Archive: Sports

Heather Miller hated running track & field in high school.  A Homer native , she grew up in a family of educators and never thought she would become a teacher.  And after leaving home to go to college she didn't envision herself coming back to this area to live. 

Things don't always work out the way you expect them to.

An accomplished long distance runner who has competed in nine marathons, Miller has taught in Lansing for almost a decade, and has coached the varsity cross country team for the past two years.  "I saw my high school coach when I went to the state cross country meet," she says.  "He couldn't believe that I was actually coaching cross country because he knew how much I hated it in high school."


Miller is finishing her second year as Lansing's Varsity Cross Country coach, working with boy and girl athletes.  The boys took first place at the IACs, and the team competed at Sectionals yesterday.  Before coaching the varsity team she spent seven years coaching modified track.

A lifelong athlete, Miller sprinted and jumped in track, competed in pentathalons in high school and college, and was a gymnast for 18 years.  But she had not tried long distance running until she was a senior in high school.  Even though she says her coach, Jerry Frare, was amazing, she didn't like long distance running at all.  She ran one season of cross country during her senior year at SUNY Geneseo.  "I didn't enjoy it at all," she recalls.  "I was much more of a sprinter.  So I wasn't too much of a distance runner until my senior year in college and after."

But the bug must have bitten, because she has run in nine marathons since then.  The first one was in Paris when she studied there while in college.  "I didn't train very much at all, so I figured that if I didn't do very well no one would really know," she remembers.  "I was an ocean away!  But it turned out fine.  I finished under four hours."

She has run the Boston Marathon three times, with a best time of 3:27.  Other marathons have included the Ocean State marathon in Rhode Island, and her favorite one in Steamtown, PA.  She finished that in 3:09.

Miller's husband Glenn Cobb is also a runner.  They have run a couple of marathons together including the Boston Marathon.  Because he's a runner who understands running and coaching, she says he is very supportive, and adds that her parents and sister have been as well.

"They have always supported me in my running and have traveled to Boston, Rhode Island and many other places to cheer me in in marathons and races," she says.  "My mother is an inspiration not only to me but other runners as she is in her 60's and runs 5K road races, always placing in her age group. Running is something that has bonded our family, including my husband's family as well. His family has also traveled to Boston to cheer us on at the Marathon.  I guess it's something that is just part of our lives!"


Miller studied geography and environmental science at Geneseo, but she really enjoyed a tutoring program she participated in there.  That experience changed her course back toward education, and after graduation she headed off to Rhode Island College in Providence to earn her teaching certificate and my masters in education.  She was certified in elementary and special education.  When opportunity knocked, that focus brought her back to Lansing, where she is an instructional support teacher primarily for 9th and 10th graders, and also teaches an English class and a social studies class at Lansing High School.

When she got to Lansing High School the opportunity to become the modified track coach came up.  Though she had never coached before she says she wanted the opportunity to work with middle schoolers.  "I was a little nervous because I hadn't done any coaching and it was a lot different than me just going out and running," she says.  "I had to adjust my own personal running to be coach.  And I learned to deal with a lot of other things: politics and parents.  But I had a good mentor in Dan Ferguson, who coached the modified team my first year.  I learned a lot from him and really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the other age group.  It was fun."

Miller says she took Lansing's history as a successful competitive school in athletics as a personal challenge when she began coaching here.  "I had always run, but I hadn't coached," she said.  "But I had good role models and I had good athletes to work with.  I think what makes a difference is having good athletes who are committed and want to improve.  You can work with them to tailor a program that works so that everybody benefits."

Last year she became the varsity cross country coach.  She says that running is 90% mental and 10% physical.  So she works on team building, helping her athletes grow in confidence as well as competing with their own times.  She runs with the teams during practice and participates in team pasta parties, which has important advantages: student athletes try harder when they see the coach running with them, she keeps track of them when going out on long runs, and she gets to form tighter relationships with the runners and their parents.

This year's team is mostly composed of juniors, with a few sophomores, one freshman, and one senior.  Miller says that makes her a little nervous about building the program, but for now she is excited about her athletes.  "I am thrilled with our team this year," she says.  "They were great last year, but I really think having a strong indoor and outdoor season under their belts and encouraging them to run throughout the summer made a huge impact on what they did to be prepared for this season.  Because a group of our top runners are Juniors they bond on their own, which helps as a team.  I am excited about our upcoming meets and how well they have been working and training this year."


With all the aspects of her life the opposite of what she aspired to, Miller seems happy with the way things turned out.  A lot of her teaching work is similar to her college tutoring program, working with students on an individual basis.  She is happy to be a part of the Lansing community, and  enjoys both her personal long distance running and her work as a coach. 

"I'm amazed that I changed that much in running, but I think it was also a change in lifestyle," she says.  "I don't have a lot of time to run.  But it's just great to be outside and have a release from working."

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