Heather MacLean and Elle Purrier St. Pierre's friendship was evident as the baton passed through the four-person women's indoor distance medley relay (DMR) at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston last Friday. MacLean, who ran in the 1500 meters at the Tokyo Olympics, took the first leg. Her teammate Purrier St. Pierre, an American record holder in the indoor mile and two-mile, anchored. Two-time Olympic medalist Kendall Ellis and rising high school star Roisin Willis took the middle.
The music was loud, and the bleachers were filled with fans overlooking The TRACK when Purrier St. Pierre's baton rose over the finish line tape. MacLean immediately hugged her. The four women had just shattered the DMR indoor (10:39.91) and outdoor (10:36.50) world record, finishing in 10:33.85, christening the newly opened multi-sport complex.
They met while competing in college, MacLean running for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Purrier St. Pierre for the University of New Hampshire. The women bonded over representing small schools amongst running powerhouses. It was a natural launching point for a five-year friendship that would sustain the two from college to running professionally for New Balance.
Post-race, MacLean, 26, and Purrier St. Pierre, 27, talked to ESPN about making history, what they've learned from each other and why they're paying it forward for the next generation of women athletes.
On how they prepared for a world record attempt
Heather MacLean: People talk about competing with a purpose a lot, and today our purpose was doing it for the DMR team, doing it for New Balance and opening up The TRACK as best we could. That's how I prepared mentally for this one.
Elle Purrier St. Pierre: There's nothing like stepping up to the line with your stacked DMR teammates because you know that everyone's so good, and we're going to do great. We all went into it with confidence and thought about what we were capable of doing.
MacLean: Honestly, we were kind of low-key about it. We had a job to do, and we wanted to come here and do it. We didn't want to focus on the outside noise.
Purrier St. Pierre: I was thinking about the opportunity at hand and taking advantage of that. All four of us were capable of running the times we needed to run, so we had confidence in that. If you psych yourself out thinking about a world record, that's not going to be to your benefit. It's just thinking about what you have to do to get it done. The track's fast, the spikes are fast, and we're fast.
On the newly opened TRACK at New Balance
MacLean: It felt awesome. This is our home track, so we're going to get to train on this and run on it all the time. It felt wonderful to be able to break it in.
Purrier St. Pierre: We've been waiting a long time to be able to race on this track. We've been talking about how exciting it will be when we finally get to run on the track, and here we are.
On how their friendship started
Purrier St. Pierre: I remember one specific run, we were still in college, and we both competed for smaller schools. Often, we would be the only ones competing for our schools, UNH and UMass, and our coaches were friends. We would hang out a lot at meets.
MacLean: We were cooling down one meet. I think it was Alabama...
Purrier St. Pierre: Oh, yeah.
MacLean: And our coaches were like, "Don't run outside the borders of the parking lot," and me and her were like, "Nah, we're going to go outside the borders," and we almost got hit by a car. We were like, "OK, not doing that again."
Purrier St. Pierre: We were both rebels.
MacLean: That was junior year, I think.
Purrier St. Pierre: I feel like we became friends in college and every year just got a little closer.
MacLean: When you get to these high-level competitions, we're the only ones from our schools there, and just knowing you have a friend when you see all these intimidating schools like Stanford and Oregon and everything, you got someone there who understands what it's like to be a small state school in the northeast.
MacLean: Part of the reason why I joined this New Balance team was because of Elle. We're good friends. Most of the time, we're calling each other and talking about things that are completely unrelated to track. I think Elle and I have a similar background where much of our life is outside of the sport. We both have this weird job where that's unheard of in our communities, and we both went to these small schools. It's helped us feel like there's somebody there who understands you all the time. It's nice to have someone so close to you -- a colleague technically since this is our job -- that understands you. I appreciate that, and I've always looked up to Elle. I'm just lucky to have her every day.
Purrier St. Pierre: I feel like we're gritty girls, and we found each other, and we're really lucky. Now we're just showing everyone what we're made of and supporting each other. Our relationship is more than just track. Heather was at my wedding. We're there for each other.
On what they've learned from each other
MacLean: I've learned fearlessness from Elle. I've always admired how fearless she is in races. She goes after it. Elle gets so serious before races, and I'm the opposite, where I'm goofing around, laughing and saying hello to everyone. That's just how I prepare. But when she gets to the starting line, she's ready to go, and she puts herself in it. That's something I admire about her. She does it in life, too. That's something I've tried to do over the years, so I've always looked up to her in that regard.
Purrier St. Pierre: Heather has a way of finding fun in everything. I feel like she has confidence in that. I might be self-conscious sometimes, but Heather is always herself, and I feel like that's something I've learned from her. We didn't have the perfect buildup to become who we are today, but we have fun with it, and we talk about it, and that's something that Heather does a lot.
MacLean: It's like, "'I had this really crappy day," and "Oh, I had a crappy day, too!" Like, thank god someone else didn't have this most amazing day.
Purrier St. Pierre: ...She used to eat sushi before all her races.
MacLean: That was a long time ago.
Purrier St. Pierre: But she talks about it, and she has the confidence to say, "Look, this is who we are."
On how they balance running and their personal lives
Purrier St. Pierre: This is our job, so we have to take care of ourselves the best that we can -- mentally and physically. Just figure out what you need to do and do it. You have to make boundaries for yourself and put everything else on the track.
MacLean: You need to let yourself enjoy other things outside of the sport. Because it's our job, it can be consuming. We're not going to a 9-to-5 every day -- you have to focus on your sleep, everything you're putting into your body, and it's easy to get overwhelmed with that. It's nice to step outside of your routine sometimes and be like, "If I do this, I'm going to be fine." With all athletics, there's a huge mental component to it. Focusing on what you need mentally to help you succeed in the sport is definitely how I find balance. It's not always related to the sport. That might mean taking it easy when I was supposed to go hard or hanging out with friends that I don't usually get to see because I'm always traveling or whatever.
On inspiring the next generation of female athletes
Purrier St. Pierre: It's one of the best parts of the job -- seeing little girls who are interested in sports and look up to us. It's rewarding to see these young athletes. I think they can accomplish anything they put their minds to. It's awesome to think that I have a role in that. I didn't realize previously how much of an impact it has [on my community in Vermont and beyond].
MacLean: Like Elle said, it's the best part. Getting to talk to high schools and middle schools, I try to do it as much as possible while home in [Massachusetts]. I hope that a young girl can find encouragement and think that somebody hears her from something I say. When I was younger, all I wanted was to be understood. So many girls feel that same way, so I hope to offer a little glimpse of how much somebody can overcome.
