She’s Running on the Road to Recovery

Jenifer Martin appears to be the picture of good health, with boundless energy.

The Cal State Fullerton junior is among the top runners on the Titan women’s cross-country team, is taking a 17-unit class load and still finds time to work two part-time jobs.

To think that two years ago, there was doubt that Martin would ever run in a college meet again.

A car swerved into a bicycle lane on a street in Brea, hitting Martin while she and other Titan runners were on a training run. The impact threw her onto the hood of the car, and her head crashed into the windshield before her body skidded back to the pavement, like a rag doll.

Martin suffered skull fractures, a concussion, broken bones in her face and numerous cuts and bruises. She also had knee surgery about eight months later.

“I could have died that day, just like that,” she says, snapping her fingers.

As far as her running career, as recently as last spring she was wondering if it was over.

Martin was so disappointed in her performances that she went to Titan Coach John Elders and offered to let someone else have her athletic scholarship.

“I wasn’t competitive at all last spring in track,” she said. “I was just getting through the races, and I was in pain a lot. I had much higher expectations. That’s when I offered to give back my scholarship, but Coach Elders said he wouldn’t take it back regardless. He told me I couldn’t give up.”

She didn’t. And by coming back from her injuries, Martin has newfound confidence.

“She’s doing well, particularly when you consider the training time she missed and the adjustments we’ve had to make,” Elders said. “Mentally, she’s running a lot better. She’s more aggressive now. It’s comparable to where she was before the accident. I still think she can be very successful at this level.”

Martin has had the best time among the Titan women in two recent meets heading into the Big West Conference meet Saturday at Santa Barbara. She had her top time of the season, 19 minutes 56 seconds, over the 5,000-meter course at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo two weeks ago. Elders thinks she is capable of finishing in the top 30 in the conference if she runs well.

“I think I’m mostly back on track now,” Martin said. “This [cross-country] season has been a big breakthrough for me, but I’m still in physical therapy every day, and it’s still hard to know how far I can push it. I try to listen to my body more now than I did before.”

After the accident, Martin was hospitalized for a week, then was in bed at home in Corona for a month recovering from her injuries.

“The accident is still mostly a blank to me,” she said. “I just remember waking up in the hospital in a lot of pain. I had this picture in my mind of myself in a wheelchair. But I had a lot of support from my family and friends. The day after the accident, the Athletes In Action came to the hospital and prayed for me, and the team prayed for me at school.”

Teammate Terry Vega was running side-by-side with Martin at the time of the accident. “It was really, really scary for all of us,” Vega said. “All of a sudden she was hit, and then was lying there on the pavement. I think it made us all realize it could have happened to any of us. But Jenifer is really strong. I know how frustrated she was at times, but she has worked hard and gotten through it.”

When Martin returned to classes, she had to use a walker for a while, and then a cane.

“That was a tough time for me, but it made me appreciate how much I missed running,” she said.

About three months after the accident, Martin tried to run in an indoor 1,500-meter race in Reno.

“That was a reality check for me,” she said. “I had some pain in my leg, but I didn’t want to face the situation. And it’s amazing how much tolerance for pain you have after you’ve been hit by a car.”

After that race, X-rays showed she had torn ligaments in her knee, which she thinks was a result of the accident. She put off surgery, hoping for a natural recovery, but had to sit out the 1999 outdoor track season. She had surgery the following July.

“I didn’t feel like I was really back physically until this last summer,” she said. “I spent two months in physical therapy and running on my own at the beach in the morning. I got a mountain bike and rode it a lot. I spent about three to four hours a day training and getting back into shape.

“Before the accident everything was easy for me, but now I really have to work hard to be ready to run. I sit in the whirlpool every day for 20 minutes, and I take anti-inflammatories. Before, I hardly ever even stretched. I just went out and ran.”

Elders has adjusted Martin’s training schedule accordingly. “She can’t run six days a week like some of our athletes do,” he said.

Martin rides her bicycle, instead of running, on days after heavy training.

The team still occasionally runs the course where Martin was hurt, but she usually does alterative training on those days. Elders said the team trains less frequently on roads since the accident. “At those times, we remind them to run on the sidewalk when one is available and to run against the traffic, not with it,” Elders said.

Martin’s mother, Jennifer, said she is pleased by the determination her daughter has shown.

“I’ve been amazed about how strong her personality is that she was able to overcome this the way she has,” she said. “And the school has been very supportive. We had about $50,000 in medical bills, and the school said it would pay any of our out-of-pocket expenses. They’ve paid nearly $20,000 that wasn’t covered.”

Martin thinks the accident has helped make her a stronger person.

“I feel it was sort of a blessing in disguise,” she said. “I had never gone though any hardship before. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and I really appreciate my family, my friends and God. And I’ve learned that I really love to run.”