Run Farther & Faster

09/13/2026

How often do you allow fear to affect your training and racing? Perhaps fear prevents you from trying a new workout, signing up for a race, or even pursuing a goal. In this episode with Dr. Mitchell Greene, we normalize fear and discuss how we can use fear to pursue, rather than hinder, our running. Dr. Greene will be offering a three-part live course on how to approach the mental roadblocks we encounter in training and racing. We all feel fear, so let’s talk about it and use it to our advantage.

Listen to the episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-291-dont-fear-the-fear-a-conversation/id1438350876?i=1000787951131

Register for Dr. Greene's Courage over Confidence for Runners course using the code RFF10 for 10 percent off: https://greenepsych.com/programs/courage-over-confidence-for-runners/

09/11/2026

Twenty-five years ago, Hanna Born was a 3-year-old inside the Pentagon's child development center when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building on Sept. 11, 2001.

Today, she's an Air Force captain and instructor pilot — and she's undertaking a 2,977-mile mission to honor every person killed in the attacks.

Born and her younger sister, Heather, who was only four months old, were safely evacuated from the daycare that morning. Hanna has described having fragmented memories of the attack, while service members and others helped move the children away from the Pentagon and keep them safe until families could be reunited.

Both sisters would eventually follow their parents into military service.
Hanna is now an instructor pilot with the Air Force's 23rd Flying Training Squadron at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where she trains future rotary-wing aviators in the TH-1H Huey. Heather became a Marine Corps officer and currently serves with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa, Japan.

Their mother, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Dana H. Born, served for 30 years and became dean of the faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Their father, retired Marine Lt. Col. Tim Born, served 21 years on active duty.

Hanna's latest tribute began on Sept. 11, 2025.

She committed to running 2,977 miles — one for each person killed in the Sept. 11 attacks — with the project carrying through the 25th anniversary.
But the miles aren't simply a running goal.

For each one, Born highlights the name and story of an individual victim, turning the number 2,977 into thousands of individual lives to be remembered.
Her first organized run brought roughly 30 members of her squadron together before flight operations at Fort Rucker on Sept. 11, 2025. They ran 9.11 miles together.

Since then, other people have joined the effort remotely, dedicating miles of their own while following Born's progress.

Born has also carried a Flag of Honor inscribed with the names of all 2,977 victims, including during the 2025 Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C.

For Born, the mission also connects the generation that remembers Sept. 11 firsthand with young service members who weren't alive when it happened.
Many of the Airmen she now trains were born after the attacks.

Born said the project is less about athletic achievement than ensuring the people killed that day continue to be remembered individually.

Twenty-five years after she was carried to safety from the Pentagon as a child, she's doing that one mile — and one name — at a time.

Source: U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Air Force

PHOTO CAPTION: Air Force Capt. Hanna Born carries a Flag of Honor bearing the names of the 2,977 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks during the 2025 Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C. Born was 3 years old and inside the Pentagon daycare on 9/11. U.S. Air Force courtesy photo. Twenty-five years ago, Hann...

09/11/2026

Never forget.

09/09/2026

Rachel F., age 51, reached out to us for coaching in April with the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. A lifelong runner, an Abbott World Marathon Majors six-star finisher, and a five-time Boston Marathoner, Rachel sustained a serious back injury in the fall of 2025 that required her to undergo spinal fusion surgery in November. After recovering from surgery, Rachel worked hard in physical therapy throughout the winter months to gain core strength and return to running.

After receiving the green light from her surgeon and physical therapist, Rachel gradually returned to running in April by implementing walk/run intervals and cycling. Rachel was so thrilled to be moving outside after spending a long cold winter indoors recovering from surgery.

After consistently logging walk/run intervals for a few months, Rachel was ready to think about her next goal, which was ambitious--qualify for the 2027 Boston Marathon. To achieve that goal, Rachel needed to target a marathon within the Boston Marathon 2027 qualification window, so she chose the BQ.2 Marathon Races on September 6th. Rachel then contacted us and asked us to help her train for her goal race, and we were so excited to be a part of her comeback.

We helped Rachel progress from running easy mileage every other day totaling 20 miles per week to eventually running over 40 miles per week. Rachel supplemented her runs with strength training and cycling. Rachel was a little nervous about this method because we did not have her doing any speed work, but she trusted the process and recognized that her goal was not to run her fastest marathon but to arrive at the start line healthy and prepared to run a Boston qualifier.

