July 27, 2012
For immediate release
Former Notre Dame runner competes for Sacramento Running Association
Marissa Treece considers her decision to attend Notre Dame a good life choice. She just doesn’t think four years in South Bend, Ind. did much for her running.
So the former high school national champion took some time off after graduation, moving to New York City for a six-month internship with a marketing firm.
Treece then headed West earlier this year to join the Sacramento Running Association’s Elite Team, work as a graphic designer and see where running fits into her life.
“It’s quite the change, quite the distance,” said Treece, a double major in marketing and graphic design from Maple City, Mich.
“College left a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. A lot of things have helped, going to Notre Dame. I don’t think I’d change it.”
But Treece, 23, doesn’t feel like she developed into the runner she envisioned coming out of Glen Lake High School in Maple City, where she won the National Scholastic Indoor and Nike Outdoor Nationals 5,000-meter titles as a senior.
She had her moments with the Irish, winning the Valparaiso Invitational as a sophomore and finishing third in the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational as a junior. Treece also placed third in the Big East Conference Indoor Championships at 1,600 meters with a 4:53.91 effort as a junior.
Now, she finds herself wrestling with a dilemma facing all graduating college runners:
What’s next?
“Once you get out of college you don’t have to do anything,” Treece said. “It can be less intense if you want it to be. It’s not every day at 3 o’clock, 20 girls on the line and you’re going to run.
“I’m trying to decide … I took a year off coming out of college because I had a bitter taste in my mouth, myself being a bit too rebellious. In the next year I’d like to figure out what I want from the sport.
“Is running going to be my identity like it was before?”
Treece hopes competing for the Sacramento Running Association helps her find clarity.
“I can get in some runs I wouldn’t get to experience,” she said. “Just having some people to go to … Yeah, I like the fact it’s as low-key as you want it to be.”
Treece plans to run cross country for SRA this fall, enter a half marathon in October and test the marathon waters next spring in the Bayshore Marathon on May 25 in Traverse City, Mich., near her home town.
“Pretty cool,” she said.
If running doesn’t work out, she’s got marketing or graphic design to pursue. And then there are her many outdoor interests: snowboarding, cycling, mountain biking, horseback riding and rock climbing.
“I’ve got a bunch of things I could probably do,” she said. “That’s pretty exciting. … The first thing is figuring out what I want to do.”
The Sacramento Running Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. The SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.
SRA events include the California International Marathon, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on Dec. 2. More than 5,000 runners have already registered for the race.
Other SRA events include the Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half Marathon, The Super Bowl Sunday 10k Run and the Credit Union SACTOWN Ten-Mile Run.
SRA beneficiaries include the American River Parkway, youth fitness programs, local running venues and aspiring young runners.