Building for the Fall: D3 Alumni Marathon Series - Dan O'Keefe
“Feel it, and beat it!” - Al Carius
Dan O’Keefe (North Central College 2018) is stiff where he should be limber and limber where he should be stiff. In the 12 hours prior to meeting the boys early Wednesday morning for 14 miles, there was: a night track workout with the same squad, family dinner, time with baby Maeve and putting her to bed, coaching and consultation for several of his athletes, and only a few hours of sleep. Maeve comes along today in the stroller as the gangly (and fully adult) boys of Coach Steen Running prowl the daybreak streets of Naperville. Then they rush to their jobs as accountants, analysts, and shoe store managers. There isn’t much wiggle room anywhere, it feels. And yet, there he is, there they all are. Tired but untroubled, still doing the thing. Still doing it with each other.
In the passions we will all one day loosen a white knuckle to, what comes first: the fire slowly petering out with time and separation, or our other responsibilities growing too large? Dan, currently training for the Indianapolis Marathon in November, appears to be a man who can do it all. More aptly, he may still do it all to the best of his ability because that’s the life he wills for himself. Dan’s a full time worker, new dad, and the co-coach of Coach Steen Running, a retirement project by the venerable Illinois high school running coach Paul Vandersteen. The two of them have taken on NCC alumni, other regional D3 and D1 relics, and non-affiliated runners still yearning to PR, by the dozens. That includes me, remotely, for my past few marathon builds. That’s because Dan is what Steen routinely calls “cerebral.”
I first came face to face tangibly with Dan’s sagacity at the 2024 Boston Marathon, when he was still within my sights at mile 18. I began to have grand visions of the pupil usurping the master - and then he put 4 full minutes on me in the final 8 miles. Vandersteen then recommended that Dan directly coach me for the next marathon to learn more from him. That’s one of Dan’s better character traits: he’s both the coach and the teammate. He calls the shots, then lines up right with you to get it done.
Dan’s alma mater NCC XC has been the envy of D3 running for the better part of a century. We all know this. This can be largely attributed to the late Al Carius and, trickling down, to the hundreds of athletes he’s inspired that adopted his spirit to which they give their own unique inflection. Dan’s favorite quote from Al is:
“Feel it, and beat it!”
“When it comes to the marathon I couldn’t think of a better lesson. [Carius] used to shout that to us as we did our hill repeats on Wednesday in cross, and then again in the later stages of the race. It’s all about embracing that pain, that suck, and not letting it control how the race goes. Don’t hide from the discomfort. I particularly think of this that last 10k of each marathon and can still picture him doing hill repeats alongside us while mid cancer treatments back in 2016. Even in his 70’s while battling cancer, he wasn’t letting it beat him.
NCC has never really gotten the most talented guys coming in like most D3 schools so it definitely was the mentality of ‘Others may be more talented, but we will always outwork them.’ That was the part we could control, whether that came from the high mileage, the daily 6:30 am runs, or the multiple hard workouts in the week. We drew confidence from that idea and pride in the work. When it came down to the hard parts of the race, we knew it mostly wasn’t going to be as hard as getting after each other in those workouts. I still definitely draw a lot of confidence in my running when I am able to hit some bigger (relative to now) mileage and consistent hard workouts strung together. It just works for me and is something I still enjoy.”
Dan’s probably not happy that he’s “only” peaked in the 80s for this Indy build thus far. Alec Danner, a Bradley University (D1) alumni and founding Coach Steen member attests that “He’s a natural born leader who pours himself completely into each aspect of his life. He expects the best out of people and lifts them up by inspiring them to give 110%, no matter the circumstances. Plus, he’s one of the funniest guys I know.” With most people, it’s only one component of 1) a taxing job, 2) a new kiddo, or 3) still training hard, that turns them into a lethargic puddle who maybe only sees their favorite chums once a month. It seems to be the thing we all started with here - passion - that Dan now stretches ubiquitously across his life to in turn keep his running engine going. When you mix a single NCC alum like Dan’s continued fervor with the running community at large in Naperville, and conscript other D3 and D1 alumni, what you get is a community where it just feels right to care; it feels right to be as invested as you ever were. It’s not something everyone has. And it’s something I see, being very loosely affiliated with Coach Steen Running and NCC, as very wonderful.
“I am very lucky that in the 7+ years since graduating I have always had some form of a group or training partner to rely on. Whether that be the team itself, NCC alums older than me, guys my age, and now these awesome training groups that we have built in the last 2-3 years. It makes a huge difference. Just being able to rely on a group or person when I really don’t want to run/workout is great. And sometimes it means hunting out people but still having that recourse makes it a lot easier than those I know who are out doing all of their training solo.”
“Training definitely takes a little more of a back seat these days. It is still very important to me but as I add up responsibilities, it can’t be the number 1 thing. For me, the adjustment has been being better about being okay with getting in what I can and not feeling like things are a failure if it’s not 100% matching my plan for myself. Most mornings are now mostly waiting for my daughter to get up, let her eat and play, and then taking her out in the stroller for my runs. Some days we get in 10-12, some days are 4-5 depending on her mood and what else we have going on. It might not be the higher mileage and the workouts I’d love to do, but still getting out there and doing it matters. Getting out there is for the love of running and then still believing there is a way to better myself at it. I think at the core that is what most D3 alums were drawn to when they chose to keep running in college, and the beauty is we get to keep it up after graduating.”
—----
Dan O’Keefe is racing the Indianapolis Marathon on Saturday, Nov. 8. “Originally at the start of this build my goal was definitely to go in and shoot for a PR (currently 2:25). But as we get closer and I look at my block in relation to all the other parts of life I think a strong sub 2:30 would be more in the cards. I’ve contemplated not racing since it won’t be a ‘Chase the PR’ type of day but I’ve decided that I can still enjoy it even without that.”