The Best Part of My Day

Just Another Runner’s Perspective October 2026 Written By Gale Fischer

The Best Part of My Day

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

—Helen Keller

9/18/2026: Sunny skies, a nip in the air, and heavy dew covering the grass at Grand Woods Park in Lansing, Michigan, gave a feel of early autumn. Today was Kellogg Community College’s (KCC) third cross-country meet of the 2026 campaign, and conditions were aligned for some breakout performances for the Bruin runners. Our ladies started the day's excitement with many great individual achievements and steady improvements from their last race. The men followed it up with several impressive individual finish times, including the team’s top runner for the day, Jonah, smashing his previous 8K PR by thirty-nine seconds. The smile on Jonah’s face as I took an action photo of him near the midway point of the race told the story of how his day would play out. The reasons why I choose to coach are many, but perhaps the photo of Jonah with a smile plastered on his face mid-race provides the best explanation. The rewards that come from coaching are always bountiful. These rewards can come without individual or team success, but there is no doubt that days like the one that our runners had at Grand Woods Park are the frosting on the cake of the blessings that come from coaching.

My personal running journey began just before the turn of the century. The emotional high of finishing my first marathon a year after beginning this journey changed my life forever. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, a few years later I took notice of what running could do for me physically and for my peace of mind. As a teenager, I had lost my father at the age of forty-two to a massive heart attack. I first tried running at the age of twenty-nine because of the desire to challenge myself mentally and physically, not because of what had happened to my father, but in time my father became one of my motivations to continue a running routine. As my running journey began to play out through my thirties and I crept closer to the age of my father when he passed away, I took reassurance in knowing that running would decrease the odds of me experiencing a similar fate. 

Running made and continues to make my heart strong, but the rewards I have reaped from my sport go beyond avoiding a major health catastrophe. Eventually I began to experience success at the marathon distance, filling my soul with confidence that positively rippled through all aspects of my life. Now, nearly twenty years after my marathon PR, the fast times have faded, and another marathon finish seems well out of reach. At times, this has been a tough pill to swallow, but coaching has helped to fill this void. The thrills experienced from coaching runners may be different from the thrills that I experienced as a competitive runner, but both equally fill my heart with positive vibes. 

In many ways, I can relate to the athletes that I coach because of the miles I have logged through the years, but there are also nuances of our shared sport that are a part of my athletes’ running journeys that I have never had the opportunity to experience. Having not competed as a high school or collegiate runner, I have never been a part of a team of runners. I have competed just as the runners that I coach have and understand the commitment, hard work, and patience required to tap my potential as a runner, but I have only competed for myself as an individual, not as part of a team. Although I have never tasted what it is like to be part of a cross-country team as a runner, coaching has opened the door for me to understand, on some level, the positive feeling that comes from being a part of a team.

I first started coaching in 2014 when my daughter joined her school’s cross-country team. Her coach knew that I was a serious runner and wanted to tap into my experience and knowledge. He asked me to join his coaching staff. I was reluctant initially. The idea of mentoring teenagers intimidated me. I didn’t know if I could relate to them. After much coaxing, I agreed to help out. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could indeed relate to these teenagers through running. Coaching quickly shifted from something that I was uncomfortable with to something that was the best part of my day. Before this, I never imagined that running could provide me with blessings beyond racing and logging my daily miles. As it turned out, coaching could offer me another unexpected element of my sport. 

I continued coaching high school cross-country for a few years after my daughter graduated and eventually made the transition to the junior college level. I have found that, like anything in life, there are frustrations that come with coaching, but it still remains the best part of my day after all of these years. Seeing the excitement of one of my runners reach a milestone, set a PR, or eclipse a goal is a source of great satisfaction, but this kind of experience would seem empty without the day-to-day experiences of coaching, including the coach/athlete interactions, the relationships developed with my athletes, watching my athletes build relationships with one another, and seeing the same joy that running has given me in my athletes. 

As we approach the home stretch of the 2026 cross-country season, high hopes abound among our team in what we can accomplish in the remainder of the regular season and into the postseason. This year’s squads are stacked with the highest level of collective potential and a higher level of commitment to the process than any of the KCC teams I have been a part of in the past four years. Our coaching staff, consisting of three other coaches, understands that this group is special and can make history for their school by season’s end. We are all very excited about the remainder of the season.

My passion for my sport is what has kept me running as part of my routine for the past thirty years. Sharing this passion with the athletes that I coach is what I enjoy most about being a coach.  I desire for my athletes to grow and develop as human beings because of running, and reach their potential individually and as a team. I also hope that in my role as a coach, I can help to promote our sport by helping our athletes find their own passion for running. Nothing would please me more than seeing these young runners continue running after their time as a student-athlete has passed. 

Until next time, this has been just another runner’s perspective.