Wilson Komen Rocks Division in DC Half Marathon

Coach Komen finished first in the 45-49 male division in last Saturday's DC Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. He finished in 1:19:07. This was Wilson's first race of 2023 and the first half marathon race that he has run in several years.

Congratulations to all of the runners.

Up next for Coach Kiprunning: the 2023 Cherry Blossom Ten Miler.

Kiprunning Profile: Sarah Pihonak

Sarah Pihonak has been working with Coach Komen since early 2021.

In that time, she has set personal records in the half and full marathon at 1:56:33 and 4:13:02 respectively.

 

Sarah Pihonak running the 2021 Richmond Half Marathon

Tomorrow, Labor Day 2022, Sarah will be competing in the New Haven Half Marathon. We wish her the best of luck, and we hope all of tomorrow's runners have a great race.

2022 Capitol Hill Classic Results

Wilson Komen ran in the 2022 Capitol Hill Classic, finishing 17th overall and third in his division. Coach Wilson has run this race before, and like so many of us, he is hoping that this year will continue to bring more racing opportunities.

Congratulations to all of the finishers.

Wilson Komen Runs the 2022 Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

Cherry Blossom Trees with the Jefferson Memorial in the Distance

Competing in his second race in two weeks, Wilson Komen ran in the 2022 Cherry Blossom Ten Miler. Coach Komen finished with a time of 57:17.

Coach Wilson considers the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler his home race, and today was an excellent showing by everyone who ran.

Congratulations to all of the competitors. Let's hope for a good spring racing season.

Wilson Komen Places Third in 5K

Wilson Komen placed third overall in the 2022 ScopeItOut 5K. Today's 5K represents the first racing event for Coach Kiprunning in over two years.

Coach Komen is planning to race in next week's Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, which will be his first time participating in that event since the spring of 2019.

It was an unseasonably cold and windy morning in Washington, DC, but with over 1,000 participants in today's 5K, perhaps a return to usual training and competition is on the horizon for runners here and elsewhere.

Coach Kiprunning Online Store Launch

Coach Kiprunning has launched an online store where runners can purchase and download training plans that they can implement independently and on their own schedules.

Each plan was personally designed by Wilson Komen.

Runners can purchase plans at the beginner and intermediate levels for the following distances: 5KM, 10KM, half marathon, and full marathon.

Runners who are seeking a more personalized coaching experience can consider Coach Komen's additional services.

New Coach Kiprunning Website Launch

As promised, many months ago, the Coach Kiprunning website has been completely revamped, top to bottom.

This site refresh represents a significant aesthetic reboot that crosses into, I hope, an enhanced user experience.

As is always the case with these projects, there are some lingering technical details that need to be banged out.  Most of these details, I hope, will be invisible to most users.  However, there are some that I know are visible, but I don't think they should hold back the announcement that this project is finished, for now.

Coach Wilson is available to work with you remotely, so feel free to contact him if you are interested in a training plan.  In the meantime, stay safe out there.

Watch: Wilson Komen on Instagram Live

In case you missed it--or, if you are hip, ICYMI--you can watch Wilson Komen's interview for Potomac River Running on Instagram live.  Also, you can follow Wilson Komen on Instagram.

Wilson Komen on Instagram Live

Wilson Komen will be a featured guest on Potomac River Running's Instagram Live broadcast on Wednesday August 26 from 8-9 pm.  Be sure to tune in.

Coach Kip Changes

When I built the Coach Kiprunning website in 2016, I was still new to working with Wordpress and with complete control over web design.  Up to that point, I had only developed sites for my office, which were bound by the design and layout of the organization's web team.

When I started on the Coach Kiprunning site, my CSS skills were nonexistent, and my understanding of responsive design was meager.  Therefore, I worked with a prefabricated template, and I launched the site.

Since that time, I have also built 2-3 additional sites from the ground up, not using any prefabricated templates at all.  I've gotten better at CSS, and I am now thinking about mobile design first (in most cases).

Once I started thinking about mobile display, I grew disappointed with the way that the Coach Kiprunning site loaded on just about any device that wasn't a very large computer monitor.  However, hacking away at the template I was using very quickly revealed itself to be more labor-intensive than just starting over.

And so now, after much contemplation, I have decided to do that: start over.  Today marks the official beginning  of the Coach Kiprunning website redesign.  My goal is to finish this project by the end of the summer.  We shall see.

Please know that all of the site's pages are live.  Want to peruse Wilson Komen's coaching services?  They are online.  Want to consult the Kiprunning Route Report?  It still exists.  Want to read Coach Komen's bio?  It is still on his site.

The pages are just disjointed because I need to rebuild them.  

As the expression goes, please pardon our dust.  We're here for you while we rebuild.  Contact Coach Kiprunning if you need us.

Social Distancing Training Discounts

I am offering discounted training plans via TrainingPeaks for the month of April.  Runners who wish to purchase discounted plans should use the two codes Run2020 and usat2018 when completing their orders.

Regular exercise is an important form of stress release at all times, but particularly during the current moment.  Getting out for small spans of time, while practicing social distancing, can go a long way toward general rejuvenation, while also helping athletes maintain fitness and even training regimens.

I'll be happy to help with that.

If you would like a more personalized approach, contact me to inquire about online coaching services.  I'll be happy to help with those as well.

Stay healthy, stay active, and run steady.

Coach Wilson

Coach Kiprunning Shifts Online for COVID-19

Stay safe, and act responsibly during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Practice social distancing, and limit contact with large groups.

Major local running clubs have suspended in-person workouts, and Coach Kiprunning is doing the same.  If you have questions about your training, please contact me, and I will be happy to help in a virtual setting.

Safety and caution are paramount.  Please employ both of them in any exercise that you are conducting.

Sincerely,

Coach Wilson

SEO Status: Complete

The SEO upgrade to the Coach Kiprunning website is now complete. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be publicizing the enhanced webpages on our Twitter feeds, so definitely follow along, read, and click through.

Finally, there are some larger exciting developments on the horizon.  It looks like a potential reorganization of the Kiprunning Sports Club might be in the works.  Stay updated by reading this very blog.  We'll be sure to let you know what is happening.

Stay warm out there.

Coach Kiprunning 2.0 Nearly Complete

The major SEO update to the Coach Kiprunning website is nearly complete.  The work has been painstaking and long, but in the end, it should be worth it.  Our new SEO settings should result in better search rankings and, we hope, increased web traffic.  We will also be enhancing the site navigation via a fresh breadcrumb installation, and we will also ensure that the appropriate meta images are in place for all manner of social sharing.

This whole project came about due to some unexpected compatibility problems with a move to a new hosting platform.  Once the website was upgraded, it basically crashed (of course), and we had to reset all of the search engine optimization settings just to get it running again.  Once we did that, well, we had to start all over again.

And so here we are.  We're shooting to complete this project in about a week, which means that the new site will be fully functional just after the new year.  Once everything is in place, we will start sharing links to important parts of the site on my Twitter feed and on the official Coach Kiprunning Twitter feed.  Follow us there now and always!

In the meantime, enjoy the last few days of 2019.  I can't believe that we are on the verge of the four-year anniversary of this blog.

Brief Race Recap: Jingle All the Way 5K

It went okay.  Better than okay, by many measures.  This was my first race of any kind--my first workout, truly--in about 18 months.  And even though I would have liked to have run a little faster--I always want to run faster--that pacing was much better than I would have expected.

Things remain tentative, but I do feel like I am, in a manner of speaking, back.

In other Kiprunning news, Wilson Komen has spent a few weeks at his home in Kenya.  He has been chronicling the trip with gorgeous pictures on Instagram.  Check them out.

Coach Kiprunning SEO Update

We're in the process of completing a major SEO upgrade for the Coach Kiprunning website, as the following tweet indicates:

We're doing a major #SEO overhaul on the @kiprunning website. Stuff will look uneven, and the meta descriptions will be incomplete for a bit. We'll get there, though. https://t.co/dsjU5DPlzt

— Joseph P. Fisher (@JosephPFisher1) November 24, 2019

This upgrade is a little overdue, and we are hoping that when it is finished, we'll be able to offer a greatly enhanced user experience.

In the meantime, pardon our dust, as the expression goes.  Lots of things will look uneven, and we know that the various meta things that exist behind the scenes are currently empty.  Do not worry.  We will be filling them in.

Good Luck, Grandma's Race Weekend Racers

The annual Grandma's Weekend Running Festival (I sort of improvised that name) is happening this weekend.  Coach Kiprunning will be participating at the half marathon level, and we wish our participant--and every participant, in every race--the best of luck.  We hope, and we know, that you will do well.

Coach Kiprunners have participated in a variety of the race events held during this weekend over the years.  The last time that the group was represented in Duluth was in 2013, which, incredibly, was six whole years ago.

Most notably, way back in 2009 when Wilson Komen was beginning his coaching career, one of his running partners, Christopher Raabe, won the marathon.  (There's more on that victory on RunWashington, and we encourage you to read the article in its entirety.)

We know this weekend well, and again, we wish every participant much success.

Also, one piece of advice: bring warm clothes for before and after the race.  It can get quite cold up there!

Another Year, Another Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

Wilson Komen competed once again in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Miler.  This particular race--April of 2019--was his first race as a US citizen, about which he is very proud.

Thumbs up to all the finishers!

Wilson finished in 57:27 for sixth place in his age group.  Coach Komen runs the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler almost on an annual basis.  Feel very invited to read his reflections on the race and his 2016 race recap.

Coach Kiprunning Webforms Are Working

Well, we have another, less exciting reason to celebrate.  We have completed the installation of new webforms on the Coach Kiprunning website, so they are now all working.

Contact Wilson Komen if you are interested in training with him.

Congratulations to Wilson Komen

On March 12, 2019, Wilson Komen took the oath of US citizenship in Washington, DC.  Coach Komen is now a US citizen.

Wilson came to the United States fifteen years ago to further his professional running career.  In that time, he has become a fixture in the Washington, DC running community, which he has helped support, in part, through his long-term position at Georgetown Running Company.

Tuesday's ceremony was, in the words of the presiding judge, an august event.  I was honored to be there with Wilson, and I feel fully confident in saying that America--the citizenry--is stronger and better for having him in it.

Congratulations again, Wilson.