Dena Evans joined runcoach in July, 2008 and has a wide range of experience working with athletes of all stripes- from youth to veteran division competitors, novice to international caliber athletes.
From 1999-2005, she served on the Stanford Track & Field/ Cross Country staff. Dena earned NCAA Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year honors in 2003 as Stanford won the NCAA Division I Championship. She was named Pac-10 Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2003-04, and West Regional Coach of the Year in 2004.
From 2006-08, she worked with the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, helping to expand the after school fitness programs for elementary school aged girls to Mountain View, East Menlo Park, and Redwood City. She has also served both the Stanford Center on Ethics and the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession as a program coordinator.
Dena graduated from Stanford in 1996.
Jack Daniels is a man so unlike the bottle that I cannot begin to describe the differences. However, here’s an attempt to convey an unexpected lesson from Jack’s example at the Focus-N-Fly 2.0 Event:
http://curiosityquotient.blogspot.com/2009/01/unexpected-running-lessons.html
It has been a big week! It culminated with FnF’s 2.0 Event and Jack Daniels talk last night but it started with a short run with ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes. Here’s a short post and picture:
http://curiosityquotient.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-run-with-dean-karnazes.html
Sara Hall recently sat down with Focus-N-Fly to share a bit about her current training and future plans. A high school cross country national champion and multi-time NCAA All-American at Stanford, Sara has been running professionally for Asics since graduation in 2005.
Alysia Johnson is the recently crowned IAAF World Indoor 800 meter Bronze Medalist by virtue of her signature front running tactics in Doha, Qatar this March.
I love Boston! The rain, the cold and the chance of snow flurries tonight!! I prefer running in cool weather but really snow?! No matter what the weatherman says I am keeping my hopes high that Monday will be perfect running weather; high 40’s, low 50’s, even a light mist would be ok at the start. The hard part with marathons is that you can make it through months of training but come race day there are so few factors that you can actually control. Weather, wind, water stations, your stomach, and other runners are just some of the many factors that you must deal with on race day but none of which you can really control.
As a perfect example, I am amazed that I can make it through months of training with only minor aches and pains and then my second to last run before race day I am running a few miles of the course and take a spill on a set of train tracks. A few cuts and bruises later I am back up and running and doing ok but it is a strong reminder that the first goal of running a marathon is making it to the starting line. Sometimes I forget that concept and get too focused on my paces and miles logged. No matter what level runner you are, making it the start is the most important part of race. Despite my fight with the railroad tracks today, I am ready and excited for Monday. Honestly, it cannot get here soon enough. I am ready to race and ready to feel the energy of the race! The Boston marathon has an energy that is unlike any other and a crowd that makes heartbreak hill worth the sweat, tears and pain. I look forward to sharing my race story with you next week!
My first memories of the Boston marathon were standing on the sidelines cheering on the thousands of runners and being mesmerized by the whole experience. This year’s Boston marathon will be my third running and each year I have created new, amazing memories and with the help of Focus-N-Fly, run faster and faster times. My goal this year is to qualify for the 2011 Boston marathon, as if I were a guy, running a 3:10. This would be a 5 min PR over my last race in NYC this past fall and the task seems a little daunting.
WARNING: Really Long Post!
The last few days before the race were kinda surreal. I guess most people probably get a bit nervous in those few days before a goal race. Many people also probably feel a little disconcerted because they’ve only run a few miles in the past several days and their legs start getting restless. I experienced these things too, but what struck me most in those days was how strange it felt to actual believe that I was going to make it to the starting line of another marathon… and that it could be one by which I qualify for the Boston Marathon. It was just really hard to believe.
This is my last update before the race, which means that it’s getting so close that my thoughts are invaded by preparation details all day, every day. The excitement is definitely building and with it, has come the nervousness that goes along with doing anything that I really care about. But, I’ve learned to focus that nervousness into planning, so that I don’t question what I need to do when the time comes.
The weather’s improved significantly in the past week or so and my fitness seems to be improving with it. I’ve been able to run my last several workouts from the pace chart dictated by my last race performance, which was before the hamstring injury that derailed my last training cycle. The marathon pace from that chart indicates that I’m on track to be ready for the race in Napa in three weeks. My heart rate has been dropping as well, which is always a confidence booster for me. I still have my longest training run (just 19 miles) to get through next weekend, but otherwise it seems like it’s going to be all about staying healthy through my shorter-than-normal taper to get to the starting line.
For me, waking up and running well before dawn is something I dread, and I’ve only turned to it as last resort. So, when driving rain, howling wind and a flooded track, are piled on top of that, it starts to feel like torture. As a result, the last couple of weeks in the bay area have been a significant test of dedication to my running goals.
