The gratification of being a Coach

One of the awesome things about being a coach is that if my own racing season goes down the chute, I can turn around and watch the runners I coach succeed.  There is something special about seeing my runners happy achieving their goals through the hard work they put in.  I understand that feeling through my own achievements which makes that connection stronger.  There is no better feeling for a runner than smashing their PR or exceeding their expectations.  Below I have listed all the achievements of my runners I have coached this fall season.  I am so proud of everyone, and it is exciting to continue to coach both the same runners as well as new members who join.  If you're interested in receiving coaching, email me at coachchrissloane@gmail.com.  Congratulations to everyone below:


Abe: Abe probably had the toughest adversity to deal with at New York, which he finished in 4:50 despite having some asthma attacks.  Abe certainly would have PR'd, and I think next time he will absolutely demolish his current best of 4:34.  

Alice: Alice completed her first 10 miler last spring, and committed to completing her first marathon this fall.  I am proud of how Alice stuck with the training plan and disciplined herself for the distance.  Alice completed the MCM in 4:36.

Alyssa: Alyssa battled the windy Army Ten Miler and equaled her PR of 1:38 from Cherry Blossom(also windy!) earlier this spring.

Andy: Andy recently PR'd running 1:53 for the half marathon on a hilly course in NJ.  He will run his first marathon on December 3-the Rehoboth Beach Marathon.

Ansley: Ansley ran perfectly even paced at the Richmond Marsthon this past weekend, running an outstanding new PR of 3:10:10 to put her 21st female overall and 6th in her age group.  I was most impressed by Ansley's discipline to stick to her plan, and run her own race.  If you watched her, you wouldn't have noticed a difference in her running form from the beginning to the end of the race.  She is incredibly strong.  She took 5 minutes off her previous best.  She will train for Boston 2017.

Beth: Beth completed the Chicago Marathon in a new PR of 3:44, taking 6 minutes off her best time last year.  She is not too far from qualifying for Boston in her age group.

Byron: Byron finished both the Parks Half Marathon and Army Ten Miler.

Christina T.: Christina raced in the most competitive half marathon for women in the DC area, the Navy Air Force Marathon in September.  On a hot and humid day, she ran a 1:26 to finish 13th overall in the women's race.  Unfortunately Christina had a tough October, getting pneumonia and had to shut down her season.  But watch out for her to come back strong in 2017.

Christina G: Christina, amazingly after having a baby 5 months ago, ran a new PR of 1:27:20 at the Richmond Half Marathon.  She averaged an impressive 6:39/mile.

Craig: Craig ran the Army Ten Miler in 1:06, and recently was 2nd in his age group of 50-54 at the Veterans Day 10K, in 38:54.  Craig will be racing the Jingle All the Way 15K on December 4.

Danielle: One of the best debut marathons I have seen, Danielle ran the perfect race at Richmond that came to her advantage.  A former UMD track runner, Danielle has killer speed that we agreed to use to her advantage even in the long, arduous marathon distance.  She paced just under 1:40 for the first half, and finished with an impressive 1:35 second half, finishing in 3:15:07.  Her last mile was 6:29.  She placed 29th female overall and 6th in her age group.  Danielle also coaches the women's track team at MD.

Eleanor: I began working with Eleanor recently, and she is beginning to get back her speed in the shorter distances before she prepares for the 2017 Boston Marathon.  She recently ran 45:29 at the Veterans Day 10K to place 2nd in her 55-59 age group.  She will also be racing the Jingle All the Way 15K.

Exavier: Exavier was 3rd at the MCM 10K, and will look to improve his 1:20 half marathon PR of last year this coming January in Miami.

Fed: Fed completed his first Berlin Marathon in 4:05.

Kelvin: Kelvin gets the award for taking the MOST time off his previous best marathon, by running 4:50 at the Chicago Marathon, taking nearly 20 minutes off his previous best.  

Kyle: Kyle has become a leader for the Mary Washington Cross Country team, and ran a personal best of 26:25 for the 8K this season, and earned 2nd Team All Conference.

Laura: Laura earns the award for longest distance.  She completed her first 50K as well as exceeding her A goal of 7 hours, running 6:59.

Lea: Lea ran a 44:33 10k PR this past spring, and a 1:17 PR at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.

Marcia: Marcia has really become a runner these past several months, getting better at the hill repeats over the summer, and running her first half marathon this fall at Parks in 2:11.

Marcus: Marcus started training with me last year for MCM, where he ran a terrific 2:50-his current PR, so after that we decided to go for the sub 2:50 this time.  He had some minor setbacks to deal with in his training cycle, and a few odds to deal with at the NYC Marathon this year, but despite that, he ran 2:54, and completed a very successful training cycle.  Marcus will focus on his half marathon time next spring, and I am confident it will only be a matter of time before he gets into the 2:40's when he takes a crack at the marathon again.     

Marshall: High School runner Marshall ran a 17:09 PR for the 5K distance this fall.  He will continue to do some racing this winter and spring.

Marty: Marty had a tough injury earlier in the year, and he achieved a breakthrough by finishin the Parks Half Marathon and Army Ten Miler this season.

Michelle: Michelle is one of the fastest runners and triathletes in the area, and is also road racing more again after having dealing with an injury last year.  "To get things started again," she recently ran 37:54 for the 10K at Veterans Day 10K to place 6th among some of the top women in the area.

Mike: Mike re-qualified for the 2018 Boston Marathon, running a stellar 3:49:27 PR which placed him 9th in his age group of 60-64 at the Richmond Marathon.  Mike will train for the 2017 Boston Marathon.

Olivia: At the young age of 21, Olivia ran her first marathon this season, finishing the MCM in 4:43.

Omar: Omar ran a 1 minute PR at the Veterans Day 10K this weekend, finishing in 47:17.  Omar also ran a PR of 1:19 at the Army Ten Miler.

Pat: Pat completed the Parks Half Marathon in 2:29.

Randy: Randy had a bit of an injury to deal with over the summer, but he is now back into his racing, running a 33:44 at the Veterans Day 10K, not far off his PR.  He is looking to break 16 minutes for the 5K soon.

Sasha: Sasha ran the Richmond Half Marathon 6 minutes faster than her previous best time on this course, finishing in 2:21.

Sheng: Sheng completed the NYC Marathon this year in 4:53.

Tommy: The weather was terrible for racing this Sept and Oct, so Tommy had everything going against him at the hot MCM.  Despite that, he toughed out a fantastic effort, finishing in 3:26.

Tracy: I remember when Tracy ran her first half marathon in 1:55 in 2011.  This past weekend at Richmond, she ran 1:41:48, a new PR by 5 minutes.  This might be the best race Tracy has ever done.  Tracy impressively finished 5th in her age group of 50-54.  Tracy averaged 7:45 per mile, impressive pace at that age.