• Beginner runners
• Returning runners (after time off or injury)
• 40+ / Masters athletes
• Trail and road running (5K to ultra)
• Building consistency and durability
• Strength training for runners
• Cross-training for runners
• Road work/aerobic engine building for martial artists

I believe athletes should understand “the whys” behind their training. When you understand your workouts, you gain more confidence and make better decisions in relation to pacing and effort. Every run I program includes a brief description of the basic philosophy and goals behind it.

I help athletes build a strong aerobic base, then layer in faster efforts—tempo, threshold, and higher-intensity work—at the right time and in the right amounts. Just as important, I focus on recovery and strength training to support your durability and long-term progress. Consistent, small wins are celebrated. They form the core of a good training program and add up over time.

Every training block offers an opportunity to improve on mulitple levels. In addition to race-specific goals, we will work on aspects of your running that will help you improve over the long term, turning weaknesses into strengths, whether that’s your aerobic base, uphill running, or top end speed.

I believe the most effective training is consistent, individualized, sustainable, and fun. We will experiment together. We will try different things. We will adapt. We will hone. We will find out what works for you.

My goal is to help runners train in a way that is challenging, varied, and enjoyable—so they can keep improving while actually enjoying the process.

I’m the founder of Foxfire Fitness, which focuses on run coaching and personal training for beginners, returners, and 40+ athletes.

I have 30 years of experience as a university instructor, with a strong, award-winning background in teaching and mentoring.

I trained under ultrarunner and coach Aaron Saft, which helped shape my approach to coaching and gave me first-hand experience of what a supportive and open collaboration between a coach and athlete should look like.

I came to running later in life after spending most of that time behind a desk, as a writer and an English Instructor. At 50, during the COVID pandemic, I decided it was time to move more and see what I was capable of. I started small: running in place, light strength work, and eventually tried boxing and Muay Thai training.

That process led me to running, and in 2022 I went on my first trail run at the North Carolina Arboretum. It was an absolute turning point. I fell in love with it and have been building on that foundation ever since.

Outside of coaching and running, I’m a widely published poet, an avid hiker and amateur naturalist, and a longtime fan of boxing history. I’m a Lecturer of English and teach courses in literature and creative writing for the University of Mississippi. I’m also an aficianodo of tabletop roleplaying games and am the creator/lead writer for the TTRPG, Holler: An Appalachian Apocalypse. I still regularly incorporate Muay Thai, jump rope, and martial arts inspired strength and power conditioning into my own training.

Aaron Saft, Steve Magness, Addie Bracy, Brad Hudson, Andrew Snow, Amanda Brooks.

Some of my favorite books:

• Run Faster: From the 5k to the Marathon. Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald
• Run to the Finish: The Everyday Runner’s Guide to Avoiding Injury, Ignoring the Clock, and Loving the Run. Amanda Brooks
• Training for the Uphill Athlete. Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet
• Mental Training for Ultrarunning. Addie Bracy
• Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. Alex Hutchinson
• Win the Inside Game. Steve Magness
• The Science of Running. Steve Magness
  Faster After 50. Joel Friel.
  Run Elite: Train and Think Like the Greatest Runners of All Time. Andrew Snow
  Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That Is Revolutionizing Sprts. Dr. Marc Bubbs

Some of my favorite races/events that meant a lot to as personal benchmarks:

• Front Range Five Miler (my very first race in October of 2022)
• 7 Sisters 25k (a gorgeous, mountainous race through the Montreat wilderness in Western NC)
• Old Fort Endurance Festival 6-Hour Race (raising funds to benefit victims of Hurricane Helene)
• Troublesome Hollow 50k (Yeti races are always celebrations)

I’ve competed on road and trail. I’m focusing on sub-ultra distances this year—a variety of 25kish trail races. I like the challenge of combining speed, climbing, and endurance. I won 1st place overall at the Troublesome Hollow 25k (4/26/26). I’m running the Table Rock 30k (a classic up and down mountain race) and the Naturalist 25k (a classic “climbing mostly the whole way” mountain race) this fall. I’ll likely hop into some 5ks to keep my speed sharp.

• UESCA Running Coach
• NASM Certified Personal Trainer
• NASM Virtual Coaching Specialist

• 1st Place Overall Troublesome Hollow 25k (4/26/26)
• 2nd Place Overall Ridge to Rails 10k (6/1/2024)
• Masters Champion 2025 Assault on Black Rock (a 7-mile race that climbs 2,700 feet over the first 3.5 miles)
• 1st Place/13th OA 50-59 Age Group Oskar Blues 4-Miler (6:27/mile) (3/7/26)
• 10th Place Troublesome Hollow 50k (4/27/24)

All these PRs were set after I started running at the age of 50.

• 1 Mile: 5:36 4/21/25
• 5k: 18:51 6/5/25
• 10k: 43:33 4/26/26 (trail)
• Half-Marathon: 1:37:29 4/26/25 (trail)
• 25k:1:48 4/26/25 Troublesome Hollow 25k (trail)
• 50k 5:52 (5,000 feet of elevation gain) (trail) 12/7/24 Old Fort Strong Endurance Festival