The Gift of Running Outside
By: Daniel P. Smith, Photos by: Scott Dinerman, STC 03 | Categories: Alumni Achievements
Nicole Fegans will leave Georgia Tech this spring as the most accomplished distance runner in Ramblin’ Wreck history. The business administration major heads into her final track season a four-time All-American, a three-time ACC champion, and the owner of multiple school records ranging from the mile to the 10K race.
Fegans reflects on how running outdoors has propelled her life.
For me, running outside means exploration. When I began running in junior high—coaxed into the sport by friends after years of trying other sports like softball and cheerleading—I explored local parks around my home in Douglasville, Ga., about 25 miles west of downtown Atlanta. These adventures amid the trees and streams became touchpoints with nature and an escape from suburban life.
In high school, my solo runs became a chance to reflect on teen issues and contemplate my life’s next steps. This self-exploration led me to Georgia Tech and sparked an enduring love for the sport.
When I arrived at Tech in August 2017, my running turned from treelined trails and suburban streets to urban avenues and paths like the Atlanta BeltLine. Urban running has allowed me to explore people, clothing, architecture, local history, and a few furry friends while intensifying my innate curiosity and offering a diversion from the grind of training.
On the BeltLine, I pass skateboarders, musicians, dog walkers, fellow runners, and one rollerblader who pairs a speaker blaring early R&B music with an effervescent smile and exuberant wave. I swear this man lives on the BeltLine, and I always hope our paths cross, even if for a fleeting moment. His smile warms my heart and makes me wonder about the rest of his life and his source of positivity.
Touring the neighborhoods around Tech, I’m captivated by the city’s architecture, an interest cultivated by my father, a former builder. From modern styles of steel and glass to stately brick mansions and understated bungalows, Atlanta’s neighborhoods deliver insights on where the city was and where it’s going. Passing these homes on foot also provides a more intimate look at the architecture and sometimes the lives inside. I’ll notice comforting tastes of life—a yellow door, a porch swing, a little girl being twirled by her father.
A chronic people-watcher, I see others and consider the different lives we all lead—our interests, ambitions, challenges, and triumphs. I hunger for the full story. Like my BeltLine rollerblader, I want to know why that girl is wearing a poofy pink dress with massive white heels. Where is she going? What is she doing? I want to stop and ask questions, but runners favor movement.
Over the years, running outside has afforded me a daily escape, but even more it has empowered me to explore places and my own sense of self. At times, my runs have inspired appreciation or wonder and, at others, they have brought clarity or confidence. Those gifts make it easier to lace up my shoes, head out the door, and go.
CROSS COUNTRY PUSHING FOR SUSTAINED SUCCESS
For a while now, head cross country coach Alan Drosky has been pondering LAF—Life after Fegans, that is.
An All-ACC performer and All-American harrier, senior Nicole Fegans led Tech’s women’s program to its greatest heights: a runner-up finish at the ACC Championships in 2020, followed by a top 20 finish at the pandemic-delayed NCAA Championships in March 2021. Fegans’ departure leaves a gaping hole atop Drosky’s roster.
“When you lose someone of Nicole’s caliber, that’s a tough one,” says Drosky, IM 87, MS Mgt 89, a former Tech standout who has guided the Jackets’ cross country programs since 1992.
Depth powered by the likes of Claire Moritz, Liz Galarza, Mary Kathryn Knott, and Sarah Copeland will be vital to sustaining the momentum the Tech women generated over recent years.
“The goal for our women’s program is to get back to the national meet and be a team that’s competing for a spot at nationals year after year,” Drosky says. “We have the athletes to do that and continue the trend we’ve been on.”
On the men’s side, Drosky aims to build his young squad into a consistent contender capable of ascending the ACC standings and earning the program’s first team appearance at the NCAA Championships.
“The pieces are there to be the kind of program we want to be,” Drosky says, pointing to returning performers James Cragin, Myles Collins, Henrik Anderson, and John Higinbotham. And Drosky is particularly optimistic about cross country given the personal bests he’s witnessed during the current track season.
“This progress sets the groundwork for the fall,” Drosky says.
