STANFORD, Calif. – As the sun begins to warm the Palo Alto Baylands, the egrets stretch their wings while the crunch of footsteps disturbs the silence, but does not faze the avocets and sandpipers wading in the mudflats.
On the worn path that curves along the tidal marshes of the San Francisco Bay shoreline, Grant Fisher and his Stanford cross country teammates are in the midst of an eight-mile progression run.
As the pace increases each mile, the chatter stops, the breathing grows heavier, and sweat flicks off the elbows and fingers as the turnover quickens.
Fisher has come to anticipate and appreciate these workouts. The senior feels the strength gained on the Baylands trails sustains him in competition, such as Friday's Pac-12 Championships at Stanford Golf Course. Fisher will defend his title and the Cardinal men will look to repeat.
"I've always been good at the short quick stuff, but the long stuff took a long time to get used to." Fisher said. "As I've gotten older, I've gotten better at them. Now, when I can hit one of those workouts, I know that was a piece of my training I didn't have before. It shows I'm better and more confident over longer distances."
Fisher races to victory at the Pre-Nationals on Oct. 13.
Fisher was nervous when he arrived at Stanford in the fall of 2015, despite having one of the great high school careers in history. Only two high schoolers have won two Foot Locker national cross country championships and a run a sub-4 mile, and Fisher, out of Grand Blanc (Mich.) High, was one of them.
"You think, I'm going to be the worst out there," Fisher said. "But part of the reason I came to Stanford was to start at the bottom and build my way up. Most people recruited to Stanford in any sport could go to a lot of different places and be a superstar. But I wanted to go where you're going to be pushed every day, and be part of a group where you're not the superstar anymore."
As a freshman, Fisher was forbidden to lead a workout by Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, in an effort to harness his energy. They sacrificed immediate impact for the long term.
Fisher captured the Pac-12 1,500-meter and NCAA 5,000 outdoor titles as a sophomore, but did not run to his desired level as a junior -- a second consecutive NCAA cross country fifth place, fourth in the NCAA indoor 3,000, and third in the NCAA outdoor 5,000.
"I've realized that Stanford is a place where you have a lot of opportunity, but just because you're here doesn't mean things will just happen," Fisher said. "I got into the habit of thinking things were going to come to me -- I'm at Stanford, at this great program with a good coach, and I'm going to practice every day. That mindset caught up to me. If I didn't make a choice to commit to what I wanted to do, I'd plateau. That realization was big for me."
Fifth place at nationals was a turning point for Fisher.
Fisher is a two-time USTFCCCA Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and carries a 3.59 GPA as an electrical engineering major. He'll graduate in June and, depending on whether he turns pro, could be back for the 2020 indoor season while working toward his master's.
He joined teammate Daniel Book in building a sign language translator, a visual device that films someone using American sign language and provides subtitles. He also was part of a group that built a sort of MP3 player, a device that can store songs, allow song selection and display the titles of the songs themselves.
But even someone who values academics realized he had to pull back, just a little.
"I don't know if I've found the perfect balance, but I'm getting closer to it," Fisher said. "Stanford is not an easy academic school, and we run at a high level. Finding the balance has always been tough for me. The bad part is that you don't really realize you're at an imbalance until something goes wrong.
"There is a place for both, but if you invest everything into running and invest everything into school, there's not a whole lot of time for sleeping or downtime. I strayed from that balance a little bit, and realize I could have been doing better."
Fisher's NCAA cross country race last year was a great example of a figuring out a different kind of balance, between individual and team priorities. He got off to a slow start and fell behind the lead pack early. He considered launching a sustained attack to try to catch the leaders. But by using so much energy, he risked blowing up and fading, and hurting the team's chances. He chose to play conservative to best help the team, and it did. The Cardinal was fourth.
That won't happen this year.
"My fitness is high enough that the best thing I could do for the team is run at the front and try to get as low a stick as I can," Fisher said. "If I stay in that top group, I know I can run with those guys. I have enough confidence in myself now that going with them and sticking with them is the best decision I can make for the team.
"Before, I didn't have the confidence to really get after it with the top three or four guys. But this year, I know that I can. The decision thinking about the team and the decision thinking about myself is one and the same this year."
The Pac-12 meet holds its own importance for Fisher. it's a family tradition. His father, Dan, ran for Arizona State in the Pac-10 and grandfather, Al Fisher, ran for Washington State in the Pac-8.
As Fisher sets forth in quest of a repeat for himself and the team, he feels a strength that comes from preparation – four years worth. Fisher is the stronger for it. He feels that more than ever.