In episode #58 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Lauren Blankenship, professional running coach, business owner, and former competitive collegiate distance runner at Samford University. They discuss her love for the sport of soccer prior to beginning her running career followed by her introduction to running as a sophomore in high school. Lauren achieved early success in high school track and cross country and then went on to compete for Samford University where her accolades in distance running continued! As a collegiate runner, Lauren won three conference titles in cross country, multiple conference titles in track and field at distances ranging from 3,000 meters to 10,000 meters and was a three time all-American.

During the interview, they also talk about her coaching career including an early opportunity to coach at her Alma Mater, followed by a move back to Georgia (where she is from) where she has held multiple coaching positions for high school and collegiate runners. Beyond all of her successes as an athlete and coach, Lauren has been involved in the running world through various jobs at running stores and in marketing roles including stints at West Stride, a female-owned running store in Atlanta and at Fleet Feet running store in Decatur, GA where she first met Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy. With these different experiences, Lauren talks about how much she learned about running culture, footwear, and gear as well as being extended opportunities to step into private coaching. This storyline then became more prominent for her, which may be of no surprise once you learn that she strongly considered a path in counseling before her coaching career took off. Lauren’s passion for coaching individual runners and investing in holistic components of success as an athlete and distance runner really shine through in her interview.

Finally, Lauren talks about her vision and future directions for her personal coaching business with private clients. Lauren also shares some of her experiences with coaching at different levels including high school athletes, collegiate coaching and her love for helping out private clients now and runners from the recreational to elite level. You won’t want to miss this foray into running culture and tips from Lauren on how she leverages her running background and plethora of diverse coaching experiences to help her current clients.