When I first heard of Mike Fanelli‘s passing, my first instinct was to go for a run. Not only to honor Mike as a lifelong lover of the sport, but to find solace in the one place where I knew I could properly orient the news of his much too early passing at age 67.
The daily vicissitudes of anyone’s life often stir in us a pent up energy that cries out for release. For some, that release can be destructive along the lines of alcohol, food, gambling, or drugs. But for many others, running (or other cardio) becomes the perfect release valve, helping fill the hollow spaces that career, family, and love leave unfulfilled.
News of Mike’s passing on Saturday of brain cancer piggybacked another sad moment for our household yesterday, as one of Toya’s much loved clients at her gym was in his last moments in hospice care as we came to visit.
84-year-old Father Charles Eis was a native of South Boston of Irish descent. His unmistakable South Boston accent and love of Boston sports teams never left him. He spent his life traveling the globe as a Catholic chaplain in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of captain before his retirement in San Diego.
Charles was not a healthy person when he walked into the Crunch gym in Serra Mesa two and a half years ago. But in his time with Toya, he transformed his life completely. Under her guiding hand, he shed 65 pounds, a metamorphosis that surprised both his cardiologist and family alike.
“You gave him two of the best years he ever had in his life,” his sister Maddy told Toya.
At Crunch gym, Charlie discovered short, but lasting friendships through his newly found fitness regime. He topped off an already impactful life of service with an engaged final several years of personal growth.
Coaches and trainers may not make the kind of money hedge fund operators do, but the gifts they bestow in terms of quality of life and self-discovery show them to be wealthy in another way, as empaths who make profound differences in the lives of other people. Throughout their lives, Mike Fanelli and Charlie Eis prominently carried the empath’s gene.
Mike at his legendary T&F Garage Museum (photo via Cayce Clifford for RW)
Nobody embodied the well-lived running life more fully than Mike Fanelli. From his days racing for Bishop McDevitt High School in Philadelphia, to his days heading up the Reebok running promotions department in Boston, his years of coaching, agenting, running store owning, race announcing, to his final sojourns adding up to his 115,000 lifetime miles around the San Francisco Bay Area, Mike’s joie de vivre, brought to physical form through his legendary Track & Field Garage Museum, showed us all how to embrace life to the hilt, no matter the number of years it may last.
In every culture I have ever visited, running represents a vessel that can hold all one’s concerns, and still have room for more. When faced with life, running offers a sanctuary, a place to contain the fraught moments. There, at speed, the immediacy of the moment holds the higher ground, masking, for the moment, the vicissitudes that led to the first foot strike and all that followed.
I shared 1000 Facebook friends with Mike. I know exactly how each one of them feels – gutted – for we all knew and loved Mike for exactly the same reasons, and know there is no one who can replace him. He showed us all how to live fully as a runner might. He touched every facet of the game in his time and left every one of them better for having done so. Now he has left us, wife Renay and brother Gary, too. Left us with vivid memories and his own shining example.
There come times during runs – and it doesn’t happen every time – when we feel so in tune that the sense, “I could do this forever – and that would be okay,” washes over us like a warm shower after a winter’s run. It’s all a matter of brain chemistry, of course, and it happens enough that it produces a feeling so powerful that it encourages daily dosing. Mike Fanelli was a running addict of the first stripe. And aren’t we glad knowing that?
When do things get determined in terms of consciousness? I suggest we all be like Mike and go for a run to see what more there is to be discovered within.
Thanks for everything, Mike (and Charles). We are all better for having known you.
END
We can send condolences to:
Renay Fanelli
1111 Riparian Lane
Coverdale, CA 95425
&
Sacred Heart Church of Ocean Beach
4776 Saratoga Ave.
San Diego, CA. 92107
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Please pray for the soul of Father Charles Eis, a longtime priest and for many years a celebrant of Mass at Sacred Heart. His funeral Mass will be at Sacred Heart this Thursday, November 30th at 2:00PM. May the Angels lead him into paradise. |
tonireavis.com 
beautifully written Tony. I was privileged to have known Mike and mourn his passing. Regards, Will
The Trials this summer won’t be the same without him. Godspeed.
Nice blog post, Toni. And thank you for Renay’s address. That was really thoughtful of you.
Karen MitchellRunner’s Gazetterunnersgazette.com Text me @ 717-309-1623
Tony,
Fantastic article and tribute to Mike. I didn’t know him in person but was Friends with him on Facebook. I loved his posts with track memories, memorabilia, etc. I didn’t know him in person but felt like I did through his posts. I’m going to miss those.
Thanks for this Toni.
Thank you for this tribute to Mike, Toni. It made my eyes wet, as have so many of the wonderful stories written about Mike by his friends on Facebook.
I didn’t know Mike personally, but I came to “know” him on Facebook and was enriched by his photos, stories, and links to other running articles. I loved his humor and his obsession with running, which all of us understand so well. I enjoyed learning from him about past and current running events and people, especially (as a Canadian) about the American scene. He kept me in touch with many Americans I knew slightly in the 1980s when I competed in US road races for a few years.
I know I’m just one of many thousands who will miss Mike Fanelli very much.
thanks Toni. This news hit hard. MR
Thank you for this fitting tribute, Toni. I’ll always treasure my one and only, in-person meeting with Mike on July 18, 2022, while in Oregon for the world championships. We very appropriately went for a run on Pre’s Trail. RIP, Mike. You’ll be sorely missed.
Toni: Somehow your reply/comment section is not working like it usually does. This is Craig Virgin of Lebanon, IL who left the comment below about the loss of our mutual friend, Mike Fanelli. I would never post anonymously… and certainly not while paying tribute to Mike.
Thanks, Craig. Message received appropriately recognized. Stay well, yourself. TR
Toni: Thanks for your remembrance and tribute to our friend, Mike Fanelli. I have known his “secret” since last July and kept his confidence as requested. Our lives can sometimes get very demanding and family needs can sometimes get in the way of things our hearts want to do. Mike and I communicated by talk/text on our cell phones but I was not able to get out there yet for the desired in person visit. I will always regret that. (cancer has its own schedule and waits for no man or woman). Mike Fanelli was a good friend and we shared a passion for our sport. Mike did so much in our sport as an athlete, coach, mentor, announcer, and historian. (and many other roles that I cannot remember right now) We sat together at many national championships and Olympic Trials or socialized afterward. I always appreciated and respected his perspective on the competition and the final results. I will miss Mike terribly and all the future big track & field meets will just not be quite the same now. RIP, Mike Fanelli.
well spoken Toni..
This is a perfect tribute to Mike, an absolutely inspiring friend, and Charles, a person whom I didn’t know until reading this beautiful message. The world is a little less full without them and heaven has become happily crowded with their presence.
There’s a saying, “the cemeteries are full of irreplaceable men,” but Mike might be one of the rare few who gives the lie to that adage.
well said my friend
run like the world depends on it!
A beautiful remembrance. Thank you Toni.
Dan Murphy
thank you Tony, I had no idea.I am surprised Jim Gerweck didn’t call me.I appreciate your words, letting us all know. Stay well, Marty SchaivoneMS Running Productions Stratford, CT