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Talk to some runners and they have a real storage problem. Medals, race t-shirts, race bibs all amount to lots of shelf-space.

At the Parker鈥檚 Whitehorse household, no space is immune to Joe Parker鈥檚 running paraphernalia and the 17-year-old runner is starting to collect 鈥� medals that is.

鈥淢ost of my team thinks it鈥檚 bad luck to throw out your bibs,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I usually do.鈥�

After a summer gaining race experience on the Yukon circuit, the Grade 12 F.H. Collins student is getting ready for his newest challenge: cross country nationals.

Alongside senior runner Lindsay Carson and Dawson City runner Jack鈥圓mos, they will make up Yukon鈥檚 small contingent at the national cross country competition in Kingston, Ont. this Saturday.

Parker鈥檚 journey to nationals likely started as a youngster. His father used to run marathons, and their family has always been active, he says.

In elementary school, he was a member of the running club and when he studied overseas in鈥團rance in Grade 8, he joined their track and field team.

His only break in running came in Grade 9, when he wasn鈥檛 sure who he could run with at school. Instead, he continued playing soccer 鈥� he鈥檚 a midfielder 鈥� and climbing indoors.

But eventually the other sports hit the sidelines as Parker adopted running as his main pursuit.

He began training outside of school with Yukon running coach鈥圖on White last year to prepare for snowshoe running at the Arctic Winter Games (AWG).

Using mukluks that he鈥檇 built in school, he began training on traditional wooden snowshoes with White and the rest of the group heading to Greenland for AWG.

鈥淥nce I really started training for that because I had a goal in mind, I started to really enjoy the sport and I started to get more competitive and train harder,鈥� says Parker. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I got more serious about it.鈥�

He walked away from the 2016 AWG with four medals: three bronze and a silver.

He has kept training since that performance, and even amped up his commitment to the sport after a track meet in Kelowna this summer.

鈥淚 started to take it way more seriously and I find myself pushing extremely hard during interval training,鈥� he says.

Before that B.C. track meet, he was training three or four times a week. Following it, he has been training five or six times a week.

鈥淚 noticed that as you鈥檙e training harder and pushing yourself to the limit more and more, it鈥檚 like you鈥檒l get faster, but there鈥檚 definitely more ups and downs for how you feel during your runs,鈥� he says.

Parker is a member of White鈥檚 local training group, primarily made up of about half a dozen local youth who regularly show up to the sessions.

Parker says he prefers running on the trails to the road, but likes to race track more than cross-country.

His favourite workout is short intervals run on the trails. Around Whitehorse he frequents the Mount McIntyre trails, the Hidden Lakes loop and Riverdale.

He is a self-designated long distance track runner. He says he most enjoys the 1,500 and 3,000-metre races.

Anything over 5K is not someplace you鈥檙e likely to find him, although this weekend鈥檚 6K race is the exception to that rule.

Last week, the soft-spoken teen, with a messy flop of hair and braces said he鈥檚 not that thrilled about the extra one kilometre.

鈥淯gh, I don鈥檛 like it, but whatever.鈥�

He鈥檚 more comfortable with the 5K distance thanks to all those Tuesday night Fun Runs.

In training, Parker is one of the fastest in his group.

鈥淗e鈥檚 really good at keeping it slow and doing conversation stuff,鈥� says White of Parker.

Most of their training takes place at a conversational pace.

Over the summer Parker shaved about a minute off his 5K time.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice to have my hard work pay off,鈥� he says.

But the gains in speed aren鈥檛 so easy to obtain.

鈥淒uring the track workouts, I can see the improvements that Joe is making,鈥� says White. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult when you鈥檙e the fastest guy on the crew to get faster.鈥�

Last summer, Parker鈥檚 goal was to gain more experience racing. He competed in about a dozen local races, ranging from the 5K Fun Runs, to the Yukon 10K Road Championships, to the Klondike Road Relay, as well as a few Outside competitions.

鈥淚 love that feeling you get after you work really hard,鈥� says Parker. 鈥�(Running) is just a really good way to stay healthy and I like being fit.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e only responsible for your own performance.鈥�

Parker has already been accepted to the University of Northern British Columbia for engineering next fall, but the school has neither a track program nor a cross country team, so he鈥檚 looking at other options.

This weekend, in the national cross country championship鈥檚 largest field of 223 runners, he鈥檒l look to gain more race experience on his mission to get faster.

Coach White expects that he鈥檒l be in the middle of the pack.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a huge eyeopener and learning experience,鈥� says White.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have many expectations for myself. I鈥檓 just hoping to run as hard as I can and finish strong,鈥� Parker says. 鈥淚鈥檓 just going to go for the experience. I know I won鈥檛 win, so why stress about it.鈥�

This is the second story in a series of profiles about the local runners representing Yukon at the National Cross Country Championships.