EUGENE, Ore. – Not everyone can run. While many people have the ability to move their bodies quickly, it takes a gifted athlete to truly be a runner. For Heike McNeil, the fifth-year cross country and distance track coach at Northwest Christian University, running has been a part of her life for over 20 years. Even amid a busy schedule of coaching and teaching both chemistry and exercise science classes at NCU, she still finds time to compete.
Both coach McNeil and assistant coach Dan Jackson have been a part of the Eugene Running Club for many years, competing in local road races and all-comers track meets. This year everything jumped to a whole new level as McNeil claimed silver medals in the women’s over-35 category in both the 1500m and 5000m races in the US Masters National Championships.
This milestone event was just one in a series of remarkable moments in the career of Northwest Christian’s first and only cross country and track coach. McNeil ran collegiately at Linfield College, while still a member of the NAIA. She earned All-American honors and was a national qualifier in the marathon before graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1996.
After finishing college, Heike began training in the triathlon, hoping to compete in the Olympics for her native Germany. “I ended up being overwhelmed by the time commitment of training for the cycling part of the event, so I decided to just stick with running.”
Ironically, running had been her weakest event in the triathlon, due to the long 10,000m distance in the event. “My body is better fit for middle distances, so track has proven to be great for me.”
Fast forward to January 2007. McNeil hurt her foot while running and, thinking it was simply plantar fasciitis, kept running on it for two years, trying to keep the pain under control. “I knew that a doctor couldn’t help and would just tell me not to run for six months,” she said.
Finally, in February of 2009, McNeil saw a doctor and received x-rays only to discover that she in fact had broken her foot 25 months earlier. While they were unable to fix the foot, she received a pair of orthotics which allowed her to run at a higher volume, and run pain free. McNeil said, “I was able to run more than ever before, because my body just wouldn’t let me do the kind of mileage that I could now do.”
In May of 2009, McNeil became a US citizen, allowing her the opportunity to compete in the US Masters Championships. McNeil and Jackson began a solid year of training, putting in anywhere from 50 to 60 miles a week. Then it was off to Hornet Stadium in Sacramento for Nationals this past July.
In 85 degree heat, McNeil first took second in the 5000m. In the 1500m race McNeil had chased down the first-place woman, but over the final 100 meters felt her legs going out and fell right before the finish line. “I’m not sure how long it took me to get back up,” said McNeil, “but fortunately the leader and I had created a big enough distance to the rest of the pack that I was still able to finish second.”
Coach Jackson also had a remarkable time in the men’s over-50 events, taking sixth place in the 1500m and tenth in the 5,000m. For both coaches however, the heat led to some finish times that were slower than they had hoped for, helping to fuel a fire for more competition.
The fire will be able to burn bright next summer, when the Master’s world championships make their way to the same venue in Sacramento. McNeil said, “The trip was great and it really left me hungry for more and we are going back to the world championships next year for sure.”
In the meantime, Coach McNeil returns to her duties leading the NCU men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams. And she’ll do it with a renewed sense of leadership that only comes by putting yourself in your athletes shoes. “Sometimes you forget what it feels like to race a certain distance,” she said. “When I was racing, I heard myself say things like ‘close the gap’ and was able to do it. It’s a good check to make sure what you are asking the kids to do is reasonable. It also helps when you describe to them what the last laps of a long race should feel like when you’ve been there yourself.”
The 2010 cross country season will kick off on September 10th when the Beacons travel to Pier Park in Portland to compete in the University of Portland Invitational.
