Des Case Story

Just Another Runner’s Story February 2025 Written by Gale Fischer

Finding Your Sweet Spot

“The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more than life.”

—-George Sheehan

Running offers its participants an array of  emotions with thrills, misery, and feelings that fall somewhere on the spectrum between these two extremes. Agony and adventure can occur simultaneously  but also at times in isolation. Each runner experiences the runner’s high with varied elements of the sport. Locking into a fast pace is what works for some. Others find the ultimate joy completing a slow pace for a longer distance. Running bliss can come from a certain pace, a given distance, or preferred weather conditions and terrain for running. Some experience running euphoria traversing a sunny beach on a  warm summer day while others find this sensation on a wooded trail with a fresh blanket of snow. Running can provide positive vibes under all circumstances. Each of us finds a sweet spot with specific scenarios, which can offer the biggest source of individual satisfaction. Coldwater runner, Des Case has found her sweet spot in running as an ultra-marathon runner.

Running has become the sport of choice for Des, but other activities satisfied her athletic palette as a child. “Growing up I came from an athletic family,” Des said. “My siblings and I all participated in sports at a young age, and our mom and dad coached the little league teams we were a part of.” Des excelled as an athlete in high school but not as a runner. “I played varsity basketball and softball for Coldwater High School,” Des added. “The cross-country and track coaches always wanted me to run, but I wasn’t interested in doing this. I graduated from high school in 2008 and went on to play college softball for two years at Glen Oaks Community College. I continued with rec slow pitch softball after college.”

Des gave running a try nearly five years after graduating from high school. “I started running some local 5ks starting in 2012,” explained Des. “Initially I never trained much but just liked to go out and participate in local races.” Des started without any expectations of where running would take her or how it might fit into her life. “Not long after starting, however, running began to grow on her,” Des recalled. “I became a vegetarian and also was going through a breakup.These two things triggered a surge in my running. Running became my me time. I always feel so much better after a run.”

Des enjoyed what running was doing for her mentally and physically. She wanted to build on the momentum and run longer and more often. “In 2013 I ran my first half-marathon,” Des said. “I hit my goal, finishing in just under two hours.” The half-marathon distance seemed to keep Des satisfied for a few years, but eventually she would take on the next logical step as a runner. “My first marathon was the Kalamazoo Marathon in 2016,” she explained. “At this time I still wasn’t following a training plan, but I was still able to hit my goal, crossing the finish line in just under four hours. Finishing a marathon was fatiguing but also gave me an adrenaline rush.” 

The marathon distance was a new type of high for Des and something that satisfied her running fix for a few years, but eventually another type of racing experience presented a fork in the road for her running journey. “I ran the Yankee Springs Half-Marathon, a trail race, in June 2021,” Des recalled. “After completing this race I was hooked on trail racing.” Becoming a part of the trail racing scene also introduced Des to ultra distances, something that seems more common in the world of trail runners. She wanted to run farther. “In October of 2021 I completed the Pinkney Trail Weekend 50K, finishing first among females,” Des noted. “I was sore but the entire experience gave me an adrenaline rush. It made me feel like I could accomplish anything that I wanted. After running the 50K with a first place finish I became more serious about making goals. I wanted to race on trails and continue to increase the distance that I could run at one time, and I also wanted to increase my speed on the road for the marathon distance. I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon.”

Des had experienced some success as a runner prior to her first place finish at the Pinkney Trail Weekend without following a scripted training plan but with the goals she had made for herself it was time to change this. “I started getting more serious about training and hired Lorretta Toboskie Horn as my running coach,” Des said. “I qualified for Boston with a finish time of 3:24 in April of 2024 at the Carmel Marathon. I ran Boston in April of 2025. Running Boston was amazing. The weather was perfect and there were so many runners and spectators. To date I have completed four marathons.”

In the midst of qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon, Des was also gaining more experience as an ultra marathon runner. “In September of 2022, I ran the Woodstock 50 miler and finished as second overall female," Des noted. “I felt great after this and felt like I could have run 100 miles. I bumped up to 100 miles in June of 2023 at the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile race in Wisconsin. I was third overall female. To date I have completed two 50 milers and just one 100 miler. I would like to run another 100 miler, a 200 mile race and a Backyard Ultra.” A Backyard Ultra is a last man standing race in which participants must cover a 4.2 mile loop on the hour every hour. Participants keep going with the winner being the final runner who has met the cut-off each hour. 

