A letter to the runnersconnect community

Dear RunnersConnect,

I have some news to share - as of January 1, 2025, I will no longer be with you at RunnersConnect.

Jeff and I have had many productive discussions over the last few months about RC’s future, and my future within it. Ultimately, we decided it would be best for us to go our separate ways.

I’m devastated to part with such an incredible community. And yet I’m over-the-moon excited for the next chapter.

But before I go, I’d love to share a walk down RC memory lane with you.

Unless you were there back then, you probably won’t believe me, but - when I joined RC back in December 2015, we were tiny!

I think we had maybe 150 coaching athletes. The podcast was gaining a little traction (thanks to Jeff’s hard work and a tremendous host in Tina Muir). And the blog was showing early signs of becoming something great.

But Jeff had a vision. 

When he first interviewed me, I honestly thought, hey, this looks like a solid coaching position. Maybe I’ll do this for a year or two and then I’ll go get a real job.

After our first phone call, that totally changed.

I realized that Jeff wasn’t just some running coach. He didn’t just happen to create a popular running blog.

He had a vision. He had a passion. And he had the smarts to back it all up.

For me, that transformed this whole thing from a simple job to pay the bills into something so much more.

Now, 9 years later, I’m in my last couple of weeks with RC.

When I look back over those 9 years, a handful of things really stand out. I’d love to share those with you. Some of you may have even been involved!

Covid

In January of 2020, Jeff promoted me to an executive role within RC. I wouldn’t just be managing coaches anymore - I’d be helping to manage an entire business!

I entered that year full of fire and ideas. We were gonna do this, we were gonna do that, we were gonna surpass this competitor, we were gonna reach this milestone …

But my biggest initiative? 

More in-person events.

The punchline here probably writes itself. 2 months into my new role, the world shut down. And running shut down right along with it.

We lost 30% of our monthly revenue. We cancelled our 2020 retreats. And my plan for a big RC meetup at the 2020 Boston Marathon to kick off my new initiative was in the can.

Not exactly the start I wanted.

Look, I know 2020 was rough for many of you. I don’t want to pretend that we faced bigger challenges than anyone else.

But man, it was tough.

Jeff and I didn’t take salaries for 3 months. That was one of those things where it didn’t seem like a huge deal at first. But when it started to get hard, it got hard fast.

And yet, I saw a resiliency within our community that still inspires me today.

Those of you who stuck with us dug into your training even deeper than before. Many of you did our Bootcamps, where we focused on things like strength training or improving your footspeed (I loved coaching you guys for that 1 mile time trial!).

I saw Kumar Rao, a guy in his 60’s, do his entire marathon build on the treadmill. And the icing on the cake - his race was ultimately cancelled, so he ran his marathon on the treadmill!

I saw our coaches get creative with our athletes. I already mentioned the Bootcamps, which was Jeff’s brainchild and was pushed into action by the coaches. But even beyond that, we started doing Zoom hangouts, we came up with new (non-racing) challenges, Coach Laura McLean even wrote an entire training program based inside the house - so stuff like stair climbs, bodyweight exercises, and plyometrics (that hopefully wouldn’t disturb the downstairs neighbors too much) for those who couldn’t get out much, or at all.

That resiliency, both from the coaches and from you guys, the community, powered us through 2020. And ultimately allowed us to grow even more beyond it.

Retreats

Man oh man, will I miss our retreats!

Blowing Rock NC. Orlando FL. Flagstaff AZ. Wolfeboro NH.

I loved every minute of those retreats. 

In Blowing Rock NC in 2017 and 2018, a group of us (Kevin, Bjorg, Kory, and myself) would stay out late every night drinking beer and enjoying the beautiful NC mountain air. We eventually coined ourselves “The Degenerates”. How could we go to bed with such fun company and incredible surroundings?

But amongst these awesome in-person experiences, the 2023 Flagstaff Retreat stands out. Not because it was better than any of the others, but because of a highly personal experience there.

On the 2nd night, you guys told me and Jeff that you wanted to know more about us. We'd already done the basic campfire introductions - where I laid out my deep dark secret that I did competitive show choir in high school - but you really wanted to know more about who we were.

On a total whim, I decided to spill it. My whole story. How I've been battling a chronic health problem for over 10 years now. How it ruined my competitive running career but I now want to make a comeback and qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2028. My post-surgical nightmare in 2021 and 2022 that only my absolute closest friends and family are even aware of.

