Change The Game

Hello, everyone!

Last time you heard from me, I was about to head to USAs with the family. So, here’s a little life update from these past couple months—it’s been jam-packed with good times and long days with my people. In this edition, I’ll share how others have inspired me recently. Grab your cup of joe (or an electrolyte drink) and enjoy.

US Championships

Kelly and I decided to make this trip a family affair. I’m so glad we did. Yes, traveling with a toddler is tough, but the memories we made were priceless.

The trip didn’t start smoothly—our first flight out of Hays was canceled, we had a six-hour layover in Denver, and then finally made it to Eugene, OR around 11 PM PT. Our legend of a host, Roger Kuhl, picked us up and once again the Kuhl family, along with Tim and Londa Rocholz, took amazing care of us. We couldn’t do this without them!

Pre-meet day was hectic - I interviewed candidates for a position in my department via Zoom, ran at the track with Kelly and JJ cheering me on, ate some great food, and tried to rest up.

Race day – Coming off the hamstring injury, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had nothing to lose, so I wanted to swing for the fences—chase a PB and try to make the final. Cole Hocker, the Olympic champ, pressed early, and I hung on. Through 1200m I was at 2:53, the fastest I’ve ever gone through to that point, and on pace for a personal best. Then… the wheels fell off. Fitness just wasn’t quite there yet. I finished in a season’s best 3:38. Bittersweet.

But walking off the track, I saw Kelly with Judah strapped to her in her “cool mom pack,” taking pictures. That moment will stick with me forever. 

Daniel “MillHouse” Michalski

I want to share with you a story about my friend, Daniel Michalski (a.k.a. “MillHouse”). Dan just finished in second place at the US Championships in the 3,000m steeplechase and later won the NACAC Championships in a PB of 8:14, securing his position to compete for the United States at the World Championships in September! That’s cool and all—but let me share with you about how he got there. I’ll miss a few things, but here’s how it went down from my point of view.

Dan competed at a Division II school, Cedarville University, where he became a national champion. After his fourth season, he transferred to Indiana University to compete for his final season in 2019. He had a great season and was looking sharp going into the NCAA Championships in Austin, TX. With 200m to go in the final, he was leading and pulling away from the field. On his last water barrier, he clipped his foot and fell. Multiple athletes passed him, but he got up and finished 7th place to end his college career. If he had stayed on his feet, I truly believe he would have won and landed a pretty nice professional contract. But that wasn’t God’s plan for him.

Dan and his wife moved to Florida, where his wife Abby started her coaching career in volleyball. I believe they lived in an RV. Dan continued to train while working at Walmart and other jobs during the stint through COVID. (This might not be 100% accurate—sorry, MillHouse fam.) Sometime after this, they moved to Texas, started a family, and Dan began coaching at a Division III school while getting incredibly fit again. At this time, he was running for Tracksmith and living the dream.

Drake Relays, 2021 – Des Moines, Iowa is where the “Speed Boys” group began. My mentor and friend, who was Dan’s coach at the time, Mark Misch, reached out to me and shared that Dan would run the steeplechase at Drake Relays, as I was to compete in the 1500m. He suggested that we connect since we were two believers on the circuit who could help each other out with car rides and hotels. I picked Dan up from his Airbnb, and we immediately hit it off. He ended up winning his race at Drake, and I came in 4th in the 1500m with a 3:39.

Two weeks later, we were racing in LA. Of course, I was trying to save money, so I asked Dan to room with me, but he already had other arrangements. Instead, he made a group chat with me and two other guys—Paul Ryan and Austen Dalquist—and he helped me find a room. We’ve become great friends and to this day, we still message each other daily, mostly talking about nonsense. Recently, we even changed the group chat name to “MillHouse Men” after he made the US team this year, haha.

2021 Olympic Trials – I barely missed out on qualifying to the Trials in 2021, but I was glued to the TV when I watched Dan show up to the final of the steeplechase in a Nike kit! Dan ran the race of his life and came up just short, finishing 4th—one place away from making it to the Olympics!!

