Megan Marvin may have found the actual ingredients to success.
It’s not a top-secret training plan or an intricate mind trick.
In fact, the ingredients are listed in order on the McDonald’s website: Mango Pineapple Fruit Base, Ice, Low Fat yogurt.
Chapel Hill junior runner Megan Marvin is fueled by the sweet, icy drink. Before every race, she heads over to the local McDonald’s to pick up a mango-and-pineapple smoothie.
“All of my teammates make fun of me for it,” Marvin said with a smile. “I just noticed that I feel good when I drink it.”
Marvin has been in high school for less than three years, and she already has been crowned a state champion three times, including her most recent title on February 8 in the 1000-meter run.
It appears that it works.
Gulping down a fruit smoothie is not the only element in Marvin’s superstitious pre-race routine.
Marvin and her teammates always stretch their legs up a wall to loosen their muscles the day before the race.
And dinner, as one would expect before a race, has to be pasta. Then Marvin takes a bath and shaves her legs.
And there’s one last detail.
“I have to have my lucky socks,” Marvin said.
Lucky socks and all, Marvin has become an extremely successful runner at Chapel Hill High School.
But it did not start that way.
Although the resurfaced Chapel Hill track is smooth and flat, Marvin dealt with her fair share of bumps in the road during her freshman year.
Marvin was a strong runner at McDougle Middle School, finishing third in the Orange-Person Athletic Conference cross country meet and first in the 800-meter run in track. But, during her workouts as a freshman, Marvin began to feel something was wrong. She started to fall behind her usual running mates during training and felt increased fatigue.
“I was running really slow,” Marvin said. “I was constantly sore from workouts, and I couldn’t recover from them. It was also hard to breathe.”
Marvin discovered that she was suffering from anemia–a disorder in which the body has a shortage of red blood cells, causing a lack of oxygen and leading to extreme tiredness.
Marvin got a prescription for iron pills and started to eat more red meat to battle the condition. By the time track season came around, she was back to normal.
“I just started building up from there,” Marvin said.
Marvin left her cross-country season troubles behind her and turned in an outstanding spring track season. As a freshman, Marvin and her teammates won the 4×800-meter state championship. She also finished third in both the 500-meter and 800-meter runs in the state meet.
Freshman year was just the beginning.
Marvin’s career took off faster than her 57-second 400-meter time, and the accolades started to roll in.
As a sophomore, Marvin won her first state championship in the 500-meter run in the indoor state championship.
“I was just really happy; there isn’t much else to it,” Marvin said. “It makes all of the training worth it, and just to know that hard work pays off is really rewarding.”
Marvin’s performance earned her a spot in the high school national championships in New York. Marvin and her relay team placed 13th in the 4×800-meter race, and Marvin ran a personal best in the 800-meter competition.
“It was an incredible experience,” Marvin said.
In the spring, Marvin continued her dominance. She took down an opponent who was undefeated on her way to capturing a state championship in the 800-meter event.
After all of her triumphs, it would be easy for Marvin be content with her results. Instead, she kept putting in work and improving.
“A lot of times, after my races and workouts, I’m known for just lying on the ground because I get dizzy after I leave it all out there,” Marvin said. “My teammates and I push each other because we know that, if we work hard, the results will show.”
Marvin’s mother, who ran at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, helped her with her development as a runner.
“My mom helped me understand how to push myself and how to train correctly,” Marvin said. “If I have questions, she is always there to answer them.”
Marvin’s hard work has continued to pay off in her junior season. On February 8, in the North Carolina High School Athletics Association indoor track state championship, Marvin placed first in the 1,000-meter run, securing her third individual state championship.
Marvin traveled back to nationals in New York on March 8.
“My experience last year at nationals helped me be less stressed at the meet this year. I knew how everything ran, and I was a lot more comfortable this year,” Marvin said.
Marvin and the rest of her 4×800-meter team won their initial heat and ended up placing fourth overall. She also competed in the 800-meter event.
Even with all of the honors that Marvin has achieved over the last three years, Chapel Hill track and cross-country coach Joan Mabe is most proud of Marvin for other reasons.
“What impresses me most about Megan is her commitment to the team despite her obvious individual star status,” Mabe said. “Most superstars are not team players.”
Now, with spring track getting into full swing, Marvin is poised for another great season.
There’s no telling exactly where Marvin is right now.
Perhaps she is flying around the track at Chapel Hill. Or, maybe she’s waiting in line at McDonald’s for a fruit smoothie.
