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, and now I have the privilege of coaching rockstar runners around the world through my personal coaching business, community coaching with Team Run Flagstaff, designing training plans for the RunSedona 5k/10k/Half races, and creating 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!

The magnetic essence of moving the body, alongside teammates, in nature, while exploring human potential on foot (and in New Balance 880s), has drawn me to coaching as well. My coaching career technically started when I was in high school and I created a summer training camp with a 5k race to celebrate the start of the school year. This eventually led me to become a high school coach at Lodi High School in California after graduating college, and then onto becoming a Division I College Coach at Syracuse University and Northern Arizona University (NAU). While at NAU, Head Coach Eric Heins and I recruited and developed both the men's and women's teams. The men’s team finished top 2 at the NCAA Cross Country Championship multiple times, and  the women's team  won the Big Sky Cross Country Championships and several individuals qualified and raced at the NCAA Cross Country Championship as well. The Flagstaff community, weather, elevation, and quality of life in a magical mountain town fostered an environment that nurtured these athletes, some of who went on to become multiple time Olympians. 

Living in Flagstaff for over 11 years has allowed me to learn from some of the top coaches in the world and train alongside Olympians and World Medalists, providing me with the opportunity to fully experience what it’s like to coach top collegiate and professional athletes, as well as run alongside them, witnessing their day-to-day routines. I am forever grateful for the many miles shared with friends on the seemingly endless dirt roads in Flag over the years. These experiences have fueled my desire to share what I’ve learned, from the pros and from my personal experience and experimentation, and transform it into training methods, pre- and post-running routines, tips, mindset shifts, and many more 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 and it would create overwhelming anxiety to the point where I would make excuses not to race, on race day! Over time, however, I naturally started hiding 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.

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

♡ Leah