Run Farther & Faster

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Run Farther & Faster Lisa and Julie coach runners of all levels and ages & host the Run Farther & Faster Podcast. Boston Marathon x 37. Challenge yourself to run farther and faster!

Contact us for 1:1 online coaching at [email protected]. RRCA certified running coaches and regionally-ranked runners, Lisa Levin and Julie Sapper, coach adults of all levels and kids throughout the United States and abroad. We provide tailored private virtual coaching and corporate wellness coaching. Whether you are a beginner runner just starting your fitness journey or an experienced runner seeking to take your running to the next level, trust your training with us!

Progress is not always linear, and a plateau (or even dip) in marathon performance does not mean a runner can't get back...
10/21/2026

Progress is not always linear, and a plateau (or even dip) in marathon performance does not mean a runner can't get back to her previous race times, even with age.

We've coached Sara since 2021, after she completed her third marathon at the TCS New York City Marathon, which she finished in 4:40:08. Since then, we've helped Sara complete 13 additional marathons, and whittle her finish time down to a PR of 3:39 in 2023, one of three Boston Qualifying finish times.

After hitting her PR in 2023, Sara's marathon times dipped a bit, due to a combination of injuries and illnesses during training cycles, and less-than-ideal race day conditions at her goal races. In 2024 and 2025, her finish times seemed stuck in the 3:50-4:10 range. Sara refused to be discouraged, focusing on the process. She told us, "While I love the races, and really want to do well at them, I love the training just as much, and look forward to getting back to it."

At the beginning of this year, after a winter of healthy training, we helped Sara get back into the 3:40s with a 3:44:05 finish at the Glass City Marathon, another BQ, although not with enough of a cushion to get into Boston for 2027. Still, Sara was encouraged, and saw that her consistency was helping get her back toward her earlier PRs.

This training cycle, with a healthy year under her belt, we carefully added an easy second "double" run every few weeks, which conveniently worked out as a way for Sara to run commute the four miles home from work. Sara even took nine days off from running for a trip this summer, but we all knew that her training would not be adversely affected because of her solid base of consistency.

Encouraged by Sara's consistent, healthy training cycle, and a tune-up race earlier in the cycle where Sara tested out her ability to hold marathon pace, we sent Sara into the Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a pacing plan to finish in the low 3:40s. Sara trusted our guidance and stuck to the plan, even when the 3:45 pace group passed her in the beginning of the race after going out too fast (she eventually passed them around Mile 7-8).

Her trust and patience paid off, and, in her words, "on a beautiful day, with practically perfect temps, I made the most of it. It got hard, as they always do, the hills weren't terrible but were still hills, and I really didn't appreciate the headwind in the last 10K. But I stayed patient, followed the pacing plan, and even when I thought I'd fallen off of my goal of low 3:40s, never gave up." Sara crossed the finish in 3:41:21, another BQ and the third fastest of her 16 marathon finishes.

Sara is a great example of continuing to believe that we've always got a little more to give, and that years and age are not alone a reason to give up the pursuit of our potential. Congrats to Sara, and to her husband, Jason, who has always been her #1 supporter and who had a stellar day out on the half marathon course!

10/21/2026

Because the Baystate Marathon was unsanctioned, these Trials hopefuls will likely have to try again.

10/20/2026

In this week’s episode of the Run Farther & Faster Podcast, we talked with Jennifer Conroyd, the founder of Fluid Running, a deep-water running fitness company, offering group classes in the western suburbs of Chicago and an app-based system available internationally. Jennifer created Fluid Running after she sustained an injury while training for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Six weeks before the race, she trained exclusively in the pool and ran a Boston qualifer.

Jennifer, an 18-time Boston Marathon qualifier and an IRONMAN finisher, is passionate about helping folks pool run while injured and while healthy. She shares how pool running has helped countless runners, including many of our runners, maintain and improve their endurance.

Use the CODE RUNFARFAST to obtain two free Fluid Running workouts with the purchase of a Fluid Running system. ($40 value).

Thanks to Jennifer for joining us!

"Life begins outside of your comfort zone." That's what we told Megan when she came to us at the beginning of September...
10/19/2026

"Life begins outside of your comfort zone." That's what we told Megan when she came to us at the beginning of September, after having been selected as part of the Under Armour Flow Elite Team, to race the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon just seven weeks later. At 43, Megan was one of the oldest runners on the team, and feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome.

