Mike Schiebout, assistant professor of biology, will run the Nashville “Rock n’ Roll” marathon on April 28, after an intense period of training that began in September of last year. Having experience as a runner in grade school, high school and college, Schiebout started running again last year with his friend and colleague, James Kerfoot, assistant professor of biology. They would run for about 20 minutes, three days a week.
Soon after, Schiebout visited his college friend, Brian Wilgenburg, who is a prominent veterinarian. On that trip, they discussed the possibility of running a longer distance. After Schiebout returned home, he received a text that said, “Hey, if you sign up for the Nashville marathon, I’ll sign up for the Nashville marathon.” He concluded that if he ever wanted to do something like this, now is the time. It was decided, and they both began their own forms of training.
Since September, Schiebout has run every Tuesday and Thursday at 5 a.m. and every Sunday at 6 a.m. On Sunday mornings, he runs with Wade Norris, a local forester who qualified for the Boston Marathon five or six times. The two run 14-16 miles together.
“But he runs five to eight miles before he even starts running with me,” Schiebout said.
For the first 6-8 weeks, he ran 20 miles a week. For the second 6-8 weeks, he ran 30 miles a week. Then 40. Then he ran 50 miles one week. Now, he’s on his taper, which means he has cut back on mileage to allow time for rest and recuperation for the day of the race.
Wilgenburg’s training has looked a little different. After getting sick with influenza, he decided to run the half-marathon rather than all 26.2 miles. His preparation has consisted of having his wife drop him off at work a few times, then running the 17 miles home at the end of the day.
“I’m disappointed he’s not running with me, because I was really looking forward to beating him,” Schiebout said.
“I’m not as motivated as him,” Wilgenburg said. “Ask him what his motivation is.”
“I’m competitive,” Schiebout said. “If I start something, I want to finish it, and I want to do it to the best of my ability.”
Upon hearing this, Wilgenburg replied, “I don’t really feel that way at all. I just want to have fun, and I’m expecting good music in Nashville. If I don’t get it, I’ll be disappointed.”
Since Schiebout won’t exactly be competing against Wilgenburg anymore, he has decided to view this as a competition against himself, an opportunity to surpass his own limitations.
Schiebout began running competitively in grade school. He was one of the most athletic in his small class of 14 (seven boys and seven girls) and consistently received awards for his hard work. On a cold, windy day in Iowa during his freshman year — as Schiebout prepared to compete in the one-mile race — his coach told him to stay behind in third place so he could ideally overpower the two in front on the last leg of the race. Only the winner and second runner would earn all-conference merits, and that’s what Schiebout wanted. Not knowing any better, he listened to his coach.
“I remember the last 200 meters of that race, running harder than I’ve ever run before in terms of pushing my body to the limit,” Schiebout said. “I was actually seeing tunnel-vision, where the light was becoming smaller and smaller as I ran toward the finish line. I ended up being third place, so I didn’t make all-conference.”
He finished that mile in five minutes and five seconds as a freshman in high school. Schiebout went on to join the cross country team at Dordt College. The top five runners were selected to compete in the conference tournament, and Schiebout was selected as the fifth runner, “because,” he said, “one of their best runners always ended up being injured.” But he trained hard and was successful.
After college, he began his career, got married, and now has four kids. Running hasn’t been a priority again, until recently. Throughout his time training, he’s considered the possibility of using his time from the Nashville Marathon to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He had a conversation with Steve Troxel, his kids’ cross country coach at Augustine School in Jackson, who worked out the numbers and predicted that as of right now, there’s a chance he would qualify.
As a way to be at home and available for his family while training, he bought a treadmill and spends hours running on it. Schiebout uses this method of training at times as an opportunity to watch a sermon or listen to music, which usually consists of a mix of classic rock with classic hymns and contemporary pop with contemporary worship — recommendations from his wife and kids.
“If it’s sad and a little bit depressing and soulful, then I’ll probably like it,” Schiebout said. “Except that’s generally not great for running, unless maybe you’re in a lot of pain.”
Pain is something Schiebout has become accustomed to when running, and he’s learned how to overcome it with his mind, pushing the pain back and simply convincing himself that it’s more important to keep going.
Photo by Kristi McMurry Woody