In July, Rachel ran a half marathon to get an idea of her fitness. We did not give her a pacing plan. Instead, we advised her to run by effort. Rachel ran the half in 1:38. After running the half, Rachel remained patient and continued to listen to her body and take extra recovery and rest days as the marathon approached.

On race day, Rachel ran the eight-loop course and maintained a consistent pace of 8:15. After mile 20, Rachel followed her race plan and pushed a bit more, maintaining a consistent sub-8 pace for the last five miles and a 7:33 pace for the final mile. Rachel crossed the finish line in 3:32 and achieved her goal by a large margin.

In Rachel's words, " Last October, my husband and I were walking through Rogers Williams Park Zoo as I tried to enjoy the displays of jack-o'-lanterns decorating the park. What I mostly remember, however, was needing to grab his arm because of the intense pain going down my right leg. After finally discovering that spinal fusion surgery was my best option, I was worried that my running days would be on hold for at least a year if not for good.

After the relief of being cleared to run by my surgeon, I set qualification for the 2027 Boston Marathon as my goal and motivation to gain back not only fitness but confidence to run again. On the morning of the Last Chance BQ.2, it was already close to 70 and muggy at the start and as the sun rose, temps were going to gradually climb to low 80s. While this would have worried me, the summer training, the warm race day for the half, and the nailed down fueling, hydration, and race plan reassured me that my BQ goal was well within reach. I followed Julie and Lisa's advice to run by feel, and kept my pace comfortably hard, challenging but I could speak short sentences, for the first 20 miles.

At mile 20, I evaluated and decided to keep my rhythm as the effort increased with not only 20 miles under me but temps getting to be around 80. My focus was keeping my rhythm and importantly keep fueling and hydrating.

As I crossed the timing mat on loop 7, the announcer called out "Rachel, you're at 3 hours 10 minutes with 1 lap to go"! Shortly after, I ran past my husband and heard, "See you at the finish line"! What a great boost as I began my 8th and final loop. Despite my tired legs and the now very hot weather, I was able to open my stride a bit more on the last loop and celebrate every last view of the aid stations, the spectators, and the bridges and run over that last timing mat at 03:32:57, a 17 minute BQ!

Thank you so much, Julie and Lisa! I wouldn't have had that moment without you, and I can't wait to see you in Boston 2027!!!"

09/09/2026

We are so excited to welcome back sports psychologist, Dr. Mitchell Greene, to talk about the fears we see all the time in runners and, more importantly, how we can learn to work with those fears rather than allowing them to control our training and racing.

We talk about some of the biggest fears runners face, including returning to running after injury, and how to distinguish between being appropriately cautious and being controlled by fear, and why confidence isn’t necessarily the absence of fear.

Dr. Greene shares practical strategies runners can use to keep fear from dictating their decisions and explains why courage—not confidence—is often what allows us to move forward when we’re uncertain, nervous, or doubtful.

Check out Dr. Greene’s live three-part Courage Over Confidence for Runners course. The course is $150, and Run Farther & Faster listeners receive 10% off with code RFF10.

Register for the course here: https://greenepsych.com/programs/courage-over-confidence-for-runners

Listen to the episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-farther-faster-the-podcast-with-coaches-lisa/id1438350876?i=1000787951131

09/08/2026

WE HAVE A BIRTHDAY GIRL! I (Coach Lisa) feel so fortunate to have Julie as business partner, podcast co-host, sounding board, and friend. I celebrate that every day, but particularly today, on her special day.

Please join me in wishing Julie an amazing birthday and a year filled with more happy miles, big goals, good health, lots of laughter, and adventures!

09/07/2026

"Trust the training," we've been telling our runners, through the sweaty, hot, hard, soul-sucking summer weather. We know it takes a leap of faith to follow a training plan when it feels like you're moving in place, but we've done this long enough to know that the work we put in, when no one is watching, on those relentless summer days, does pay dividends when the weather cools off.

