Article written by Mason Coppi about making his first U.S. Team and competing at the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand last month.
Just getting to this one was a roller coaster for me. I first set my sights on making it to the WMTRC in Thailand when it was announced back in the beginning of 2021. At the time I was in my final year of attending Furman University and running as a NCAA athlete. Coming out of college I decided trails would be the best avenue for me to continue competitive running.
I showed up in July to the USATF Mountain Running Championships at Whiteface Mountain incredibly nervous. I was coming off a streak of tough races and the Whiteface course was a beast (4,000’ gained and lost in 7mi!!!). But I shot my shot and ended up in 4th!!!! Only one spot away from automatically qualifying. I came away happy with my performance, but lacking closure. If an athlete ahead of me dropped their spot, I’d be in. But I wasn’t going to find out until mid-September.
Mason Coppi. Photo: WMTRC2021.
Flash forward through 2 torturous months and the team finally is announce. And I am not on it (womp womp). Then two days, later I get the news that and an athlete dropped, and I am in fact made the U.S. Team! What a roller coaster!? I was so stoked! I quickly booked my ticket and set my sights on Thailand! Then two weeks later I strained my peroneus brevis. Oof.
I strained it on a simple easy run out of nowhere. I didn’t think about it much at the time. Typically, with a flare up like this usually two days rest will do the job and fix whatever is wrong. I figured I would miss a week of training but whatever. After two days off I ran on it again and again it flared up. Then I took two more days off. Then I just repeated this cycle. I was trying everything sports massage, NSAIDs, cremes, kt tape, rolling, icing, ritual sacrifice, and an anti-inflammatory diet. But none of it stayed effective for long. I eventually came to terms that this journey wasn’t going to be able to go to worlds.
But wait the odyssey continues! My wonderful coach, David Roche, didn’t let me give up that easy. Instead, he had me saddle up on my 1980s rickety road bike and go to work. The goal was to become an aerobic monster on the bike and allow my foot to heal enough just to make it to the line. I cashed in another miracle here because it worked! Though I had practically taken a month off from running when I stepped onto the plane for Thailand, I was finally feeling healthy.
Mason Coppi. Photo: WMTRC2021.
Now for those keeping track at home that’s about 3 times I really lucked out already to make it to Thailand (4 if you count my old bike not disintegrating). Call me selfish but I was expecting another one while I was out there. And if I were writing a story right now instead of a recap, there would have been one. I would have had the race of life, crushed the competition, and it would have ended in freeze frame of my jumping in the air while “Don’t You (Forget about Me)” played in the background as the credits started to roll. But that’s not what happened.
The gun went off and I was immediately out of my depth. The “Classic” up & down mountain race opened with a flat road mile before we got to the mountain to climb. Normally with my track background I excel in flat portions like this, but unused to running my quads were burning from the start. Uh oh. I held my own on the climb, but my usual power wasn’t there, but the downhill was the real challenge. I felt like a baby deer out there. Scared and clumsy.
The final mile we came back down to the road we started on and by then my quads were unstructured jelly and my calves were threatening to cramp. I wanted to quit so badly, but my singlet said USA and I was in scoring position for the team. So, I ran, not with the powerful confidence I would have envisioned myself finishing this race in my daydreams but with the utter terror of someone being chased. Somehow, I used my last scrap of strength to hold on enough to finish 39th overall and helped the USA to a 9th place team finish.
Mason Coppi. Photo: WMTRC2021.
Now you may be reading this, and you may be a little disappointed. I made you read through that whole lead up and no records were broken, no championships won, and no podiums. What kind of story is this? I don’t blame you for being disappointed because I was incredibly disappointed with this ending too. After all, most stories that get shared in our community are stories of successes and triumph. If there are elements of setbacks and challenges in the story they are overcome and resolved already by the end, clean and simple.
I, like many athletes, feel like my story should have ended in success for it to have any worth and to that extent shared. Now I know me complaining about my experience running at the World Championships is probably the definition of first world problems. However, I am a coach and I see this type of scenario play out on big and large stages with athletes time and time again. Whether it is just missing a Boston qualifying time, DNFing an ultra, or struggling to complete their first 5k. That’s actually a big reason why I am sharing this story. More often than not our stories are rarely as simple and ideal as the stories that commonly get told and shared.
After the trip home I had so many mixed feelings. I was disappointed with my race and felt I had not made the most of my World’s experience. Those feelings were valid, and they were real. But, now with some time I realize my race and the feelings that came along with it were not the whole story. Now 1300 words in I think I have demonstrated there is more to this story than the end result. But still there is even more than this!
Mason Coppi. Photo: WMTRC2021.
On this trip I got to travel to experience a country and culture I have never come close to seeing. I saw ornate temples, ate amazing food, and drank amazing coffee. I pushed myself harder than I ever pushed myself in a race (I couldn’t walk properly for four days after the race). I got to experience running on a team again something I hadn’t realized I had been craving since graduating college. I got to meet some absolutely amazing individuals who were not only the best of the best in the sport but also incredibly kind. I got an opportunity to do the activity I love most on a world stage. My story didn’t end with a victorious freeze frame, and I am thankful of that. That ending is too solid and final anyways. The truth is my story here isn’t a good ending because it isn’t an ending at all. My story is still being written and I am excited for what the future will bring for me.
Additional WMTRC Media Coverage
November 4, 2022 – Joe DeMoor Runs to New Heights – Outside Magazine
November 4, 2022 – ‘Allie Mac’ Wins World Championship, Leads Team USA to Gold – Outside Magazine
November 7, 2022 – Adam Peterman, U.S. Men Win Gold in World Championships 80km, Women Win Silver in 40k – Outside Magazine
November 8, 2022 – Alumni in Action: Blair places 13th at inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships – Vail Daily
November 9, 2022 – Team USATF shines at world running championships – Sopris Sun
November 10, 2022 – Lott represents USA at world mountain running championships – Durango Herald
November 11, 2022 – Peterman’s Long Trail Gold Earns Him USATF Athlete of the Week Honors – USA Track & Field
November 16, 2022 – Interview with U.S. Men’s Gold Medal 80K Trail Team – Singletrack Podcast with Finn Melanson
November 28, 2022 – In career of ups and downs, Colorado Springs mountain runner returns a world champ – The Gazette