We have coached Megan since 2021, most recently for the Utah Valley Marathon, where she had a breakthrough race earlier this year, finishing in 3:07:42, so we knew that she fully belonged on the Under Armour team and that it would be just the opportunity she needed to push herself to realize her potential.

We put together a seven week training plan for Megan that included some challenging workouts, but mostly EASY miles that Megan ran between 8:30-9:00/mi. The week before the race, Megan felt a few twinges in her hamstring and quad, so we dialed back the running and subbed in some time on the bike and elliptical to make sure that Megan would be at 100% on race day.

Based on Megan's shorter distance races and her consistency in training, we sent her a race pacing plan that targeted a pretty aggressive 1:25 finish time, with the course broken down into segments based on the course profile. Megan's response was "Thank you!!! OMG- you think I could actually run that time?! I’ll be happy with the “B” time too. Sub 90 min is a PR." We encouraged Megan to continue to live outside of her comfort zone, and go into the race believing that she belonged on that team and in that elite corral, and not settling for 90 minutes, when we knew she was capable of more.

On race day, Megan embraced the challenge, and executed a perfect race, negative splitting, and running Miles 8-13 all sub-6:30/mi, with the last mile at a blazing 5:59/mi average (and the final .1 mile at 5:36/mile!) She was the 1st Masters woman and 8th woman overall to cross the finish line in a HUGE new PR of 1:26:35. She texted us afterwards, "I feel like I found joy in running again."

Especially because we've known Megan for so long, and have seen her find her way back to believing in herself, finding her confidence, and growing outside of her comfort zone, this one meant a lot to us as coaches. Congrats, Megan!

Jen R. age 54, started working with us in late May to train for her fourth marathon, the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerq...
10/19/2026

Jen R. age 54, started working with us in late May to train for her fourth marathon, the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jen mentioned to us that she struggled with the mental part of racing and wanted to approach her goal marathon with a more positive and productive mindset. After running a 4:40 marathon in 2024, Jen was eager to produce a result closer to her PR time of 4:10 from 2023.

As soon as we started working together, we worked on helping Jen slow down her easy pace, which initially was challenging for Jen. Eventually, Jen felt the benefit of recovering faster and having more energy to execute her speed workouts.

To assess her fitness and practice her fueling while racing, Jen ran a tune-up half marathon on September 20th. Jen realized during that tune-up race that even though her fueling worked well during her long runs and easy medium runs, she struggled with fueling while racing and needed to work on that before race day. She consulted with a registered dietitian to help her make some adjustments to her fueling plan and she practiced those adjustments during harder efforts to prepare for race day.

In addition to working on her fueling, Jen worked on her mental game by reading Courage over Confidence by Dr. Mitchell Greene of Greenepsych Sport Psychology, which helped her manage mind chatter, particularly during the latter part of the race.

Jen crossed the finish line in 4:27, thirteen minutes faster than her last marathon two years ago. Jen also placed fourth in her age group! In Jen's words, "While I never quite kicked my pace up to meet my goal of 4:10, I was pleased with what I did right: For the first time in a long time, I did not go out too fast. In fact, I was determined to conserve energy at the start. I followed my fueling plan—gels every 30 minutes, salt tabs, Gatorade, and water—and my stomach stayed calm, unlike other races where it was a GI mess. The mental game was key during the race today. I focused on the four words you gave me to break down the race and also managed my mind chatter.

When I started the May training block with you, I was running way too fast, and was too distracted by my phone. You helped me slow down the runs, and I also found a bra (Cooldown) where I was able to store my phone in the back pocket, so got a handle on not checking my phone. So I'm happy to kick off my 54th year by placing 4th in my age group for this local race, and can't wait for the next race."

We are so thrilled for Jen and look forward to many more wins in her future!

For so many of our runners, progress is not just about workouts, mileage, or paces. Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs...
10/19/2026

For so many of our runners, progress is not just about workouts, mileage, or paces. Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs come from learning to put themselves first, making time for their own goals, and and building the confidence to believe in what they can do.

When we first started working with Wendy in 2019, she admitted that she lacked confidence after having her slowest road marathon. We knew that she was also stretched thin, balancing a busy, stressful job with coaching a group training program, often at the expense of her own workouts.

