I just wanted to tell you that I’m so grateful to know you, and when I look back it’s interesting how meeting you at REI for the Chi Running demo has affected so many things that are going on in my life (for the better) right now.

      After REI and then taking your Chi Running workshop, I was finally feeling brave enough to start running again after hurting my knees badly in 2001, training poorly for a full marathon and a few half races after that. You got me feeling comfortable enough to try another half marathon, so I signed up for your team for the Women’s Half Marathon last Fall. I met Laura K. at the Sole Sport’s team kickoff and instantly bonded with her.

      She and I motivated each other continuously via emails etc. during training and occasionally ran together closer to our “hood” since it was hard for both of us to make a lot of the group training runs, being so early in the morning and far from where we lived. Through Laura... I met Amy D. at a Sole Sports running event. Again... Instantly bonded with her. Through Amy... I’ve met a handful of amazing, inspiring, ACTIVE women that I adore. They’ve got me totally hooked on all these fun-themed races that go on all over town, and it’s a blast! Those girls got me to run the craziest 5 mile hill course yesterday at 5:30 a.m. - something I would NEVER have done before, and I was totally able to “hold my own.”

      I’m at that weird almost 40ish age range where I’ve been feeling a major shift amongst myself and many people in my life. And it’s just life... I love them all. People get busy, a lot are not really interested in participating in or training for exercise “events,” people have husbands, kids.... etc., and I’d been feeling a bit bored and stale. I’m so grateful to have come into this “active community” where people are so cool, supportive and inspiring.

      Seriously, I would not be running right now NOR would I have met all these amazing new people currently in my life (many of which you know) if I hadn’t met you. At REI. Hahaa! Because of you, I have made some fabulous new friends with similar interests, I’m in better shape than I’ve been in, in awhile, I’m Chi Running comfortably, smartly and just overall feeling good about life.

      I’m so excited for you doing this full marathon! What a great thing to do on your birthday. Happiest of birthdays to you and may this new “birthday year” bring you much fun, joy and happiness! I hope that I’ll have the chance to see you more often in person than on Facebook.

Thanks again Coach! 

Michelle S.

Arizona

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running

Thank you again for giving me back my "me time".

Michelle and Noble
 

       Woke up this morning to 45 and 20 mph winds and almost skipped a sort-of-planned 5K today here in South Florida -- particularly after being on my feet much of the day during the workshop -- but I dragged myself down there.

      I ran 22:00, which was a PR for my newest running life, and probably my fastest in 20 years or more. Won my age group, and 34th overall.

      Focuses that made a huge difference: arms and hip rotation.I didn't do the hip rotation throughout, but I did enough of it, including a couple of bursts, that made a huge difference. And when I started to overstride, I refocused and brought it back in -- and ran faster.

      There's much, much more there, maybe even a couple of minutes, and I just wanted to thank Danny and all his Instructors for a very important day in my running life.

Thank you.

Craig S.
Florida

Cheers,

Sue B.

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running

I have been plagued by knee and plantar fascia problems that have limited my running, but the use of the Chi Running approach to improve my running form allowed me to begin to extend my runs and get my mileage up without any pain. I completed the marathon (I had done one other marathon 23 years ago and nearly destroyed my knees) in my goal time and enjoyed the run. Towards the end of the race-I was passing so many people who I'm sure had passed me earlier during a walk break. I did the second half of the race (which was much hotter) in 2 minutes LESS than the first half, and I felt strong throughout.

Thank you for what you do-it really makes a difference and I am so happy I heard about your approach and adopted it-it made all the difference.

Be well,
Bruce F.