Although Des is working with a coach and following a script, her weekly training runs are not ideal for trail racing. She would prefer to log the bulk of her miles on trails, but circumstances make this a challenge. “There aren't any trail running options near Coldwater,” Des explained. “My schedule does not allow time to travel to a trail system to run. I am a single mom with four children, a twelve-year old, a nine-year old, a six-year old, and a two-year old, all of whom I have adopted. I also home school my children and work nights and weekends as a nurse. Much of my running is done on a treadmill with some miles completed at a local cemetery.”  Des loves the trails and would love nothing more than to run more on trails, but she has made due with her circumstances and excelled in the world of ultra trail running despite not training on trails. She is a great role model for her children with her dedication to her sport and flexibility in getting her running in while being a mom first.

Des has learned from other ultra runners, especially her coach on how to prepare for races. “For my long races and long training runs I have implemented walking intervals with most of my walk breaks on inclines,” Des added. “I have struggled with nutrition for these long runs, but am starting to figure out what works for me. I take an energy gel every thirty minutes. I hit the aid stations for races using the nutrition offered. Watermelon and pop sicles have become my go to. I also carry a handheld water bottle with an electrolyte drink. When training for an ultra I typically complete a double day long run each week.” 

Running requires a strong mental resolve. Ultra distance puts this mental resolve on high alert. Des relies on her mental focus to get her through the rough patches. “Being an ultra runner has shown me that I can do more than what I think I can,” Des shared. “As endurance athletes we experience physical pain but our minds quit long before our bodies. We can accomplish so much more by remaining physically tough.Whenever I think of quitting, I break things down mentally into manageable segments. I tell myself that I can run another mile and repeat this process for each mile.”

Des’ current sweet spot in her running journey centers around the trail racing ultra marathon scene. The allure of nature that comes from a wooded trail, the confidence that comes from completing distances of 50K to 100 miles and beyond provides her with that thrill. Locking into the mental focus required to run for hours at a time is a task that she craves. 

Everyone has a story.  Stay tuned next month for another runner’s story.

Dennis McKeen Story

 Unretired

“Substitute teaching: where flexibility meets purpose and chaos meets growth.”

Many of the members of our staff spend much of their working years in the education field, starting in their early to mid twenties and continuing through retirement thirty to forty years later. Not all team members have followed this common path, however. Some have enjoyed a career in another field and retired, only to realize that they are not quite ready for what retirement has to offer. These individuals have signed on to work for Harper Creek, to stay busy, and add structure to their day.  Although their experience does not include educating children, the skills they have honed in their previous careers add value to what they can bring to our district. Harper Creek district sub, Dennis McKeen, spent much of his life working in the theater industry. An innocent comment from his five-year-old granddaughter made to him a few years after retiring had him searching for a job working in a school setting. 

Dennis was raised here in Battle Creek. “I was born in April of 1962 at Community Hospital in Battle Creek to David and Gloria McKeen,” Dennis noted. “I am the youngest of seven, with three brothers and three sisters.”  Dennis’ childhood years were in an era where spending time outside and being active was the norm. “I enjoyed playing all sports starting in elementary school,” Dennis explained.  “Baseball was my favorite. I was sure I was going to be a professional athlete. When I was in middle school, I went to football tryouts at Northwestern Middle School. I took a hard hit during these tryouts and decided that football wasn’t for me.”

Organized sports weren’t the only thing that kept Dennis busy as a child. “While not at school, we would play games outside with the neighborhood kids,” Dennis recalled. “My dad would flood the side yard every winter to make an ice rink for my siblings and our friends. Our yard was the neighborhood playground.”

The family unit was an important part of Dennis’ childhood. He reflected on this. “My mom stayed at home when I was growing up, and my dad worked as an electrician for Post,” Dennis recalled. “My brothers and sisters were in charge of watching me when we were outside, and when they grew tired of me, they would put me in an oak tree in our backyard. I was unable to climb down myself, but loved being in the tree.” 

