Mile News


Elle Purrier Spending Her COVID-19 Spring at Home

May 11, 2020

“I definitely have more fun with the 1500 and the Mile. That’s what I would prefer to do..."

By Sieg Lindstrom, Track & Field News

Call it a long, loooong weekend. Or “there’s no place like home.” It’s the story of Mile star Elle Purrier’s spring at her family’s dairy farm in northern Vermont. Not at all what she bargained for after knocking what for 38 years had been Mary Slaney’s indoor Mile U.S. record down to 4:16.85 at the Millrose Games. The time was just 0.14 off Slaney’s absolute AR.

In what started as the Tokyo Olympic year, Purrier and coach Mark Coogan planned a buildup to the all-important Trials in June as any elite runner would. COVID-19, of course, changed everything.

“Yeah, I’ve been here quite a few weeks since March,” says the ’18 New Hampshire grad. “Here” is the region just south of the Canadian border where her family—as well as the family of fiancé Jamie St. Pierre—operate dairy farms. “I came home for like the weekend. Then we decided we weren’t going to practice together so I’ve basically just been here since. It’s been pretty nice, honestly, just to be able to see my family and be at the barn and everything. I’m able to get outside and not feel cooped up like I’m sure a lot of people do in the city.

“Training by myself is definitely challenging and a little bit lonely. But I think I’ve made the most of it.”

At the moment, uncertainty is a prevailing feature for Coogan’s New Balance Boston Elite group. “We’re basically just kind of anticipating there maybe being a smaller season this fall,” she says. “So we’re actually doing training right now that I already did this past fall. We’re kind of just doing base stuff, just like to keep in shape, but not doing any workouts on the track and just doing more general tempo runs and strength stuff.”

On the farm the 25-year-old Purrier keeps moving even in the hours when she isn’t training. “I help with chores at least once a day lately,” she says. “So I’ve been milking and obviously you have to feed the cows every day and scrape and, I don’t know, there’s always little jobs to do around outside. We built some fence the other day ’cause they’re getting ready to put the cows back out. Luckily it’s been a pretty warm spring so I feel like we’ve been able to get some of the spring jobs done a little bit earlier.

“And last year, this time I was all the way out in Flagstaff [training at altitude]. It’s kind of crazy ’cause I haven’t been around, April is always a pretty busy month for me. So I’ve missed all of these things going on on the farm like every year since I’ve gone to college. So it’s been kinda nice.” Though stressful at the same time for farmers.

Continue reading at: trackandfieldnews.com

Tags: tokyo 2020 (37) , mark coogan (5) , elinor purrier (28)

Facebook Comments

Return the Mile to prominence on the American & worldwide sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a movement.

ELEVATE
Bring Back the Mile as the premier event in the sport, and increase interest in and media coverage of the Mile for both those who love the distance as well as the general public.

CELEBRATE
Bring Back the Mile to celebrate the storied distance and to recognize the people who made and make the Mile great and to promote Mile events and the next generation of U.S. Milers.

NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Bring Back the Mile to create a national movement for the Mile as America’s Distance,
to inspire Americans to run the Mile as part of their fitness program and to replace the 1600 meters at High School State Track & Field Meets across the country.

Become a Mile Maniac member or a BBTM sponsor today! Join us, and go Mile!

Join Us

Thanks for joining the movement and being a Mile Maniac. We'll keep you up to-date with our Mile wires as well as exclusive contests and opportunities. Help us spread the word by sharing our site and joining us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!