I put it all out there. And I was blown away by the response.

Not only did the lovely Aurelia and Jackie start CRYING (thus making me well up! I was holding it together perfectly til I noticed you two 😁). But several of you found me 1-on-1 afterwards (or sent messages after the retreat) and offered your support and thanked me for sharing.

It truly blew me away. I went to bed that night and stared at the hotel room ceiling for hours.

That motivated me to share more of my story. It's a huge inspiration for my Youtube channel where I'm documenting my comeback to running.

Look, I love online business. But that’s an experience that only could’ve happened in-person. 

I cherish the memories from all of our retreats. I’m still in touch with many of you who attended to this day! 

RC’s journey mirroring mine

When I joined RC in December 2015, my own running career was unfortunately winding down.

After some peak performances in my early 20’s (multiple sub 4 miles, a 3:37 1500m, two top 10 US rankings), I was fading. I couldn’t keep up with the training anymore. 

And racing was pitiful. My last race was a 4:09 mile. I know that still sounds super fast, and it is. But when you’ve run 3:37 for 1500m (equivalent to 3:54 for the mile), 4:09 just doesn’t cut it.

I was on my way out, while RC was on its way up.

Throughout most of my time at RC, I barely ran a step. Outwardly, I said this was because I just didn’t want to, that I was done with running forever.

But I knew in my head - my body just couldn’t do it.

You see, somewhere around 2012-2016, things started to change. Digestive problems, which I had since I was a kid but largely kept under control, started to take over my life. I started to struggle with skin problems, chronic infections, low energy.

And as those issues increased in severity, my running performance just got worse and worse.

This ultimately became my “normal.” I felt that way every single day for close to 10 years. I wasn’t bedridden, I wasn’t horribly ill, I wasn’t hospitalized. 

I just felt like shit.

Over the past few years I’ve gone to extreme lengths to fix this thing once and for all. I decided I was done living life at 50%. 

And finally, in 2024, I started to figure it out.

Along with this dramatic health improvement, I’ve decided to make a big comeback to running. Now I want to make the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2028.

Thus, my time with RC is sort of an inverted story. I started at the end (or what I thought was the end), and now I’m at a new beginning - at a time where my journey with RC will unfortunately come to a conclusion.

And I’ll tell you what - none of this could’ve happened without RC. Without you guys, without Jeff, without the incredible coaches.

RC has given me so much. I’m forever grateful.

farewell

To the community - thank you for all of the wonderful experiences. I’m immensely proud to have played even a tiny part in your running journeys. I hope to see you all at races! Never hesitate to come say hello.

To our coaches - thank you for putting your faith in me and giving RC such quality work. I can only hope I gave you room to grow as coaches, as runners, and as people.

You’re all fantastic. Jamie, Danny, Sarah, Hayley, Claire, Dylan, Ruairi, Laura, Andie, Alex … RC would be nowhere without you all.

And of course: Naveed, Tina, Sinead (I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble staying in touch), Jeremy, Stephanie, Finn, Cory. I really got to work with a lot of awesome people.

And to Jeff - man, we’ve been through a lot together. We’ve weathered good times and bad, crisis after crisis (both business and personal), and somehow managed to come out better for it all on the other side.

I’m older now than you were when we started working together. So it’s even wilder to me now how big your vision was back when we started. 

You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. Your ability to come up with solutions in the most dire and hopeless of situations is just remarkable, truly the best I’ve ever seen.

I’ll greatly miss having you on my team.

Thank you for entrusting so much of your business in me for all these years. It’s meant the world. 

As much as it hurts, I know we’ll each find our best success on our own separate paths. But I’ll tell you what, whatever path I have ahead of me, it wouldn’t exist without you.

Thank you my friend.

Looking ahead

I ain’t done with running.

I don’t just want to help people run faster. I want to make people healthier, more energetic, more whole.

I don’t accept that fast running and peak health are two separate things. I don’t accept that so many runners have gut problems or chronic injuries or other chronic health issues just like I did.

I want runners to run fast, feel great, and become shining radiant lights within their families and communities. To inspire others with their own achievements.

That’s my goal with my new company, Sub4Running.

If you want to find me, that’s where I’ll be. Chasing that dream, along with my dream of making the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2028.

—

Take care Team RC. Train hard, race fast, and keep embracing the running community. It’ll change your life.

-Michael