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When Bill Risch signed on with Run SMART Project last June, his goal was to break 3:30 in the marathon in 2009. The first step toward that goal was to have a solid race at the Houston Half Marathon. Coming off a stress fracture in June meant that Bill's road to a January half marathon was going to be a long one. Bill leaned a lot about patients in his first few months with Run SMART Project. And it just paid off with a 1:38:48 half marathon! I would say that Bill's well on his way to that sub 3:30 mark.
Congrats to Bill Hoffman and Collin Martin for two solid performances today in the NYC Marathon. Hoffman finished 251st in 2:46:24 and Martin came in 572nd clocking 2:55:17. Both runners deserve credit for staying healthy throughout the year and running steadily throughout. I'll be posting pictures of these handsome devils soon, so please check back soon.
 For the second year in a row the Chicago Marathon saw some unseasonably warm weather. And, for the second year in a row Run SMART Project athletes set personal bests. Alex Gardner and Everett Hill set out for big results, and though the conditions didn't allow for the kind of times they were hoping for, both set new PRs.
I spent the morning of the Chicago Marathon at home in Flagstaff, furiously hitting the "refresh" button on the race tracker. I took down every 5k split and calculated the mile pace. Both Alex and .... more
 The Run SMART Project had a solid showing by several athletes at the Philly Distance Run on Sunday, September 21. Bob Lenehan, Erin Stout, and Avi Kravitz traveled out to Philly together with a common goal of setting new personal bests. With Erin and Avi crushing their previous PRs, and Bob having a very respectable day after over a year away from racing, all three went home satisfied with their efforts. When joining Run SMART Project Bob had the goal of qualifying for Boston, which was going to require a marathon time of .... more
 On May 4th Lisa Mire and Melissa Bell lined up for the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, OH. Both women traveled from Charlotte, NC with the intention of setting a personal best at the distance, and so they did. Lisa ran near even splits throughout the race to set a new PR of 3:17:38. The time bested Lisa's previous marathon PR by 5 minutes 21 seconds. Melissa went out at a slightly faster clip, coming through the first half of the race on 3:10 pace. Though she started to feel the fast early pace around mile 16, Melissa .... more
This past week in Frederick, MD Ben Koch made his first racing appearance in almost two years. He's been slowing climbing his way back into shape as of late and decided to test the waters with a local 5k race. Apparently, the water seemed nice as Koch strolled through the rolling course in 15:59 besting second place by roughly 90 seconds. Ben has been coaching for Run S.M.A.R.T. in the D.C. area for about two years. He's currently training for the NYC marathon this November. I'm hoping to tag along that day as well! 
Jeff Weatherhead finished 6th overall and first in the 50-59 age group Simsbury River Run 5k. It was Jeff's first road race and second race of the year. He has been concentrating on building a strong base to prepare for a full summer and fall of racing. Jeff's official time was 18:57. Full results can be found here on Cool Running. Jeff's next races will be a 1500 and 800 at the Connecticut Senior Games on June 7th. He is currently doing hills and tempo work with a long term goal of being a top finisher at the USATF Master's Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Oregon this August.
There's no question that Everett Hill's favorite distance is the marathon. In fact, this past winter I asked Everett if he would be interested in training for some shorter races this spring... His response was, "Vince, I'm a marathoner." By the end of the discussion Everett came around to the idea, and the change of pace (and distance) has proven to be fruitful experience. Everett started with a strong 7K on April 19 th and followed it up with a 10K on the 26 th. Despite great showings at both events, Everett felt that he .... more
 When Avi Kravitz signed on with the Run SMART Project he had the goal of making the Boston Marathon qualifier by 2009. Having come in with a PR of 3:27, Avi dropped his PR to 3:10:32 at Chicago this past fall. This granted him the Boston qualifying mark for 2008! You would think that just to run Boston would have been enough, but Avi had other plans. The quest was now to run as fast as possible at Boston. Avi dedicated himself to improving upon every small detail. By working on his training, nutrition, flexibility and core .... more
 Phil Manning finished his first 10K of the season on Sunday, April 20th. Phil completed the race in a time of 44:04, running the second half of the race in 21:50. The 21:50 was good enough on its own to better Phil's previous 5k best. Phil is currently training for Cleveland Half Marathon on May 18th.
