ELCO grad trains for marathons while starting teaching career at middle school

When Mitchell Gray was at ELCO Middle School, he realized he had a gift for running.

He was competing in the mile race with a goal of getting under 5:10. On the last lap, he said he realized he was at a good pace and could continue to push.

“I knew I had less than 400 meters to go yet, and I found something down in myself that I didn’t think I could find. It was just like an inner confidence, and I realized that I had more to give than what I ever thought, and I ended up running a 5-flat in the mile,” Gray said. “I didn’t know my body was capable of doing that, but once I put my mind to it, I knew I could do it, and that just gave me the confidence of being able to know that I could do anything that I put my mind to.”

He said he continued to improve throughout high school and college, eventually bringing his mile time down to around 4:20.

Gray graduated from ELCO in 2020 and continued his running career at Lancaster Bible College. He graduated from college in December 2024, and is now back at ELCO Middle School as a physical education teacher and coach for the basketball and track and field teams. He’s continuing his running regimen and is prepping for even more races.

Despite starting his school day around 7 a.m. each day, he has stayed committed to running. Sometimes this means working the entire school day, coaching practices during the afternoons and evenings, and then training at night.

“It’s definitely not easy to balance, as you can imagine. It’s definitely a lot going on,” Gray said. “I try to get as much of a workout in as I can. I pretty much have gotten all my workouts in since then, but that goes past 7 o’clock. It’s definitely a long day, but I try to be as committed to running as I can with all those things going on.”

Gray said he’s connecting well with his athletes by having them consider their individual goals during the track and field season. He said some may be running to stay in shape for other sports, and others might have goals to qualify for district or state competitions.

“It’s just cool to see what their thought process is and where they want to reach their goals by the end of the season,” he said. “I would say it definitely is working. It gets them thinking.”

Gray is still working on his finishing time while trying to instill a passion for running in his athletes. In late March, he competed in the half-marathon Philly Love Run, finishing in 1:12:33.

“I didn’t think I would be able to hold that pace for that period of time, and when I did, I just realized that I think that is for me — running long, very long distances,” Gray said. “For me, that’s kind of where the motivation comes from. It’s knowing that I have a gift from God and knowing that He has given me that gift, and I want to utilize it to the best of my ability. I want to run as best I can.”

Now, he’s training for the full Atlantic City Marathon in October and is hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

The goal will bring hours upon hours of running long distances in the upcoming summer heat.

“I know it’s not going to be easy, and I know that summer days are very long, and I think just looking at that long-term goal of being able to run a full marathon and qualifying for Boston, and I’m feeling pretty good about it,” he said. “I know some days are going to be a lot easier and some days are going to be a lot more challenging than other days at that point.”