CT

    The money I spent to take a private lesson from you was some of the best money I've ever spent. I knew I was learning about Chi Walking as we were working and practicing but I did not truly know how much until I started walking again. We had out of town company right after my lesson so I did not walk again for several days. When I did go walking I did my "regular" walking and then practiced my Chi Walking. I was frustrated because I was slower doing Chi. I had made the goal to be faster doing PF Changs than I had been during Disneyland Half Marathon so I decided that I would concentrate on Chi Walking after PF Changs. I would go back to my "regular walking". The next day I started out but discovered that my feet were not striking with the heel first but mid-foot first. I stopped and started again, trying to achieve a heel strike - I could not do it unless I concentrated very hard. I gave up on the idea of heel striking and went with the midfoot. I concentrated on improving my pace, not worrying about my alignment or my arm movements. I had naturally shortened my stride. My average pace before my lesson was 15 - 16 minute/mile. My pace has been steadily getting faster. I did 10 miles with a 14:45/mile pace. My son, who did Disneyland Half Marathon in 1:20, went with me twice during the Christmas Holidays. He commented that I was moving pretty fast for someone who was walking, In fact, he said I was faster than some runners he has observed. That made me feel really great. 

    I am not not supposed to run because of 3 knee surgeries and spinal stenosis and my husband is very firm in wanting me to not run. I did a small amount of running during the Disneyland Half Marathon and did confess this to my husband, I really wanted to finish within the time limit. After one of my recent walks I was reading off my lap times - 14:10, 13:39, 13:24, 13:34 etc to my husband. My husband accused me of running but I had only walked. He was amazed. Even though I am not doing the Chi posture, it has helped me when I have experienced pain during my walks. One day when I was doing a long walk my back started to give me a fair amount of pain. I thought I might have to stop but decided to try getting my body in Chi alignment (reverse crunch). My pain went away. It came back when I starting to lean so I did the reverse crunch and the pain went away again. Another time, I noticed my left ankle was bothering me so I stopped and did the ankle rotations to relax my ankles. When I started up again my ankles were loose and did not hurt at all.

You are an amazing instructor and I truly thank you. You and Chi Walking have made a tremendous difference in my walking.

Linda S.

Phoenix, AZ

I'm happy to report there were no major surprises and we were able to complete 2 full marathons over a 5 week period with no injuries or significant ill effects. We didn't go without having a few bad training runs, but we were prepared for that to happen. As a "mature" runner (age 52), I also found I needed to limit myself to to 3 runs per week to avoid over-training, but kept my long-slow-distance run at pretty much full recommended distance and pace (peaking in the 22-24 mile range).

My partner Susan (also a Chi Running "Believer") and I ran the City of Oaks Marathon (Raleigh, NC) on Nov. 11th. I was able to finish my first marathon mid-pack for my age group, at about 4:25 (Susan had done several marathons before). I was pleased that I finished feeling strong and completed the 2nd half of the race faster than the first half. Five weeks later on Dec. 10th, we ran the Kiawah Island marathon in S.C. in about 4:30. After each race, I was admittedly a little sore, but had no problem comfortably completing a 3 or 4 mile run within 72 hours of completing each of the marathons. I really thought recovery time would be much longer.

Two or three years ago, I was struggling to finish a 5k. The Chi Running technique has made an amazing difference for me. We're now enjoying some time off from race-specific training, but would really miss our 3-runs-a-week if we didn't get them in. We're not expecting to break any course records but it feels great to be fit and it's a great feeling to now have the confidence to be able to complete just about any race.

The picture is of Susan and me from the Kiawah Island Marathon. Thanks again for Chi Running and Happy New Years!

Best Regards,
Alan M.
Durham, NC 

Click Here to Read the Beginning of Alan's Story!

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running

Four weeks later, I shaved another 5 1/2 minutes of my PR, recording 1.23.49, then another six weeks later, set a Marathon PR of 3.08.08 at Philly, qualifying for Boston and smashing my previous PR by almost 26 minutes. Everything Danny teaches in the book, on the DVD and in the workshop makes perfect sense. There's no "secret sauce", as he freely asserts. Form, cadence (I'm a HUGE exponent of the metronome now!) and core. And I've ditched the heart-rate monitor. Danny just manages to pull it all together and impart his knowledge with his inspirational style. Looking forward to taking my running to the next level, with his local instructor, Maurice.

Mick,
Chicago

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running