Coaches

Nick is a certified Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) runner coach and President of the Marathon Charity Cooperation. He has been a children's advocate and mentor since 1993 and has been training  runners to run the Marine Corps Marathon since 1997. Nick is a staunch supporter of children’s charities and marathon running.  Nick has completed thirty marathons and 10 ultra-marathons. His marathon PR (3:16) allowed him to qualify and run the 2003 Boston Marathon. He has run the JFK 50 twice and he has finished seven birthday ultras (running his age in miles).

Coach John has completed 18 marathons in his 7+ years of training and racing. He is both RRCA and USATF Level 1 certified, and is entering his fifth year with Marathon Charity Partners.

He is a member of the Marine Corps Marathon Runners Club, enabling him now to run that marathon every year, and has only 44 states to go before he gets his "50 States + DC" T-shirt. 

With a 5:26 marathon PR (so far), Coach John works closely with the "Penguins," the back of the pack runners, who complete marathons in five to seven hours. "Speed is great if you have it, but you don’t have to be a speed demon to complete a marathon. So long as you can run or walk/run faster than 15 minutes per mile, you can complete the Marine Corps Marathon, and most other marathons, too. And there is no reason why anyone, at any pace, cannot become more fit and healthy by race walking or running a half marathon. In the MCP training program, we can help you accomplish either feat."

In addition to the walk/run method, Coach John trains runners in hydration, intervals and fartlek, negative splits, warmup and stretching techniques, strength and cross-training. He leads Tuesday and Thursday evening runs for MCP trainees in Alexandria.  He is also leading the MCP contingent to the Virginia Beach Rock ’N ’Roll Half Marathon on September 6, 2009.  

In addition to coaching MCP, Coach John coordinates the "Walk-to-Run" new runner program of Arlington Cooperation Foundation (ACF) each winter/spring, is the First Vice President of ACF, the 501(c)(3) umbrella for MCP, and serves as race director for the "Revenge of the Penguins" 10 and 20 mile training races every September.

Higgledy, Piggledy
Kevin P. Dopart’s run
Twenty-three marathons --
Oh, what a man.

Finished them all a bit
Hypoglycemic’ly
(Running on empty’s not
Part of our plan.)

Jay Jacob Wind has been coaching since 1987. He is a USATF Level 1-certified coach and an RRCA-certified coach.

He has finished 126 marathons as of October 2009, with a lifetime best of 2:27:25 at Boston 1980 and a recent best of 3:11:54 at San Francisco 2009 at age 59, good for second place in his age group.

He has directed hundreds of local races, including four each year for Marathon Charity Cooperation.  He serves on MCC’s Board of Directors as secretary.

Jay was inducted into Arlington Sports Hall of Fame at its 2008 annual banquet.  To read more about this honor, go to Jay’s Hall of Fame Induction page.

Alvin was a recreational runner prior to joining the program in 2007.  Since then he has completed eight marathonsand two 50k trail ultras.  Alvin has integrated running into his lifestyle, becoming more health and fitness oriented.  Alvin is a certified Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) Running Coach, a Big Brother, and serves on the board of the Marathon Charity Cooperation.

Kirk has run with MCC since 2004 and founded Iqraa in 2008. He has completed 6 marathons and one ultra-marathon, and has coordinated the Asha and Iqraa running programs. Kirk likes that the MCC program helps runners combine striving toward personal goals with helping others, especially in the field of education.