Mina Matlon (Urban Athletics)

Mina Matlon
Mina Matlon

Philly Marathon 2008

“When I discussed training with John in July 2008, I shared with him two goals: first, to break 1:40 in the Philadelphia half marathon in September (previous best was 1:43) and second, to break 3:30 in the Philadelphia marathon in November to qualify for Boston (previous best was 3:46). He needed to devise a flexible training program that would accommodate my long and unpredictable hours as an attorney and very bad shin splints in both legs. John’s program blew away my goals.

Within only six weeks of John’s coaching and plenty of hard work I clocked a 1:38 at a half in August, and then took three more minutes off that time a couple weeks later at the Philly half. Although I thought John was out of his mind when he told me I could hit 3:19 at the marathon, I went for the more aggressive time come marathon race day based on my confidence in John and his training, and he was right! 3:19:10 at Philly, and I came into the finish line feeling stronger than in any previous marathon I had run. John has tapped into my potential as a runner, and I’m excited to keep training with him and exploring that potential in the year ahead.”