Testimonials

 " I have known Clara since my collegiate cross country and track days at Duke where we were teammates and bonded over our common passion for running. I met Chris through Clara, and we quickly become close friends. At that time, I was in a bit of training rut and was feeling uninspired by the monotony of training alone without any clear training plan or goal. My job as an anesthesiologist didn’t leave me a lot of free time to run. I needed some guidance. As I started joining Clara and Chris on their daily runs, I could not help but get excited about dreaming bigger and making some new fresh goals. They were the perfect pick-me-up! While I have had my share of marathon success with podium finishes in several marathons and two Olympic marathon trial qualifications in 2008 and 2012, I needed someone to get me excited about training for another marathon. The goal of qualifying for the 2020 US Olympic marathon trials started forming in the back of my mind, and when Clara and Chris heard this, they could not have been more supportive and enthusiastic. So, I enlisted Chris to draw up a training plan tailored to me. Her plan was absolutely perfect for me. I used to approach workouts with some trepidation, but as I dove deeper into her training, I found myself excited and not intimidated by the tempo runs or the intervals she prescribed. She knew my time constraints and adapted my plan to take into account my long hours at the hospital. I let her know how workouts went and when I was feeling overly fatigued. She always knew how to tweak the miles or the workouts. Most importantly, I was having FUN, which is a new thing for me in marathon training! 😆

I targeted the Chicago marathon as my qualifying race for the Trials. When I was standing on the starting line waiting for the gun to go off, I was nervous and excited, but I KNEW I could accomplish my goal thanks to chris. I crossed the finish line in a time of 2:43 with a huge smile on my face and my arms in the air, 2 minutes under the qualifying time of 2:45 and my fastest marathon time in ten years! I was so happy I actually cried! A lot of work to get to that point, but the most rewarding race I have ever run thanks to Chris’s coaching. Clara and Chris gave me new life in this crazy passion of mine. When I heard they wanted to spread their coaching expertise to others through tamalpaisruncoaching.com, I was so excited! I want every runner to get the same joy and satisfaction I got from reaching big goals. With Clara and Chris in your corner, those dreams become reality."