Run Coach Services:
Hi Douglas,
I deeply appreciate all the help you have given me with my running and my posture. I feel that with your help and guidance, elements of my running form have improved and allow me to run with less effort, less potentially harmful strain, and overall faster. My race performances over the last couple of years reflect this. It is certainly a joy to run with greater ease and see the benefit of it in my race times.
Probably more importantly, the underlying help you have given my with my posture shows in my everyday life. While this improvement is most visible in my running, I believe that my overall posture improvement helps me through every day with a more relaxed, efficient way of moving. I believe this is likely healthier overall, and I believe that I am less likely to develop various chronic pains in the future due to this improvement.
Underlying your basic teaching, I appreciate the genuine approach you take toward the fundamental movement and energy involved in running. Your love of the basic mechanics of the art of running shows in your craft. I am grateful for you skill and willingness in sharing and teaching your wisdom.
- Feel free to include my times. They have improved, and for a busy guy with a demanding career and a family they are respectable times.
- April, 2009 Boston Marathon: 2:55.33 (new personal best)
- May, 2009 Flat-out 5k: 18:20 (new personal best)
- May, 2009 Bolder Boulder: 38.59
- June, 2009 Steamboat 1/2 Marathon: 1:24.00 (1st Masters; 6th overall)
Thank you,
Stuart Geer, MD
Kaiser Permanente
“…close to giving up on the sport all together
“When I began working with Douglas, after my first season of competing in triathlon, I was suffering from multiple running-related injuries and close to giving up on the sport all together. The body awareness and relaxation techniques Douglas taught me have helped me improve my form, increase my speed, and enjoy running.
“Douglas is incredibly perceptive regarding body mechanics and is able to give me seemingly small adjustments that make an enormous difference in the ease of my running form and my ability to call up more speed. He incorporates unique imagery and visualizations that help me understand how efficient, effortless running should feel. And being able to see myself in motion on video is a powerful reinforcement of what I’m learning.
“With Douglas’s help, I have decreased my easy, aerobic pace by more than 90 seconds per mile, and my tempo pace by nearly 2 minutes per mile while remaining injury free. Most of all, I really find running to be a joy rather than a chore, and look forward to continually improving into the future.”
Hazel Porter
Hi Doug,
I had a good Bolder Boulder today and I wanted to let you know that I was thinking of what I learned from you the whole way and wanted to thank you for your help. I ran 50:19, 40 seconds faster than two years ago (my last time) and good for 7th place in my age group (64). This in spite of my hamstring acting up a couple of weeks ago which resulted in almost no running since that time. Also, on Saturday, the day before, I raced the grueling Morgal Bismark bike race. I wasn’t even sure I’d run the Bolder Boulder until the afternoon.
I remembered to stay upright, lean slightly forward, and above all take short strides and rotate through the middle. This greatly helped me to relax and find a rhythm.
Thanks again for your help and hope to see you again in the future.
Bob Unger
Robert Unger, Ph.D. 2455 Broadway Boulder, CO 80304
“I’ve worked with Douglas for about 4 years. I’ve been down a few times with injuries, but in each case, they were related to my form and were fixed quickly and without major reductions to training. Heck, I even “ran through” a sprained ankle for 20 miles one time … it wasn’t about bearing the pain, it was about correcting the form and letting my body move naturally and efficiently. There was no pain.”
Troy Lerner Denver, Co
Physical Therapy for Runners
Hi Douglas
I can’t even wait until I see you Tuesday to share the news that I just ran 10 miles without hip pain. That is the first time in MANY years!!!
Thank you!
Debbie (Wright)
After I spent $800 and weeks of following recommended exercises, I still had IT band pain so bad I couldn’t run 50 yards. The traditional PT clinic failed to understand the root cause of the pain. After one session, you had me on the road to running pain free and building mileage back up with improved form and efficiency. I was amazed I could run again! I’m now running distances I thought were impossible before my injury and wouldn’t be running today if I hadn’t found you.
– Jake Fulcher
Evergreen, CO
Hey Douglas –
I was having chronic knee and IT band issues that resulted in a five year absence from marathon distances. I was proactive in seeking help and had been to six different physical therapists and doctors to help identify and fix the issue – both short and long term. Most of the diagnoses resulted in stretching and workout regimens, all of which were difficult for me to consistently implement. Although I had several gait analyses, they only resulted in a few tips on improving my form with no easy method for permanently adopting these into my form. I never had a follow up gait analysis to see if things were improving.