Dennis was named after his uncle, who is a war hero. “My uncle was killed in action during World War II,” Dennis explained. “He was a paratrooper and went MIA on his first assignment when his plane went down, and he was assumed dead. Years later, it was revealed that he survived the plane crash. An ally jeep picked him up to take him to a hospital, but the Nazi’s hijacked the jeep, and he was thrown off to the side of the road because he was in such bad shape. He didn’t survive long after this.” 

Dennis started school in Kindergarten at Urbandale Elementary School, continuing with Battle Creek Public Schools at Northwestern Middle School, and then attending and graduating from Battle Creek Central High School. It was at this time that his focus for a future career began to switch from professional sports to another sector of the entertainment industry. “Much of my extra time was spent working in theater starting in high school,” said Dennis. “There was a girl that I liked who was in theater, so I decided to pursue theatre so that I could spend time with her. We eventually started dating.” Dennis has been involved in all aspects of theater, starting as a teenager and continuing through a long career, including acting, directing, and writing, with his first passion in performance going back to movement and physical activity as a young child. “I fell in love with dancing in high school,” Dennis explained. “I remember watching Fred Astaire movies as a teenager and being captivated with tap dancing. I acted, danced, and sang. I also choreographed while participating in high school theater. I became interested in every aspect of theater, including acting, set design, and props.”

Dennis invested much of his time working in theater while at Battle Creek Central. It became more than an extracurricular activity for him. He hoped that in the future he could earn a living as an adult in the industry. “After graduating from Battle Creek Central in 1980, I went to KCC to get my associate's degree in Theater Arts,” Dennis noted. “I became very involved in theater productions while attending KCC and also began directing.” 

Dennis finished up his associate's degree at KCC in the spring of 1982, then followed his girlfriend to Central Michigan University. Their relationship would end, causing a temporary glitch in Dennis’ pursuit of a career in theatre. “I enrolled at Central Michigan to work on my BA in theater,” Dennis said. “The girl that I had dated in high school also enrolled at Central. She eventually decided that she didn’t want to be with someone who was going to be an actor. I then decided to switch my major to elementary education in an attempt to salvage our relationship, but the two of us ended up parting ways.”

A career change to education didn’t last long for Dennis. He was presented with an unexpected job opportunity in the spring of 1983, and he decided to drop out of school. “I was offered a job as an actor for the musical The Chorus Line, at True Gist Theater,  a little theatre in Homer, Michigan,” Dennis explained. “The Chorus Line gig was a three-month commitment for True Gist’s summer season. I met my first wife, Cindy, who was also working on the Chorus Line, and we started dating.” Fortunately, a plan would evolve following the summer at True Gist.  “One of the directors at the True Gist Theater was also a teacher in the theater department at Western Michigan,” Dennis noted. “He convinced me to go back to school to get my BA in theater.” Dennis enrolled at Western that fall and was back on track. “As I got into my classes at Western, it felt like this was where I belonged,” said Dennis. “ I continued to hone my skills by participating in theater during my time as a student at Western. I finished up the spring of 1987 with my BA degree.”

Dennis and Cindy found employment as actors during the summer of 1987. “Cindy and I worked at Amish Acres, a theater in Northern Indiana, during the summer of 1987 for one season, approximately seven months,” Dennis explained. “We also got married that summer and then moved together to southern Florida to work at Naples Dinner Theatre, after finishing the show season at Amish Acres.” After a year and a half in Florida, Dennis and Cindy were ready to come back to Michigan. “We came back home in the summer of 1989 to work at Tibbits Theatre in Coldwater, for one summer,” Dennis recalled. “We also were working in a comedy group with some friends during our time at Tibbits.”

Dennis spent about two years at Tibbits and was also working in the comedy group. The comedy group eventually led to a more stable job. Dennis reflected on this. “My agent secured an audition for my comedy group with an organization looking to start up a comedy murder mystery show to go on tour around the country,” Dennis shared. “We got the job, and I was able to work as an actor, writer, and director. Our home base was Battle Creek. We named our company Top Hat Productions and performed at college venues throughout the country.” Top Hat Productions was in business for twelve years, performing in every state except Alaska. “At our peak, we had three different crews performing at one time," Dennis explained. “We had an agent who helped us book shows. Eventually, the whole murder mystery thing began to burn out, so it wasn’t lucrative for us to continue doing this.”

