Three years ago I decided that I wanted to run all 6 Marathon Majors. I ran my first marathon back in 2016 for fun with a time of 4:37:59. Back then I thought that was good enough and didn’t think much about getting any faster… until I realized I needed to run at least a time of 3:30 in order to qualify for Boston and achieve my goal of the 6-star medal. But then tragedy struck and I tore my ACL right at the height of the pandemic. I took a full year off from running during recovery and while I was trying to find my running rhythm again, a friend had referred me to John Henwood’s team to get more serious about running and injury prevention. It didn’t take me long to be convinced because I had no direction on how to structure my workouts. I signed up with the Hounds and met some really amazing runners that were a part of the team. Everyone in my pace group reassured me that it takes patience and practice. Over time I saw everyone’s time chip away and his team was full of Boston qualifiers! I’m thankful for his new running team for the morale and support while I continue my running journey to accomplish the six stars!
In choosing John Henwood’s running group, I was a pretty novice long distance runner coming into the program with Joe after running my third marathon in Berlin with a time of 03:53:22. I had just recovered a full year from my torn ACL. I felt like I had plateaued and was doubtful of getting close to my desired 3:30 finish time. Joe was very transparent with my weekly sessions. He catered my workouts based on my strengths and weaknesses and always made sure to follow up with me when the workouts got tough. I hated speed workouts but he reassured me that they were going to be the bread and butter of my training. Joe always fought the doubtful demons in my head. So in Coach Joe, I trust. And it paid off. In the 5 months of training I shaved off 20 mins and ran a PR in the 2022 London Marathon with a finishing time of 3:32:04! I never imagined I could break 3:40 let alone get SO close to my goal of 3:30! The race gave me so much more confidence in my future of long distance running and I could not have done it without Joe and the Henwood Hounds!