Lauren Masterson is a long distance road-runner based in a small town tucked in the Rocky Mountains in Alamosa, Colorado. While Lauren mainly competes in the marathon, she loves all the distances below, stopping at the mile (anything below that is torture in a bad way). Lauren was born into the running community. Her dad, Damon Martin, has been the head cross country and track and field coach at Adams State University her entire life. She grew up attending cross country and track meets all over the country. As Lauren got older her love for the sport has grown with each passing year. She’s attended the last two Olympic Games (2012 & 2016) as an avid track and field spectator.

Lauren joined the hometown powerhouse, Adams State University, for her collegiate career and it opened doors and gave her opportunities many never expected. Her greatest collegiate accomplishment came by way of two NCAA DII National Championships in the same week. In 2016, she tried the long distance double (10k Thursday and 5k Saturday) at the Division II Outdoor National Championships. At half way of the 10,000m final, Lauren was more that 200 meters behind the leader. Over the last two miles Lauren chipped away at that massive lead, taking over with 800 meters to go and never relinquishing first place. She would return two days later to lead the final mile of the 5,000m and take her second victory. That final mile is still Lauren’s PR (5:00). In 2018 Lauren posted an impressive marathon time of 2:33:26 in only her second marathon, achieving the USA Olympic Trials Marathon “A” standard.

Lauren decided to get into coaching because of a love for helping others achieve their dreams. She has been the head cross country and track and field Coach at Trinidad State Junior College for the past 4 years. She has coached 9 NJCAA National Champions and 51 NJCAA All-Americans.

Lauren has goals of continuing to improve her times in the marathon, half marathon and even track events. Her husband, Kyle Masterson, has been trying to get her to branch out into the Ultra-marathon world. She just may be seen in a 50km some day soon…