history.
“It was such an amazing experience to be able to run my 5k (personal record) in Azusa, Calif.,” Martin said. “I remember the race like it was yesterday. I felt good, but it was also so fast of a pace that it was hard to think about what was going on. I remember having two laps to go and my teammates and parents were going wild and cheering so loud. It was such a good feeling.”
Then came another setback. Her iron levels had dropped again after the end of the 2025 outdoor track season. She had a second infusion in June.
“Communicating with the new hematologist will determine how often I get the infusions,” Martin said. “We are hoping that I can get about two a year.”
Martin has since been strong for her senior season of cross-country. Besides the victory at the George Dales Invitational, she also placed fourth in the 5k, at the Thundering Herd Invitational, finishing with a time of 17:47.94.
“My goals for this cross-country season would be to place top 8 in the MAC and for our team to win the MAC.”
Martin’s success in track and cross-country comes as no surprise. Her father, Paul Martin, is the cross-country and former longtime track coach at Preston High. He coached Allie in middle and high school.
“I look up to my dad not only as a coach but also as a father,” Allie said. “Our relationship is very close and though we do have our differences sometimes we always have the same mindset with running. He not only taught me how to run but about how much the sport gives back. It is such a blessing to be a part of something so great. All of the drive that I have for this sport comes from my family.”
Coach Martin said it is his daughter’s drive and determination that makes her successful.
“I knew she was capable of the success she achieved this past year,” Paul said. “I have coached a lot of runners over the years, but she is definitely one of the most competitive and she is willing to put in the work to be great.
“We are so proud of all her accomplishments, but her tenacity to keep pushing on when things were tough and her success in the classroom are also super important.”
Martin is one of the more accomplished athletes to come out of Preston High. She earned first-team all-state in cross-country four times and finished as the state’s runner-up individually as a senior.
She also earned NIKE Indoor Track All-American honors in the indoor mile and was named Big 10 Conference Track Athlete of the Year twice.
At Ohio University, Martin is majoring in Psychology and plans on attending graduate school to become a sports psychologist.
