A SAINTS ATHLETE’S JOURNEY BACK TO RUNNING

Michael Ahl is just starting his studies in Sports and Exercise Science at Mt. Hood, but he’s already come a long way.

A 20-year-old student working on getting his life back on track with college, he is also fully engaged with the Saints cross-country and track teams on campus. And the two pursuits are directly linked.

Ahl has been a distance runner since entering Gordon Russell Middle School, in Gresham. At first he wasn’t that into it, but he had family members that ran in track and field, so he felt the need to be involved with running, he said.

He would continue in cross country and track at Gresham High School. During his freshman year, he was a very cocky person, he says now. He would make fun of teammates and he wouldn’t take running very seriously. He lost every race and was certainly not the best distance runner. 

Then came a life-changing sophomore year. Ahl discovered he had a hernia infection, on his right side. This changed everything for him: He realized how important running was to him.

“I found out the day of track (practice) starting that I wasn’t allowed to run, due to the hernia,” he said. “I talked to the head coach and ended up being an assistant coach for the distance(-running) crew. Doing that made me realize I wanted to be a coach when I was older and impact people the way my coaches impacted me.

“Losing the season made me cherish running more, and gave me a chip on my shoulder to run and compete more,” he said.

Right after Ahl had surgery, before the start of his junior year, he knew he really wanted compete in both cross country and track. 

“Literally having a season taken away brought fire into me,” he said. That year, he finally earned what he sought, a letterman’s jacket in both cross country and track. In every race he competed, he improved, dropping 10 seconds each race and placing in the top five competitors.

“I started finding a rhythm again,” said Ahl.

As a senior at GHS, he again ran cross country, but decided not to letter in track, giving a friend the prized opportunity instead. He noticed one of his teammates was so close to lettering and Ahl wanted to give his friend the opportunity he’d already had to finally letter in the sport.

After finishing high school, Ahl enrolled at Mt. Hood. At the time, thought he had it all: He wanted to go into the forestry degree program, focus on his education, and do what he loves – running – although he didn’t join the Saints squad at the time. 

Unfortunately, he started to face some heavy personal issues by Fall Term 2017, and began to struggle with anxiety and other health issues. 

“It was more a mental battle with myself,” said Ahl. Those issues eventually “pulled my mental health down,” and he withdrew from college in early 2018, he said.

Even so, there was a strong feeling he needed running in his life more than ever. After a year off, he decided in Winter Term 2019 to take a track class at MHCC, and through that he met two of the college’s track/running coaches, Christine Eckstein and Fernando Fantroy. 

One day, Ahl had a talk with Eckstein and she asked him, “Well, how are you doing mentally?” and he broke down into tears. He explained his tough times, and the coach was there for him, he says now.

At first, he still did not feel mentally in the right place in his life and so he would go to the class and would help out his coaches. But soon there would be a big transformation.

 From January of this year to now, Eckstein has seen so much growth and improvement with Ahl as a leader and as a distance runner, she said.

“He’s learning that running is a great therapy,” she said. “Sports in general help a lot of people in that aspect.”

The current Fall Term is Ahl’s first official term at MHCC since 2017. This also is his first official year running competitively at MHCC. Like any other student who takes time off, he feels behind in a sense, he conceded – but honestly, it’s just the beginning as he is getting his life back on track – in all respects.

“What can I do to focus better as a person, runner, and my mind?” Ahl said he has asked himself. He knew all along that he wanted to come back to MHCC just to run. Now he’s running on scholarship for the Saints.

“The moment I started running again. I was happy,” he said.

 In two cross country meets so far this season (with a third, the Warner Pacific XC Classic, scheduled for Saturday morning in southeast Portland’s Lents Park), Ahl has already sliced nearly two minutes off his 8-kilometer time. He said he enjoys truly being a part of the Saints team right now.

His coach, Eckstein, has been greatly impressed and proud of how far Ahl has come. “He’s become 100% focused at practice, as he shows how strong he is mentally. He’s been a good team leader,” she said.

Ahl has high hopes and goals for running,  as he truly loves this sport. He said his goal is to keep running at a university and to someday be a distance running coach, himself.

On what could be a great journey, this is only just the beginning.