It's taken many years of gradual progress, learning how to show up for others while still prioritizing herself, and building confidence, but today Wendy, at age 46, ran her fastest half marathon since 2015, finishing the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon in 1:59:20 (9:06/mi average), running a perfectly split race with enough energy left at the end to kick in the last quarter mile at a 6:13/mi pace!

Progress didn't come easily, and it didn't come quickly, but Wendy has been patient, dedicated, and willing to believe in herself as much as we believe in her. This training cycle, we gave Wendy some challenging workouts that fit into her busy schedule. There were moments when she wasn’t sure she could pull them off. We knew she could. And every time she completed one, we could see her confidence growing.

Wendy texted us the picture below with a message, 'We did it! That was HARD!" We loved that message, since we've felt fully invested in Wendy's journey and have always believed in her. The breakthrough wasn't about her finish time, but in learning to believe in herself, too.

Congrats to Wendy on earning every bit of this progress!

We talk a lot about having tune-up races in a training block. There are a lot of reasons for tune-up races, including ge...
10/18/2026

We talk a lot about having tune-up races in a training block. There are a lot of reasons for tune-up races, including getting a baseline for fitness (race results can help extrapolate training and race paces at other distances), practicing racing (nutrition, pacing, mindset), and confidence building.

Julie is training for the Indy Beyond Monumental Marathon in three weeks. She did her final 20-mile long run on Wednesday of this week so that she could race the Indiana Women's Running Festival 5K with her daughter this morning. We encouraged her to do it, making sure to space out the final long run and race day appropriately, with just a short shakeout run on Friday. We told Julie to race the 5K by effort: hard, harder, hardest, and see where she came out.

Turns out that's first in her age group, finishing in 25:52, with splits of 8:37/8:09/7:48, with the last .1 mile at 7:19/mi pace. Julie surprised herself, telling us, "I couldn’t believe that I had such great negative splits after running 20 miles three days ago! And this 5K time was faster than the one I ran in July!"

We are so glad that we fit this 5K into Julie's schedule, since it's a great final confidence boost heading into taper and marathon race day, and it also gave her a chance to run in the same race as her daughter, pictured on the left below, who finished 9th overall in the 5K! Congrats to mom and daughter for showing up strong for each other today!

Donna G., age 69, began working with us in June to train for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Donna shared that she...
10/16/2026

Donna G., age 69, began working with us in June to train for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Donna shared that she did not have a positive experience when training for her last marathon in 2018 during which she ran the race while injured. Now, eight years later, Donna was ready to try again with the goal of getting to the Chicago start line prepared to run and healthy.

Since 2018, Donna had stuck to half marathons, so she was understandably nervous about doubling the distance eight years later. Fortunately, Donna strength trained diligently, and we had no doubt that her durability would serve her well as she increased her mileage. To balance Donna's need to run more mileage with her understandable fear of injury, we created a schedule that incorporated three days of running with one optional fourth day, two days of cross training, and one rest day. We gave Donna the choice each week to run that fourth day, and most of the time, she did!

Donna started her training in June with an eight-mile long run and a total weekly mileage volume of 23 miles. Each time Donna faced a new long run distance, she expressed her apprehension. We assured Donna that we believed she could, and each time, she did! By the end of Donna's training cycle, she proudly completed several long runs, including a 20 miler without injury. Donna practiced her fueling during each run and embraced taking in many more carbs than she had during her previous marathon training cycles.

Donna achieved her goal. She lined up at the Chicago start line prepared to run and healthy. Donna finished in 5:33 and had tremendous pride, a perfect 70th birthday gift to herself!

In Donna's words, "The training plan was perfect for me. It challenged me just enough but not so much that I felt overwhelmed. I appreciated the flexibility and you always had an answer to my questions that made sense. I have been a runner for years and running this marathon proved that I could still do it, and it was amazing 70th birthday present to myself. And when all is said and done running is still my passion, keeps me sane and I would not have been able to do it without my running buddies!!"

Congratulations to Donna, and Happy MILEStone birthday!

Steve C., a masters runner, began working with us in 2022 when he ran his first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, in ...
10/15/2026

Steve C., a masters runner, began working with us in 2022 when he ran his first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, in 4:42. Since then, Steve has run a marathon every fall (five total), including the 2024 Richmond Marathon, where he achieved a 3:57 marathon PR.

