Gary Martin ignored the package of offseason instructions from his track coach, neglecting the program that his mother hung on the fridge in the kitchen of their Warminster home all summer.
The goal — at least in the summer of 2019 — never was to inch toward history as one of the country’s all-time fastest high schoolers. But that’s where Martin finds himself this week heading into the Penn Relays, where the Archbishop Wood senior could become just the 14th U.S. high schooler to break a four-minute mile.
And none of this was even a thought three years ago when that pamphlet was stuck to the fridge. A career that one day could reach the Olympics started almost by accident.Martin was always fast — his mother said he probably still holds some kindergarten records at his CYO program — but running was not always his passion.
There was something noticeably different, Streleckis said, about the lanky freshman who came out for the team that spring. And it wasn’t just because Martin ran with moppy hair and dark frame glasses. “If you ask most runners or coaches, it comes to your benefit when you come to the sport late,” Martin said. “Especially if you have some natural talent. Mentally, since you’re so new to the sport, you’re kind of hungrier and haven’t spent yourself a lot yet and feel like you have a lot of room for growth.”
“He’s a coach’s dream,” Streleckis said. “In your mind, you have all these things that can make someone successful, but not everyone is willing to do everything. Some will do hard workouts but not sleep. Some will do the recovery work but not the hard workouts. To have someone trust you and do all the hard work and to enjoy himself through the process. ... The only scary part is that I only have a month, month and a half, left of him.
“I remember sitting in class in sophomore year when I first started having success in the mile, and I think I had run 4:30 at that point, and thought maybe by the end of my senior year, I can run 4:15 or 4:10,” Martin said. “One of my friends joked that I was breaking four, and it was kind of like, ‘Yeah. OK. Whatever. I’m not going to do that.’”
It doesn’t matter where Martin runs his four-minute mile — it would count just the same if they held a meet in Wood’s parking lot — but it would be special if he did it Friday.
ArchbishopWood pennrelays Whatup gary ‼️