Coach John lives in Alexandria, VA, and has completed 17 marathons in his 6+ years of training and racing. He is a USATF-trained coach, entering his fourth year with Marathon Charity Partners. He is a member of the Marine Corps Marathon Runners Club, enabling him now to run that marathon every year, and has only 44 states to go before he gets his "50 States + DC" T-shirt.

With a 5:26 marathon PR (so far), Coach John works closely with the "Penguins," the back of the pack runners, who complete marathons in five to seven hours. "Speed is great if you have it, but you don’t have to be a speed demon to complete a marathon. So long as you can run or walk/run faster than 15 minutes per mile, you can complete the Marine Corps Marathon, and most other marathons, too. And there is no reason why anyone, at any pace, cannot become more fit and healthy by race walking or running a half marathon. In the MCP training program, we can help you accomplish either feat."

In addition to the walk/run method, Coach John trains runners in hydration, intervals and fartlek, negative splits, warmup and stretching techniques, strength and cross-training. He leads Tuesday and Thursday evening runs for MCP trainees in Arlington. In addition to coaching MCP, Coach John coordinates the "Walk-to-Run" new runner program of Arlington Cooperation Foundation each winter/spring, and serves as race director for a half marathon and 20 mile training race.

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