Over the next few years, Dan and his family moved to Colorado Springs, where he trained mostly on his own, and had to make some big decisions. How does someone like Dan support his family while still trying to chase the dream of being an elite runner? His Nike deal was up after a year, so Dan and his amazing support system floated the idea of joining the WCAP team, where Dan would go to Basic Military Training for about two months. Once his training was complete, he became a professional runner for them, now until they decide they need him to fly (or clean) jets. 😉 

After the pause on running to complete Air Force school, Dan tried to get as fit as possible before the 2023 US Championships. He did well, making the final and leading much of the race, but didn’t finish as high as he had hoped.

2024 was another tough year in the Springs for Dan, but he stayed consistent and chipped away at his training nicely. He ran anywhere from 8:20–8:28 in the steeple and seemed to be kind of stuck there. Solid times to be ranked nationally, but if you want to make it big, you need to be in the 8:10–8:15 range! The 2024 Olympic Trials seemed like it could have been his day, but Dan did not advance to the final—his first time not making a final, I believe, in his entire running career.

At that point, Dan and his family really needed to make some decisions - stay in Colorado Springs and keep believing, or try something else. The guy had insane talent—he just needed a good squad to train with.

2025 – All in!
Dan packed up his family—now with three beautiful kids—and moved to Provo, Utah to train with one of the world’s best distance coaches and alongside Olympic silver medalist, Kenneth Rooks. It was an exciting decision, but I’m sure that was hard for his family. A couple of months went by, and he became extremely fit. He opened his season with a time in the upper 8:20s, got back to training, and then in his next race—bang—finally hit a huge PB of 8:18. At that point in time, it had been a few years since he had run a personal best. So far, the move to Utah was a good decision. On to the US Championships…

Dan’s steeplechase preliminary race was silky smooth. A couple days later, Austen, Kelly, Judah and I were sitting front row for his final. My heart was racing, but I was super excited for our guy. The race played out well for Dan—not too fast—and then a slight wind-up with three laps to go. He sat patiently and was on the rail most of the race. With two laps to go, a pack started breaking away—he was in third, I believe. One lap to go and he was in second, with his teammate, Kenneth Rooks, taking the lead. Right in front of us with 300m to go, Dan clipped the barrier (our hearts skipped a beat). He didn’t fall, but that kind of thing definitely gets in a runner’s head. He managed well, and his last barriers were smooth like butter. With 100m to go, he sent it—I thought he was going to win! Not quite, but he finished second!!!

I sat there shaking, holding my son in my arms, tears in my eyes, thinking about Dan’s last four years—how he went through so many trials and kept going when only a few people truly believed he could do it. Absolutely incredible. Eventually, Dan the Man made his way around the track to where we were sitting, with his medal around his neck. Austen, Dan, and I shared a hug a moment that was so surreal. Austen put aside the running and we prayed together, focusing our eyes on our Creator. Another memory I will cherish forever.

To wrap up, everyone: let’s get really bad at quitting, like my good friend Daniel. He has persevered and always kept his eyes on his goal. He knew what he could accomplish when the world didn’t. To that, I thank you, Dan, for showing us how to make it happen. He never got the fancy professional running contract, he lives a simple life, has a beautiful family, and he takes risks—something I really admire about him.

If you need someone to root for during the Tokyo World Champs (September 13–20), it’s Patriotic, Family Man, Dan! He’ll probably be rocking a mustache with a bald eagle on his shoulder.

Speed Round

• This week we met Tom, the man on the porch from the last newsletter. He moved from Colorado a year ago. Judah and I plan to visit him more during our evening runs.

• My team members, Hugo Perez, Raneem Ghunaim, and I, alongside our student staff, put on a wild welcome weekend for FHSU freshmen, who brought incredible energy. 

• I had the pleasure of collaborating with Sigma Chi Fraternity for the first Back to School Bash concert in the Quad, that featured Logan Mize as the headliner with our local favorite band, Reprise opening.

• FHSU Cross Country is thriving, with men and women building a strong team culture and enjoying each other’s company.

I hope you're all doing well! My encouragement to you is let others inspire you and learn from them. Here’s a quote from one of the most innovative leaders in the country, Jesse Cole, owner of the Savannah Bananas: “Change the game, break the rules, and create an unforgettable experience.”

Keep pressing,
Kelly, Brett, and Judah Cub