Top Hat Productions may have run its course, but Dennis had gained plenty of valuable experience building his resume, which allowed him to quickly find another job in the industry. “I ended up working at the dinner theater at Cornwell's Dinner Theater, acting, writing, and directing traditional plays and musicals,” Dennis said. “I worked there for twenty years, doing 187 different shows, 27 of which I wrote. We were shut down during the pandemic and eventually reopened, but by then, I was ready to scale back.” 

Dennis semi-retired after more than twenty-five years of pouring his soul into his passion for writing, acting, and directing. He has kept his hat in the ring on a part-time basis, spending a few summers working at the summer season at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, building and putting together sets for their shows. 

Dennis and Cindy have one child together, Kenneth, who was born in 1989. Dennis and Cindy divorced in  1992, and Cindy and Kenneth now live in Boston. Dennis remarried in 2000. “My wife Holly and I have one child together, Bailey, who was born in 1996,” Dennis noted. “I have one step-son, Greg, who was born in 1993. Greg and Bailey each have two children, giving Holly and me a total of four grandchildren. Holly became disabled in 2018. When Cornwell’s shut down during the pandemic a few years later, I decided it was time to retire from full-time theatre work so that I could have more free time to spend with Holly, which has enabled me to take care of her more consistently.”

Dennis and Holly were also business owners in Marshall for a few years. “We owned Marshall Carriage Company from 2017 to 2022,” explained Dennis, “offering horse-drawn carriage rides through downtown Marshall. These carriage rides consisted of a guided historical tour of Marshall, including ghost tours.” 

After retiring from the theater industry, Dennis didn’t intend to go back to work. A conversation with his granddaughter a few years ago set the wheels in motion for him to join our staff at Harper Creek. “In 2021, my granddaughter, who was in Kindergarten at the time, was talking about her school one day, " said Dennis. “She told me that I should be a substitute teacher. Our conversation got me thinking. I thought that this would be a flexible job, allowing me to work and also be able to take care of Holly.”

Dennis signed on to substitute teach not long after the conversation with his granddaughter in 2021.  He spent a few years taking job assignments at schools in and around Battle Creek. “I started substitute teaching in 2021 throughout the Battle Creek area,” Dennis recalled. “I began a long-term sub job at Harper Creek Middle School in 2023, and then became a district sub in 2024.” Since joining Harper Creek as a district sub, Dennis has spent most of his time at Wattles Park. He enjoyed working with middle school students and wasn’t quite sure of what his comfort level would be at the elementary level, but it has grown on him. He filled in for a few months to begin the 2024/25 school year, teaching Spanish. This fall, he has spent most of his time helping out in a Kindergarten classroom. 

Dennis reflected on the satisfaction that has come from substitute teaching. “I feel I have some history in teaching. My grandmother was a teacher. Also, my experience in directing shows is similar to teaching. I have enjoyed the day-to-day experience of being in a school. I enjoy watching children grow and learn. It is neat to see when a kid gets a concept after struggling to master it. I have been in Mrs. Shipley’s Kindergarten classroom this fall and have been happy with my comfort level in working with Kindergarten students. My grandkids and the kids I work with bring me a great deal of joy. I have been at Wattles Park primarily for the past two years and appreciate the sense of community and family.”

Dennis has a unique perspective, having spent a career acting, writing, and directing. Pursuing a career in this industry required a leap of faith from him, with long-term financial security not always being guaranteed. “I would encourage others to live the life you want to live,” Dennis shared. “Making lots of money is not always the most important thing. Enjoying your job is important.”

When Dennis originally signed up to substitute teach, he thought it might be nice to work a few days a week, but this plan has changed, and as a district substitute, he has committed to working full-time for our district. Our district subs provide an invaluable service every day. They have committed to subbing exclusively in our district, even when the need for substitute teachers is high for all schools in and around Battle Creek. They don’t know what they will do from day to day, but come in ready to help out wherever they are needed.