About Coach D. - Coach D's Natural Running

Coach D is a 30 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps and now follows his passion for teaching youth athletes and adults how to perform their best and enjoy healthy longevity.

Qualifications:

Extensive training as a military physical training instructor in the Marine Corps in the areas of strength, endurance, and cardio fitness.
Certified by USA Track & Field (USATF) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to coach youth sports involving running, jumping, and throwing.
Certified by the National Alliance for Youth Sports to coach youth athletes and has coached youth sports at Elementary, Middle School, and High School levels since 2006. Youth sports he’s coached include baseball, soccer, cross country, and track & field.
Certified MovNat Level 2 Coach
Certified Pose Method Running Technique Specialist
Has been a barefoot/minimalist runner since 2010 and attended numerous clinics and training events related to Natural Running technique. He also serves as the Chapter President of the Tampa Chapter of the Barefoot Runners Society.
Certified Kettlebell Instructor by the National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association (NESTA)

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Unfortunately, most of his adult life, Coach D ran in a way that eventually hurt his back, knees, and feet. As a child, he’d always wondered, “How did our ancestors function in a world without cushioned running shoes?”

Later, as he acquired more and more injuries, he had other questions. How did Incan messengers run for days through the Andes mountains and not get hurt? How did the running tribes of the Southwest, like the Apache and the Tarahumara, run several hundred miles as a part of their cultural games and to deliver messages? How did Greek and Roman foot-messengers run ultra marathon distances in thin sandals? If you go back even further, how did our pre-technology ancestors safely walk and run with no shoes at all? He wondered all of this until 2010. It was then, due to running injuries acquired during the 2009 Disney marathon, he realized he had to do something radically different. After a year of trying to resolve his plantar fasciitis and knee pain with doctors, he learned about Natural Running. Within three months, his plantar fasciitis and knee pain subsided. Now he strives to pay this forward.

Coach D has been a runner since 1987 and has run every distance road race and trail run up to 50 miles. Since transitioning to Natural Running in 2010, Coach D has completed the Disney Goofy Race and a Half Challenge barefoot, run many trail and street 5Ks and 10Ks barefoot, run the Marine Corps marathon twice in 4mm thick running sandals and continues to race either barefoot or in minimal footwear around the Greater Tampa Bay area. There is no way he’d still be racing and enjoying running without Natural Running.