Our Mission is to increase women’s participation and opportunity in trail running and hiking through inspiration, education and empowerment.
I’m a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, running technique expert, and founder of The Balanced Runner. My interest in running technique began when, as a professional dancer, I was asked to perform choreography that included sustained running in large, outdoor spaces. Frustrated by how difficult and uncomfortable running felt, I began to study running technique and used the Feldenkrais Professional Training Program I was enrolled in as a laboratory to discover how to coordinate my movements so that running felt comfortable, easy, and enjoyable.
Eventually, realizing I’d come to prefer running to dancing, and also that the changes in movement that had made the difference to my running were not being taught, discussed, or researched elsewhere, I retired from dancing and launched The Balanced Runner in 2002.
Before I ever ran, the Feldenkrais Method saved my dance career, helping me recover from a 2-year bout of debilitating bilateral achilles tendonitis (with Haglund’s deformity). Not only that, it made me a better dancer than before, and gave me a feeling of freedom I’d only dreamed of. Then it helped me discover that freedom in running as well. I became a Feldenkrais practitioner to help as many people as possible discover that feeling of freedom for themselves.
I’ve worked with countless runners, triathletes, and others who run for sports or for work including military and first responders. I’m especially proud to have contributed to the 1-2-3-Run program developed by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella for the US Air Force. My elite clients have included Olympians Jen Rhines, Sonia Samuels, and Lisa Norden, as well as Susan Marshall, winner of the 2023 Self-Transcendence 3100 (the world’s longest race).
The body is your only home in the universe. It is your house of belonging here in the world. It is a very sacred temple. To spend time in silence before the mystery of your body brings you toward wisdom and holiness... Your body is, in essence, a crowd of different members who work together to make your belonging in the world possible.
I am exclusively a *running form* coach. For more than 20 years I’ve helped runners from beginner to Olympian learn to run without fighting their bodies. I help runners improve their form to break the cycle of recurring injury, take the brakes off their performance, and recover that feeling of naturalness when they run so they feel like a kid again.
I believe you can run in a way that’s comfortable, healthy, enjoyable and faster if you’re given the opportunity to learn the right things about running form in an effective way. Not only will your running improve, but you will also experience less stress, tension, and stiffness in your daily life and develop better posture and breathing.
You may have read things about running form, technique, or biomechanics or even been coached about it or taught it by someone else already. You may have been to doctors, PTs, chiropractors, massage therapists, or other practitioners for help with pain and injury. You may have spent a lot of money trying to find the right running shoes to fix things. But your problems may not have gone away. I specialize in helping people like you; in fact, my clients are all people like you.
As Feldenkrais practitioner I’m able to look at your running form, identify the ways you’re moving your whole body that create stress in the place you have pain or injury, and then help you feel what to do differently so your running form changes substantially, safely, and lastingly, even when you’re not thinking about it. As a result the pain goes away, the injury heals, and running feels like you’ve always wished it would.
This process is quite gentle and safe for injured runners, so there’s no need to wait “until you’re better” to start. In fact, I have also worked with people who struggle to walk and I’ve had clients in their 80s and 90s and with such conditions as Parkinson’s, MS, and stroke, so rest assured I’ll be able to meet your needs. My satisfied runner clients have ranged from novice to world class, so I will be able to meet you at your current level of running.
I offer in-person coaching in Salt Lake City as well as online coaching, video analysis, and courses.
Trail Sisters® is a registered trademark of Trail Sisters LLC | © 2024 Trail Sisters LLC
