Born in Ridgefield, CT, raised in Flagstaff, AZ!

Let’s just say running chose me the day I was dry heaving in the elementary school gym mile.

Fast forward a few decades, which included running collegiately (Penn State), professionally (Under Armour), and coaching top DI NCAA teams (Syracuse and NAU), and now, I have the privilege of coaching rockstar runners around the world through my personal coaching business. I also engage in community coaching with Team Run Flagstaff, design training plans for the RunSedona Races, and create premium running content for the iFIT fitness app on NordicTrack, ProForm, and FreeMotion treadmills.

I grew up with parents who owned The Athlete's Foot and New Balance stores in CT and they founded philanthropic races to raise money for children with Autism, pediatric cancer, and those in need of wheelchairs. Thankfully, my parents understood how running can positively impact people's lives and create deep connections among communities, and I’ve carried that belief throughout my running and coaching careers.

My parents introduced me to the running world when I was 4 years old when they entered me into a kids race where we chased a wagon filled with toys for one mile. I ran the 200m world record for that damn tie dye Ty Beanie Baby, only to start dry heaving and be passed by popsicle-drooling-Dylan...and a love for exploring human potential was born. I went on to help my parents pull tags off bib numbers at various road race finish lines, and then after a failed soccer tryout freshman year of high school, I joined the cross country team…because…well…everyone made the team. I went on to run collegiately at Penn State University, and then ran professionally for Under Armour, racing nearly every distance from 800m to 50k!

Living in Flagstaff for over 12 years has allowed me to learn from some of the top coaches in the world and train as a professional athlete alongside Olympians and World Medalists. This experience has given me the opportunity to fully understand what it’s like to train as an elite athlete, run alongside them, and witness the day-to-day routines that create fertile ground for success. These experiences have fueled my desire to share what I’ve learned—from the pros and from my own experimentation—and transform it into training methods, pre- and post-run routines, tips, mindset shifts, and many other coaching techniques that are accessible and digestible for runners of every ability level… because all of us runners want something that’s easily digestible :).

Many runners I’ve had the gift to work with have experienced life-changing transformations, such as lowering diabetes medication, getting off inhalers, gaining confidence in their mental and physical health, reaching their peak fitness as masters athletes, starting to run for the first time, and overall having a more positive and gratifying experience with running and with their relationship with themselves. This is what it’s all about. 

The only thing is, running can be seen through infinite lenses. And sometimes we focus too much on races, paces,  goals and PRs, and we can loose sight of why we love running in the first place. Back when I was racing in high school and college, I cared too much about my PRs, which created overwhelming anxiety to the point where I would make excuses not to race—on race day! Over time, however, I naturally began to hide my race anxiety behind singing, dancing, movie quotes, and jokes to move my body past the start line—aka "The line of the unknown"—and into the beautiful, gratifying, human-defying, heart-breaking, humbling, spirit-cleansing flow state of racing. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was bringing playfulness into something I took too seriously, and today the playful side of running comes naturally. My mission is to share that with you as you reach and surpass your goals. 

So let's put a little fun in our run,

♡ Leah