Currently I write for Nikerunning.com and I am a contributor to Running Times magazine. As director of the Boulder Running Camps, I interact with high school runners – the soul of the sport – each summer. I also produce the DVD titles available from RunningDVDs.com. Finally, I find great reward in coaching professional distance runners, three of whom have won United States Track and Field national titles in indoor track, cross country and on the roads during our time together. Renee Metivier-Ballie (3,000m – 2010), Brent Vaughn (Cross Country – 2011) and Fernando Cabada (25 km – 2011) are some of the quality people with whom I have been fortunate to work over the years.
My first coaching position was Head Coach of Track and Cross Country at Pratt Community College in Pratt, Kansas. Both cross country teams finished third at the Junior College national meet (Division II), and on the track athletes broke numerous school records. Following two years at Pratt I moved back to Boulder, Colorado, to serve as the Recruiting Coordinator and Middle Distance coach at the University of Colorado, where I coached for six years. I also assisted in cross country and was fortunate to be part of three NCAA Division I team titles. In my final year at CU, the men won the Big 12 Track and Field title in Boulder. Seeing fifth year seniors, who I first met their senior year high school during the recruiting process, celebrating in the infield is a career highlight.
As an athlete, I am blessed to have spent five years of my life running at the University of Colorado, under the tutelage of one of the best distance coaches in the world, Mark Wetmore. I studied Kinesiology as an undergraduate and Kinesiology and Applied Physiology as a graduate student, earning my MS in 2000. I was fortunate to compete on the 1998 varsity cross country team chronicled in Chris Lear’s book Running with the Buffaloes. I was awarded the athletic department’s Male Scholar Athlete award in 1999.