Brenda proved this to herself today. Not only did Brenda have to deal with the challenges of summer training, she also managed the stress of the transition into retirement, a bad fall that resulted in an injured hand, and some other health challenges. Brenda easily could have thrown in the towel and put her training on the back burner, but we focused on consistency and mindset, and today, in 59-degree start line temperatures, she finished the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race 5K in 28:07, her fastest 5K time in several years, and 2nd in her 65-69 age group!

Brenda checked in after the race and told us that "I was surprised and of course thrilled with this finish time -- my fastest in almost 4 years at least. AND I'm thrilled with my #2 place (out of 42) in F65-69. Thank you, thank you, for the inspiration around mindset and the steady coaching around the high peaks/low valleys of life."

Training isn't always perfect or pretty, especially through the summer months, but with the right perspective and with consistency, the fitness built through the challenges will show up on a day when everything comes together.

Congrats, Brenda!

09/07/2026

09/06/2026

Recaps from our nine runners who traveled down under to run the TCS Sydney Marathon are still coming through as our runners who stayed in Australia to travel post-race come home and catch us up on their race experiences!

We have coached Aimee since 2023, when she started preparing for the BERLIN-MARATHON in 2024. Since then, Aimee has also completed the TCS London Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon, where she finished in 5:04:31, her fastest Abbott World Marathon Majors finish.

Aimee is a busy nurse who also has five kids, and fits her training in the best she can around her work and family obligations. This means that most of her runs are on the treadmill, with many of them late at night, and while Aimee isn't always able to get in the exact mileage or workouts as planned, she shows up and is consistent. This summer, she made a commitment to herself to get outside for the long runs, and she did just that, which was more important to developing mental strength and confidence than anything else. After one particularly hilly, hot, humid, and hard long run, Aimee told us, " I knew this was not going to be fun or feel good but I told myself I needed to do this for my confidence and conditioning. Thankfully my mental strength pulled through."

That mental strength served Aimee well at Sydney, as she went into the race with an achievable plan, but more importantly, a strong positive mindset. On a course that was much hiller than Chicago, Aimee told us that "once I realized I could beat my Chicago time, I really dug deep the last 5K," which put her at the finish line over a minute faster than her Chicago time, in 5:03:08.

More importantly, and maybe a critical part of her successful race, Aimee had fun. " I stopped and high fived people and danced to music and honestly had more fun than any other race...Overall I am happy with my time and it shows me I still capable of knocking more time off my finish. I think after five of these races, I have finally started to figure out what “not” to do and I keep learning after every race. Sydney was a great city and I had a lot of fun. Thank you very much. I am so grateful I had your guidance."

Aimee is an example of consistency over perfection, and focusing on the joy and privilege of running. We are so proud of her, excited for her, and look forward to helping her continue to learn and achieve new goals as she works toward her next Marathon Majors. Congrats, Aimee!

09/02/2026

Nine Run Farther & Faster runners ran the TCS Sydney Marathon on Sunday, and we are so thrilled to share their stories.

First up is Mia W. We started working with Mia, age 52, in December 2025. A seasoned marathoner and triathlete, Mia was frustrated with her performance at the 2025 Berlin Marathon and decided to work with us to better structure her marathon training to balance the demands of her schedule as a commercial airline pilot with the demands of marathon training.

Between December and August, Mia gradually built her mileage and worked on running her easy runs easier, honoring her recovery, particularly after travel, and jumping into races occasionally to assess her progress. By July, Mia had run three half marathons, all of which she finished in under two hours, which demonstrated her fitness and consistency.

Mia's training was not perfect. she experienced calf pain that caused her to miss some long runs and key workouts in June and July. Rather than worry about losing fitness, she focused on her recovery and what she could do--she cross trained. Mia remained positive throughout her injury, which was relatively minor, and focused on her future workouts, rather than dwell on her missed past workouts. Nonetheless, after running a half marathon on July 26th in 1:59--just one month before Sydney-Mia said, "I’m definitely worried about Sydney, the 1/2 was tough today, and can’t imagine doing a full right now."

On race day, Mia did not allow her worry to hold her back. She ran a strong race and finished in 4:17, which was 78 minutes FASTER than her finish time at the Berlin Marathon in 2025! In Mia's words, "I’m super happy! It was a tough course and the first marathon I’ve done where the last 10K wasn’t a complete disaster."

We are so thrilled for Mia who overcame obstacles and self-doubt to achieve her goal.