Like many athletes with their eyes on the Summer Olympics as the world grapples with the Coronavirus pandemic, middle distance standout Emily Lipari plans to stay optimistic for as long as possible. 

 

“It will be devastating if the Olympics don’t happen,” Lipari said. “But right now we’re just going full speed ahead (with training) as if nothing has changed.” 

 

The unprecedented health crisis — which has forced organizers around the globe to cancel or postpone major track meets and road races — comes at the same time Lipari has been having a breakthrough year on the track in a new event.  

 

Last month at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational at Boston University, Lipari — in just her third 5,000-meter race on the track and first one indoors — tore through the finish line in 15:07.4, snagging the Olympic standard and setting a new personal best. 

 

She followed that up with a solid performance a few weeks later at the Boston University Last Chance meet. There she returned to her 1,500-meter roots and ran 4:06.4 — just two seconds off the Olympic standard and one second off her personal best. 

 

“I feel optimistic that with a couple more months of work, we can knock those two seconds off,” said Lipari, who runs for the Golden Coast Track Club in San Diego, Calif., under veteran coach Terrence Mahon. 

 

Assuming the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials are still held this summer, Lipari plans to run the 5,000 meters and possibly the 1,500. At one time, Lipari didn’t believe she'd ever have such opportunities. 

 

When she began running professionally in 2014 for the Boston Athletic Association, she carried nagging self-doubt into every race. 

 

Although Lipari was an NCAA Division 1 indoor mile champion and 11-time All-American at Villanova University, she wondered: Do I really belong here? 

 

“It’s not something anyone prepares you for,” Lipari, 27, said of the transition from a collegiate to professional runner. “Being an athlete is mentally tough. When you are stepping up to the line with people more decorated than you, I had trouble believing I could be that good.” 

 

Lipari nailed workouts and felt healthy, but couldn’t perform well in races.

 

“It was disappointment after disappointment, and I couldn’t figure out why,” she recalled. “You get to the point where you say, 'Do I just hang up the spikes?’ I gave myself an ultimatum in 2017: 'If you can’t make this outdoor (nationals) 1,500 final, then it’s time to be done.’”

 

She made the final, setting the stage for more strong races to come. In the summer of 2017, she ran a personal best of 4:07 in the 1,500 meters. 

 

Later that summer, in front of a hometown crowd in New York, Lipari delivered an impressive performance in the pouring rain at the Long Island Mile. With her signature finishing kick, she won the race in 4:28.84, her first time breaking 4:30. 

 

Her streak of personal bests continued in 2018, when she ran 8:51 for 3,000 meters and 4:05 in the 1,500. 

 

But early last year, that momentum came to an abrupt halt when Lipari got sidelined by plantar fasciitis, the first major injury of her career. 

 

“Another thing as an athlete that no one teaches you is how to be injured and how you will feel,” she said. “Every day you, you feel really stressed.”

 

For a while, Lipari and Mahon, her longtime coach, had discussed stepping up to the 5,000. Making her 5,000 debut following an injury wasn’t the introduction Lipari imagined, but she surprised herself last summer at the Portland Track Festival. 

 

After months of pool workouts and just a few weeks into her return to running, Lipari clocked a stunning 15:33 in her first try.

 

And she continues to get faster. 

 

“I actually have enjoyed 5K training, so maybe I’m more of a distance runner than I thought,” she said. 

 

As Lipari has embraced confidence in her ability, she’s also become comfortable with calling herself a professional runner.  

 

“I am married to someone in the military, who is doing something completely selfless,” she said. “It took me a long time to have this acceptance that I’m not selfish. I’m doing something I’m passionate about.” 

 

She currently lives with her husband in Washington D.C., where he works for the Navy, and she frequently travels to California and Arizona for several-month stints with her Golden Coast teammates.

 

Teammate Sarah Pagano is excited to see her friend finally flourish after years of struggling. 

 

“We both came out of college at the same time and had our fair share of rough patches, particularly early on,” recalled Pagano, who plans to run the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Trials. “I think we’ve been able to push each other as athletes, but also encourage and pull each other back up when needed.”

 

As Lipari continues to prepare for the U.S. Olympic Trials, she acknowledges that with such a deeply talented field of women in the 5,000 and 1500 meters, her chances of making a team are small. Still, the results of the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials last month proved that no one should count themselves out. (In her debut marathon, Molly Seidel took second, outrunning heavy favorites Jordan Hasay, Molly Huddle and Sara Hall and securing a spot on the U.S. team.) 

 

“I just know I am doing everything I can do to get myself ready,” Lipari said, “and let performances I see inspire me along the way.”

 

She’s also not dwelling on the Coronavirus crisis and what might happen in the coming months. 

 

“I’m just controlling what I can control and staying the course,” she said.