Jeff Weatherhead started the season off on the right note with a 6th place finish in the Men's 55-59 age group at the USATF Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships. Jeff's focus this year is the outdoor nationals in August, so he ran this race without spending too much time doing speed work. It was a positive effort to start the year. Jeff's official time was 5:28.84, good for 6th place overall. Full results of the meet here.
Melissa Bell and Lisa Mire represented well at the YMCA Corporate Cup Half Marathon on Saturday, March 8th. Melissa placed 4th in 1:30:58, while Lisa was fifth in 1:34:59. The last third of the race was run into a very strong head wind, making for a tough finial stretch. Despite the challenging conditions both women managed a strong showing and Lisa even managed to pull off a new PR!
Both Melissa and Lisa are training for the Flying Pig Marathon, which takes place in Cincinnati on Sunday, May 4th.
 Two years ago Alex Gardner lined up for the Groundhog 10K in Kansas City MO wondering what she could run. Having only matched the distance a couple of times before in training, the 10K seemed formidable in mileage alone. She finished the race in a very respectable 55:41. Since that day Alex has logged hundreds, if not thousands of miles and added a couple of marathons to her credit. Alex enter the race again this year with the goal of running at least 53 minutes. Having narrowly missed her goal of 25 minutes in a local 5K .... more
On January 5 th Alex Gardner lined up for her first 5K of the new year. Though Alex missed her goal of sub 25 minutes, she did open the year up with a 14 second PR of 25:18. If your interested in more details on Alex's race, check out her very well written and informative blog. http://www.run350.blogspot.com/
 Sometimes things don't go as planned... AviKravitz had been training for the Houston Half Marathon for several months, but a last minute change in plans wouldn't allow him to make the race. Rather than miss the racing opportunity altogether, Avi found a local 5 Miler. Despite having trained specifically for the half marathon, Avi clocked a time of 29:54! That was good enough to best Avi's former PR from only 6 weeks ago by 35 seconds, on a tougher course. Avi's next major race will be the Boston Marathon in April.
 Everett Hill put forth his another stellar performance since signing on with the Run SMART Project. This past weekend at the PF Chang's Rock & Roll Marathon Everett rolled his way to a new PR of 4:11:12. I do believe that it is fair to mention that this marathon was far from Everett's toughest battle. Only a few years ago Everett was placed on life support after suffering from cardiac arrest. He only started running after having open heart surgery. Check back for Everett's story, as we will soon be posting it in his words .... more
We want to congratulate Jeff Weatherhead on one of the most positive seasons we've had in The Run S.M.A.R.T. Project since its inception.  Jeff has been running competitively for the last 15 years, yet after turning 56 this past August he has managed to set new Pr's for 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 5k and 4.75 miles (Manchester Road Race). His 4:51 in the 1500 ranked him 8th in the country for the men's 55-59 division this year. He also finished 6th overall in the 1500 at the USATF Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships. .... more
Sisters Erica Pappendick and Nicki Hines making it look easy as they finish their first marathon amidst the sweltering heat in Chicago this year. Both are now getting ready to ramp up for the Boston Marathon in April. It's been extremely encouraging to watch Erica and Nicki become more motivated as they continue to see improvements throughout their time training with us. 
On a dreary, cold and windy day in Philadelphia, Christen Meyer managed to set another marathon personal best, finishing in 2:49:48 (first sub-2:50 performance). She was 1st masters woman, 14th female overall and had the second fastest age graded time of the day! You can see Christen's and the overall female race results for the Philly Marathon here. The most impressive note to add on Christen's performance from a coach's perspective is that she ran her second half (1:24 and change) faster than her first (1:25 and .... more
This past weekend Run SMART Project athlete Craig Berman participated in his first race. Craig decided that if he was going to get into running he may as well go all out, so he chose the New York City Marathon to be his first venture into racing.  Craig narrowly missed his goal of sub 4 hours, running 4:02:35. He had been well under pace at half way, clocking 1:55:58 at the half-marathon mark. Unfortunately, Craig discovered only a few minutes into the race that he had somehow lost the contents of his fuel belt, which .... more
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