This year, Steve targeted the 2026 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, his first Abbott World Marathon Majors. Unfortunately, Steve's training did not go as smoothly as in past years due to sustaining a hamstring injury over the winter that slightly delayed his ability to start training for Chicago.

Steve patiently waited for his hamstring to fully heal before building his mileage. By July, Steve was able to run consistenly four days per week without any pain. We decided to keep Steve's mileage relatively low for this training cycle to prioritize Steve's hamstring health and ensure that Steve arrived at the Chicago start line healthy and prepared to run 26.2 miles.

By September, Steve was feeling strong and decided to run the Parks Half Marathon as a tune-up. Because the race was only two weeks before Chicago, we encouraged Steve to approach the half marathon as a supported long run, rather than a race, to ensure that he did not race too close to the marathon and to practice his fueling. Steve finished Parks in 1:55. He messaged us after the race and said, "Third fastest 1/2 marathon and did so without trying my hardest - yeah!"

We gave Steve an effort-based plan for Bank of America Chicago Marathon, rather than a specific pacing plan due to his lower mileage base and the weather conditions. Instead of setting a time goal for Chicago, Steve set a process goal to feel strong throughout the entire race.

Steve finished Chicago in 4:30 and felt strong throughout the entire race, even when the heat made the conditions more challenging. Steve credits his successful race to his fueling, pacing, and having his family to support him along the course. Steve fueled every 30 minutes and drank electrolytes at every hydration stop, which allowed him to take in 70-80 grams of carbs per hour.

In Steve's words, "I am good! The Chicago Marathon was awesome - so much fun! The crowd was amazing and I enjoyed running the course. It was the hardest marathon (other than the first Marine Corps Marathon). The heat, sun and humidity were very challenging to me. My nutrition and hydration worked well. Many others were cramping on the course. I only felt a bit of a cramp after I crossed the finish line. Overall, so fun. I think races later in the season work better for me so maybe NY next year…" Congratulations to Steve!

The thing about the marathon is that anything can happen when you're out on a course for 3, 4, 5, or more hours, so it's...
10/15/2026

The thing about the marathon is that anything can happen when you're out on a course for 3, 4, 5, or more hours, so it's important to be able to stay mentally engaged, and grateful, even when the unexpected happens.

Dani came to us earlier this year, after having run her first marathon in 2025, finishing in 4:18. She wanted to work towards finishing sub-4 hours at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the 2027 runDisney Marathon. She also had the goal of running Chicago healthy and strong, especially because it's her hometown and her family and friends would be along the route to cheer her on, and because she was running for an equine charity that is near and dear to her heart.

Dani lives in Florida, so she faced the added challenge of training this summer through the brutal Florida summer heat and humidity. We were so impressed with her dedication, getting up before 5 am to beat the heat, doing multiple laps of a 1.8-mile stretch in her neighborhood, which allowed her to make quick stops in front of her house for nutrition and water. Dani did not miss a single run between when we started working with her in June and race day!

Dani's race results during her training cycle, backed up by her consistency in training, showed us that she was in shape to run a sub-4 hour marathon in Chicago, so we gave her a plan to hit that goal. Like her training, Dani followed that plan to a "T" through Mile 22, even after she was elbowed so hard going through a water stop that she ended up with a huge bruise after the race! Around Mile 22, Dani got a bloody nose that was NOT on her race plan or Bingo card. Then not too far after the medical tent, she stepped in a pothole with her right heel, and pulled a muscle in her hip. This was clearly not the ending to the race that Dani imagined!

Still, Dani made forward progress to the finish line, crossing in 4:11:09, a marathon PR, even if not the sub-4 that we know she's capable of. While it was frustrating for Dani, she allowed herself to feel the joy of a marathon PR. She told us she felt "prepared, relaxed and controlled" and was proud of her finish, and enjoyed celebrating with friends and family in her hometown after the race.

We can't always control what happens out on the marathon course, but we can control our perspective and how we move forward, and we're confident that Dani is going to hit her sub-4 goal when she gets another opportunity (and no surprises on course!) For now, we're celebrating her big marathon PR with her, and, more importantly, her dedication and commitment to the process. Congrats, Dani!

Address

Washington D.C., DC

Telephone

+12022560169

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Run Farther & Faster posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Run Farther & Faster:

Shortcuts

Share

Category