When your maternal grandmother (Elaine Delsman) returned to school (Southern Oregon University) in her 40s after raising seven children and became an NAIA All-American in the 10k meters…
 
When your dad (Marcus Mayfield) runs ultra-marathons…and when both older sisters (Victoria, 25, and Mariah, 30), are runners…
 
The chances of you excelling at running distances would seem pretty good.
 
And, that's exactly where fifth-year cross country and track athlete Camelia Mayfield found herself as she approached the 2015 Big Sky Conference outdoor meet later this spring…although it took her a while to get there.
 
For the second time during her years as a Viking, Mayfield will likely qualify for the outdoor NCAA regionals in the 10,000 meters (she ranks 36th in the NCAA West, well within the top 48 that will advance to the NCAA West Preliminary at the end of May). She also ran in the regionals at San Antonio, Tex., in 2013, and leads the Big Sky in the 10,000 meters this season.
 
Indoors, she held the PSU indoor 5,000-meter record for two years, breaking her own record with a time of 17.02.49 at the UW Invitational in 2014 (Amanda Boman broke Mayfield's record this season — Mayfield didn't compete indoors this year), while Mayfield also ranks third all-time in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best time of 9:52.86.
 
But, Mayfield took a circuitous route to PSU's Park Blocks campus.
 
She went to The Catholic University of America, an NCAA Division III school in Washington, D.C. after graduating from Ashland High School. But, she went on an academic, not an athletic scholarship. In high school, she'd shown promise in distance running as part of her four-sport high school career, but nothing exciting enough to make the radar of college track coaches.
 
The Catholic University of America was a long way from home, but "I wanted to get as far away from home as possible. Have you ever been to Ashland? It's a pretty small community, and I wanted to see something different," Mayfield said.
 
She did think "it would be pretty cool to walk on" to the track and cross country teams at The Catholic University of America, which she did. While there, she improved her 5k time a little, but stayed about the same as high school in her other distances.
 
Overall, her trip to the east coast didn't work out too well.
 
"I was very homesick. I wasn't really comfortable with the culture I found there and didn't feel they understood me very well," she said. She also "really missed running trails. Being close to nature is a big deal to me. There was a trail we ran occasionally, but it was really a bike trail through a wooded area, not like Forest Park here."
 
Even with the scholarship, there also were financial issues. So, she decided to look closer to home. Her sister Victoria, who she counts as one of her closest friends, was a nurse midwifery student at OHSU.
 
"We hadn't followed Camelia in high school and were pleased when she indicated she might like to join us," recalled eighth-year head track & field and cross country coach Ronnye Harrison. "I think she came here because she wanted to."
 
Mayfield looked at PSU and the University of Portland, but UP was a heavy lift financially. Also, she found Portland State's strong school of social work attractive.
 
And, it was at PSU where her track career finally took off.
 
"At Catholic University, we weren't running as much as we do here…maybe four or five days a week as opposed to six here. They weren't doing any weights either," Mayfield said.
 
She got an inkling of the different level of competition when she arrived in September 2012 to start training (she thought) well ahead of everyone else so she'd have a chance to make the PSU cross country squad.    
 
"I thought I'd do some early training to see if I'd be a good fit. What I didn't know was that all cross country people got here two months before school starts to work out."
 
She took to the more rigorous training at this level.
 
"Camelia is so good because she has patience with the process. She pushes herself and does a lot of the right things…with nutrition, taking care of herself, weight training. She's strong and fast. She goes the extra mile (said with a straight face) in preparation for competing," Harrison said.
 
Nutrition was another change from her first university experience.
 
"Competing here, I think about what's going to make me faster. You think about what's going into your body. As a runner, you can eat whatever you want. Here they encourage us to eat whole grains and lots of fruits and vegetables...not greasy food." However, "there are still times where a burger is the only thing that really satisfies."
 
Mayfield runs cross country as well as indoor and outdoor track. However, the strategies in cross country and track are completely different.
 
"Cross country is more personally competitive. You're all running together and the first one over the finish line wins. You're always pushing, trying to get in front of someone. Time isn't important because you're running on different terrain all the time."
 
Racing the competitive long distance 5,000- and 10,000-meter races, "it's advantageous to work with competitors to get a fast time. For instance, I find myself talking to competitors or teammates in the same race. This helps encourage both of us to stay motivated. Or sometimes, it will 'psych out' other people if they don't expect you to be friendly," she said.
 
Recently, Mayfield competed in the Stanford Invitational, the best distance running competition in the US for people trying to go to regionals, where she knocked more than 41 seconds off her 10k personal best at 34.35.88, putting her in a good position to qualify for regionals. "I didn't have any other teammates in my race, so I was able to establish a relationship with a girl from Wisconsin and we worked together as we ran."
 
Now more than three weeks later, Mayfield's time from the Stanford Invitational still stands as the fastest time in the Big Sky this season, as she leads Eastern Washington's Sarah Reiter by close to three seconds. Mayfield and Reiter also hold a substantial lead over the No. 3 runner in the conference, as they each rank more than 45 seconds ahead of their nearest competitor.
 
The Viking coaches appreciate the way Mayfield approaches competition, said Harrison.
 
"She's really great to have on the team.  With her training group, she's like a favorite auntie. In fact, she's like that with the entire team. Others listen to her. She's really engaging with everyone," he said.
 
From Mayfield's perspective, her approach to competition is a bit more relaxed as a fifth-year runner. 
 
"It can be stressful, the competition and all...here when we don't have a structured practice day, coach Marcus (assistant coach in charge of distances, Jonathan Marcus) says we can run 60 to 80 minutes. Just go run…he doesn't tell us what to do. I often run trails where there are rocks and logs to jump over. Sometimes I fall, but even then I think it's fun. It's like being a child again. It's just being outdoors and running for fun, not caring that much," she said.
 
Mayfield thinks the idea of running for fun should be contagious. "I find I perform best when I stay positive, try to have fun and try to make friends. My goal isn't just to run fast. I'm trying to pass that along to the whole team. It took a couple of years, but the team has really grown close now," said Mayfield.
 
Between school and running, Mayfield has found time for hobbies.
 
She's added knitting and sewing to cooking as favorite hobbies, and was able to sew hair scrunchies for the cross country team…"bright neon so we could see each other."
 
Harrison said he was thinking of holding Mayfield out of the 10,000 meters at the Big Sky Conference meet because the NCAA regionals follow in two weeks (ideally, runners need at last three weeks between 10k races). She has also qualified for the meet in the 1,500 meters and 5k (or will have by meet time, said Harrison).
 
Mayfield is having none of it, though. These are the league championships and she wants a shot at being 10k league champion.
 
And besides, "most people who run in the regional 10k also race two week prior to that at their own conference meets. This means that people are not racing for a fast 10k time at regionals, but rather for the first 12 spots to qualify for Nationals. The first couple of miles tend to be relatively slow at regionals, around 6 minutes per mile," she said. 
 
Even being in a position to make a decision like that has surprised her.
"It's really cool to say I'm one of the top 100 10k runners in the nation (60th to be precise). I didn't think I'd ever do that (although, maybe not so surprising with her pedigree).
 
Academically, Mayfield finished her undergraduate work in social work with a 3.9 GPA, and is currently taking graduate classes through the school of social work and will be applying for a one-year master's program. She'd like to work as part of a team with a doctor, nurse and others to take a holistic approach to women's health care.
 
And when she's finished with college sports….look out.
 
"I want to run ultra-marathons when I'm finished here. I want to start rocking the trails," she said.