Running and I have known each other for about fifteen years, on, off, and everywhere in between. It started with cross country and track, where I raced the 800, 1500, the mile, and the 5K: the shorter, sharper distances that teach you how to hurt well. The marathon came later, in the last five or six years, and it rearranged everything I thought I understood about the sport.

Through the years, running has been the thing I kept coming back to, especially through hardship. Time and time again, it's helped me pick up my own pieces, and that's part of why I coach the way I do. It's rarely ever just about the miles or the PRs.

My current personal best is 3:04, but the number was never really the point. What kept me coming back was the process: the slow, unglamorous work of building strength before speed, of learning patience, of training my mind to stay in the fight as much as my body.

I started Akari Running because I wish someone had handed me a simpler map when I first got into this distance, and because I know firsthand what running can give back to a person who needs it. So much of the information out there is either overcomplicated or intimidating. I wanted to build something that meets new runners where they are, strips away the noise, and helps them find whatever it is they're looking for, whether that's a finish line or something else.

Whether you're chasing your first marathon or your fastest one, I'm here to help you build the kind of strength, physical and mental, that lasts well past race day.