With Douglas, things were immediately different. From day 1, the focus was on my running form and the inefficiencies and injury risks that went along with it. Each session gave me concrete methods for improving my technique and imprinting it into every mile and, ultimately, every step. Douglas uses slow motion video to capture and then review – he also shares it with me so I can watch at home. It’s simple but effective and altogether different than any other physical therapist I’ve been to. The reason behind this is due to Douglas’ expertise at running. It was always discouraging to know more about running than my physical therapist – with Douglas, he’s as much physical therapist as running coach and distance runner himself.
Micheal Tevebaugh-Denver Co
March 2015
Dear Douglas,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time. I just wanted to say an extra special “thanks” for the changes you have helped make to my running. It was 1996 that I first saw you for “anterior tib” inflammation. I suffered with this off and on for 15 years. Even though I had seen multiple physical and massage therapists, if I ran, the inflammation would return. My running soon became composed of three parts: one part aspirin, one part run and one part ice.
Well, as you are aware, after three months of working/running with you, I was better able to focus my attention on my body. More importantly, I was able to change the way I ran so that my running was more relaxed and without pain and inflammation.
In September 1998, I was able to run my first marathon ever, Berlin in 3:15. I felt great the whole way. In May, this year, I ran the best Bloomsday of my life (a 12k race, I have run 13 times since 1979). I also ran my best Bolder Boulder.
Now at 48 years old, my running is stronger than ever before, thanks to being able to train pain free. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your initial help. Thanks again.
See you on the trails,
Ed Terrell
Holistic PT
Douglas,
As my treatment with you soon draws to its inevitable close, I just wanted to thank you for assisting me in such a life changing way with my recovery.
I never thought that a car accident would help me to embark upon such a positive path regarding my overall health, and I want to thank you for working with me on such an integral, life changing level.
Our work together has given me an awareness of how to take control of my well being throughout the day in a way that I have never had before. The exercises we have worked with to alleviate pain, to develop strength and to enhance awareness of position and posture, movement, diet and emotional/physical connections has given me a solid sense of being grounded and control about my body which has made a tremendous difference in my day-to-day life.
Thanks to the work we have done, and your continual encouragement throughout my recovery, I am now exercising regularly at the Recreation Center. I now use exercise not only for strengthening, but for stress relief, emotional uplift and to reinforce a healthy sense of self. I am much more aware of the connection between my physical well being and emotional well being and feel that my life habits have truly changed from the ground up!
Sincerely, Rhonda Miller
Advertising Manager Silver & Gold Record
Healing on the Run
Achy Knees
My knees never gave me any trouble, even after marathons, until all of a sudden I was waking up in the middle of the night with achy knees. After a year of frustration, physical therapy, supplements, and a visit to an orthopedic surgeon I tried Douglas’s approach.
After the first video session I felt I was a hopeless case but I practiced his techniques anyway. My first trail race after our session I noticed a difference and my knees did not hurt at night! A few weeks later Douglas’s videotaped me again I definitely look like a different runner. My knees are much better and the best part is that I am running again, consistently!
Summer Kennedy
Program Supervisor, Health and Wellness
I have been pleasantly surprised at the results that I have seen in my running in only a short time of seeing Douglas. I came to Radiant Running for a knee injury that was not getting better. Having rested it for six weeks along with icing it and taking ibuprofen, I resumed running only for the pain to return. Douglas has taught me a whole new way to run by changing my form and teaching me to run relaxed, without holding tension. I saw immediate results after our initial visit and was pain free after only two visits. Thanks to Douglas, I have a bright running future ahead of me.
Cindy
Recreational Runner
Firestone, Colorado
Rehabilitation Coaching
“NO JOKE, after 2+ years of pain and facing a “no choice” surgery, I was running without pain for miles at a time. It wasn’t “less pain”, it was “no pain.” I threw out my orthotics (at Douglas’s request), and started to ramp up my mileage. After a few months, I jumped back into a marathon training program under Douglas’s direction. I ran my first marathon in 3:30. I ran some faster before getting the bug to run longer distances. Last summer, I ran my first 50K (32mile) race. I finished 5th in my division.”
Troy Lerner Denver, Co