Submitted photo: Blake Utley and Tehya Miller stand together after completing a marathon in 2018. Miller, now a Fort Dodge Senior High physical education teacher, took over the program from Utley.

Blake Utley and Tehya Miller have shared many of the same passions and experiences — both as students growing up in Fort Dodge, and now, as current Fort Dodge Senior High teachers.

When Utley decided now was the time to pass on a program he started 15 years ago at FDSH, there was no one better to fill his shoes than Miller, who was just returning home to start her own career journey.

Back in the fall of 2008, Utley — a 2001 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate — began training to run his first marathon.

“I ran one in the January 2009 with Nick Vinson,” Utley said. “We both trained together and ran it together. Finishing a marathon was always on my bucket list. I talked about it in college but never ran one. Some classmates at that time mentioned I should run a half marathon and I told them why would I waste my time doing that and not runinng the whole thing.

“I told them at the time I guarantee the first one I do is the full distance and it was. I learned a lot from that experience.”

Utley was gifted a book by former Dodger head football coach Matt Miller — the father of Tehya — that had been written by University of Northern Iowa professors.

“He had heard about the book and thought it would help,” Utley said. “The professors at UNI had a class where you would train all semester long for a full marathon. That included the mental approach, along with the physical side to running it.”

After he completed his first distance journey, Utley wanted to figure out a way to include the training in his physical education classes. Thanks to the backing of administration, he was able to start the half marathon class in the fall of 2009.

Since that time, almost 200 students have finished the course and completed a half marathon at numerous cities in the U.S.

“I cannot thank Dave Keane, who was the principal at the time, and (fellow administrator) Ben Johnson for all they did,” Utley said. “Dave was a huge believer in great ideas for classes and doing whatever he could to help.

“That first class went down to the IMT Des Moines Half Marathon and we had a great time with it. There were probably 11 or 12 kids, including Jeremiah Reed, who is a teacher here at FDSH now.”

Along with completing the running part of the event, the students also volunteer at the sites of the race. They did everything from handing out information to setting up and tearing down the start/finish line.

Utley also said he has heard numerous times that other runners would love for their communities to get behind and support such an experience for their local youth.

A decade later, Miller — then a student at FDSH — took the same class and would complete her first half marathon under the guidance of Utley.

“Blake could convince almost anyone to take the class,” Miller said. “If he believed you could do it, he would stay on you and ask every other day if you signed up for the class. I grew up as an athlete, so I always had a competitive side to me. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

“I was never a runner or even had a thought about running, but I knew this would push me. The class was the highlight of my whole high school career. It’s hard to pinpoint my favorite memory…I just remember completing that first 10-mile run and thinking to myself, ‘I just did that.’

“Also seeing the faces of my classmates and the enjoyment when they finished too was memorable. It’s an odd feeling, but you understand the pain and the hardship they went through to finish. You also build friendships in this class with people you may have never talked to before.”

Miller’s desire to take her college education in the direction of teaching came from the half-marathon class.

“It truly changed me as a person. There was no hesitation in thinking that I wanted to take this over,” she said. “It’s truly why I became a physical educator. It taught me a new way to be active, but also, that anyone can do it.”

Utley added, “as rewarding as it was to see kids finish, it is super rewarding to hand it off to Tehya.”

“Now it’s her baby and I’m here to help with anything she needs,” Utley said. “It’s just really cool to hand something off to somebody that I had in class and means a lot to you. I am really close friends with her dad, and now seeing his daughter teaching the same job as him with her own twist…that’s great to be part of.”

Both Miller and Utley run with the students, who have joined the course from all different hallways.

“I could go on forever about the benefits of this class, and why it’s so important, but for me, it shows students they are capable of pretty much anything,” Miller said. “It takes a lot of courage to say you’re going to run a half marathon as a teenager. That’s not on many adults’ radars, let alone students.

“This is class is to prove to you that you can finish it, and you can do it. The hardest thing is waking up that morning and tying your shoes. It opens a whole new gate of fitness and mental toughness. We are super grateful that we have such a supportive administration that continues to let us do it.”