By Roy Hess | The Brownsville Herald
Michael Schlater is quite an avid, passionate runner.
And even then, that’s perhaps understating it.
Since 2012, the 51-year-old electrical/manufacturing engineer has served as an assistant coach on the high school level in cross country and track at St. Joseph Academy.
As a runner, Schlater has set a high standard and become a dedicated example for the school’s athletes.
He is the proud owner of a remarkable, ongoing streak involving his running. Usually following a course through the streets of Brownsville, he’s dutifully run at least five kilometers (3.1 miles) daily for 6,143 consecutive days (his total through Saturday) and has logged 84,794 miles in the process (over his entire running career dating back to 1981). His daily streak goes back roughly 17 years.
On Saturday, Schlater went for an eight-mile run to give himself a 53-mile total for the week and account for the updated numbers in his streak.
“I know there are people who have run more miles than me and I know there are people who run faster than me,” he said. “But I don’t know of too many people who have run as many years without missing a day (like I have).
“My criteria is to run at least three miles or 25 minutes every day,” he added. “I think the thing I cherish most is my streak, which is now over 6,000 consecutive days.”
That’s quite an achievement. Remarkably, it’s still pretty far off the streak of the runner who is credited with the world record.
Ron Hill, a three-time Olympic competitor from England, owns the longest daily streak, according to a variety of sources. He ran various distances, many times just one mile, every day from Dec. 20, 1964, to Jan. 30, 2017, which amounted to 52 years and 39 days. When the streak finally ended, Hill posted on his website the reason he took a day off was due to “ill health.” He was 78 at the time and had been running at least a mile a day in his later years. His mileage for running 52-plus years totaled a little more than 159,000 miles.
Can Schlater ever catch Hill? He believes so. His average running distance per day is eight miles since 2015.
“God willing and good health permitting, I certainly will go for it,” the SJA coach said.
“I have been blessed with good health,” he added. “I have not missed a scheduled workday during my entire (engineering) career (of 33 years).”
Whether it’s cross country or track season, Schlater is always there running with the SJA athletes during workouts.
“I don’t want them to be as crazy (about running) as I am, I just want to be a role model and a good example for them (as someone dedicated to the sport),” said Schlater, a native of Dayton, Ohio, who has lived in the Rio Grande Valley since 1988.
He came to South Texas on a three-month job assignment in 1988 and wound up staying 30 years. Schlater and his wife, Maria Guadalupe (Lupita), will celebrate 25 years of marriage on July 17. They have two sons, Michael, 22, and David, 20, who are SJA graduates.
Schlater started running in 1981. He considered himself to be a good but not great runner at Dayton Carroll High School, where he graduated in 1985. Before coming to the Valley, Schlater was trained briefly by Rob Schul, the 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the 5,000 meters.
He has missed only eight days of running since 1985 with the last one being Sept. 11, 2001.
“My running flourished in college (in the 1980s at General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan),” said Schlater, who has authored a book about his childhood experiences growing up in Dayton. “Running helped me maintain my focus and I established a discipline for myself that I’ve carried with me my whole life.”
He graduated from GMI in 1989 and received an MBA from the same institute in 1993.
Schlater first began as a volunteer assistant at SJA at the junior high level in 2008. He then coached at the high school level under recently retired and longtime SJA coach Meme Garza and is currently an assistant under Teddy Lopez, who now directs the school’s cross country and track programs.
Lopez said he greatly appreciates Schlater’s contributions as a coach for the Bloodhounds.
“Coach Schlater is an inspiration,” Lopez said. “His passion and positive attitude is contagious. Distance running is probably one of the toughest things mentally in all of sports, and to have him working with our student-athletes is truly a blessing.
Lopez added, “When I think about who he is and what he does for us, this quote sums it up perfectly for me: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.’”
Schlater said he makes a point of running with the SJA athletes. He said working with them has been a mutually beneficial experience.
“ I try to be a leader (as a coach) by example, not so much with words,” he said. “I think it’s important to ‘walk the talk.’”
“ I found out running was the most natural sport for me,” he added. “There’s a correlation between the effort you put in and the result you get out. I try to pass that on.”
It was about a decade ago when Schlater began participating in masters running competitions and soon gained All-American status in distances from one mile to five kilometers.
Last weekend, he competed in a USA Track and Field Federation five-state masters regional meet in Hutto, outside of Austin. He placed first in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters in the 50-59 age division to qualify for the USATF National Championships July 26-29 in Spokane, Washington.
Regardless of where he may run, Schlater said he and his family will always consider the Valley their home.
“I do miss Dayton and seeing my parents, but this is home now and I love it,” he said.
Schlater has learned the Valley is an ideal place for a runner to train year-round and grow as a person.
“The dedication and discipline you learn by being a distance runner carries over into all facets of your life,” he said.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess