If you haven’t had the chance to meet Fred Fletcher, maybe you should do so if the opportunity ever presents itself.
Fletcher was born in Louisville before moving with his family to upstate New York as a youth, but he spent most of his life in Texas where he earned a degree from the University of Texas in 1990 with a major in accounting.
He was hoping to be a fighter pilot in the Navy, but his eyes weren’t good enough so he changed his focus to going to work for the FBI. He had gotten a job as an auditor in Austin before applying for a job with the Austin Police Department.
He spent the next 21 years there, getting promoted to the rank of Commander before making a career change and moving to Chattanooga.
He has been here for the past 14 months and is happily serving as the Chief of Police for the Scenic City. If you don’t think the police department here is in good hands, maybe you should sit down and talk to this man, who will celebrate his 48th birthday on December 2.
He and Paige – his wife of almost 24 years – are really happy here as they have adjusted very nicely to a climate much different from the one in Texas.
While Fletcher is a high-energy fellow with an overflowing passion for his job, he also loves to take part in outdoor activities like running and cycling. As a matter of fact, Chattanooga’s outdoor appeal is one of the biggest reasons he decided to pursue work here in the first place.
“I worked as an auditor for several years, but realized one day that I wanted a job in community service. That’s when I applied for a job as a police cadet in Austin. It’s one of those jobs that offers great security and provides a chance to move up and advance every few years,” he said Wednesday afternoon during an interview in the conference room at the Police Services Center on Amnicola Highway.
“I wasn’t really looking for this job, but my boss was always wanting to help us move up in our profession. He saw the listing for the job here and suggested I apply, but I ignored it. Another friend made the same suggestion and again, I just ignored it.
“After the third time, I finally put my application in. I got to learn a lot about Chattanooga during that process, but I left my family and friends of 30 years in Austin to come here in June last year. All of the outdoor activity made it an appealing job for me,” he continued.
Fletcher is a tall, slender fellow these days, but he says that he was the former fat kid growing up who “played football poorly and just didn’t grow up playing sports.”
He started his running career during his work as an auditor and he found out that he had a knack for longer distance simply by accident.
“Accounting can be a stressful job and there were days we’d work 18 hours straight. I’d go out and run a mile loop from my house as hard as I could to tire me out so I could go to sleep because I was still all wound up, even after a long day at the office.
“One day I decided to branch out a little and managed to get lost. By the time I had found my way back, I had run for 45 minutes. I owned a mountain bike at the time, but with running, you can just head out the front door and get a great workout. It also allows me the opportunity to see folks I share the community with,” he continued.
He ran his first half-marathon on the Sunday before he entered the Police Academy the first time and he ran his first marathon in 1997.
“The best part of that first marathon was the last mile or so as I had this huge smile on my face. I couldn’t believe I was about to finish a marathon as I never thought I was capable of doing something like that,” he recalled.
Now almost 20 years later as he’s moved to a totally new area and he carries more responsibility than ever before, he’s the veteran of 40 or 50 long-distance races, including about 30 marathons and the rest ultras, including a 100K in Oregon over five mountains.
Another memorable long run came in 2010 when he joined a group of friends and ran "Rim To Rim" at the Grand Canyon, a grueling 46-mile run from one side to the other on the same day.
"There were only two hills, but each were a mile up on each side. It was a tough run, but also a lot of fun," he remembered.
Perhaps his favorite is one in Texas called the Marathon To Marathon, where they take participants 26.2 miles out into the country and they run back to the finish line.
He was also fortunate to win that race in 2012 with a time around 3:15.
His personal best came at Chicago in 2000 when he posted a blistering time of three hours and 32 seconds.
“I think I tried to break three hours about five times and that was the closest I ever came. I was on pace for the first 25 miles, but I completely ran out of energy at the end and couldn’t hold on,” he grimaced at the memory.
Fletcher had only been in Chattanooga a few months when he signed up for the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon where he finished 77th overall with a respectable time of 3:41:09.
“I’m signed up for Chickamauga again, but I hope to do better than last year as that was my personal worst. I hadn’t trained like I should, but I love being in the woods. That marathon was almost like a trail run but it was on pavement,” he nodded.
These days, he runs downtown quite a bit and he enjoys doing a double loop at Enterprise South where he can do six miles on the road and then six more on trails.
“I shoot for 40 miles a week, but it’s more like 25 with all the demands on my time. I do increase my mileage when I’m training for longer races as it’s a time for me to process ideas and emotions. But these days, I struggle to fit it all in,” he added.
Perhaps another favorite running experience is one from a marathon in Austin where he’s served as a pacer 13 times, mostly for the 3:30 group.
“There are a lot of parallels with running and my job these days. I get exposed to communities first hand as I get to run through different neighborhoods. And I’m in constant contact with people, which is a lot more interpersonal than meeting them in a formal setting.
“I love running in Chattanooga as it’s a very outdoors-oriented city. It’s a privilege to be able to test your own physical boundaries, but it’s evolved from a physical challenge to a community event. Running is a great way to spend quality, undistracted time with good friends.
“I can’t believe we’ve been here 14 months as I have the best job in the world. Chattanooga is a very promising city and I’m grateful to be here,” he suggested.
“I have very few free days like in years past, but I still enjoy getting outside every chance I get as I also love riding my bike and back-packing. I want to pace the Austin marathon again and I want to someday to a 100 miler, but that won’t happen until I retire,” he concluded.
These are exciting and challenging days for Fred Fletcher. Mayor Andy Berke made a great move when he offered the job of police chief to Fred Fletcher.
And nobody could be any happier than the guy who used to call Texas home.
(This is the 59th in a series of features on runners in Chattanooga. If you know someone who might make an interesting story, email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com.)