Joel and Colleen

Full Marathon

 Joel Lawrence: 

Joel is a Nashville native who grew up playing various sports in local community leagues.  In his formative years, he dabbled with trail running in his trusty Chuck Taylors to help manage his weight.  After a very long hiatus, Joel returned to running in 2012.  Joel credits his renewed interest in running to both a desire to lose weight and looking for a shared interest with his wife.  Joel ran his first race in 2012, the Special Kids 5K and never looked back.  Joel has a number of half-marathons, marathons, and ultra-marathons to his credit.  Some of the highlights include the Go Commando Half-Marathon, the Destin Beach 50 Miler, and A Race for the Ages – 100 miler.  Joel has been involved with a number of the local running groups and participated in Fleet Feet mentoring for the Half-Marathon Training Group and co-coached the Greenway Marathon Training Group.  Joel is looking forward to adding the Jackals Marathons (5 marathons in 5 days) to his list of accomplishments.  When Joel is not running he enjoys playing with his four dogs and being a “trophy husband”.  Joel’s general philosophy on running and coaching is “work hard, play hard – with an emphasis on playing”.

Colleen Lawrence: 

Colleen grew up in Maryland where her first introduction to running was running laps during soccer practice.  At that time, she was not interested in running unless it involved chasing a ball.  Colleen went to graduate school in upstate New York where she first took up running in 2006 as a way to relieve stress and stave off the inevitable weight gain from ramen noodles and happy hours.  Colleen moved to Tennessee in 2007 and ran her first half-marathon in 2008 (The Frostbite Half-Marathon).  Since moving to Tennessee, Colleen met and married her husband Joel, ran numerous races on both roads and trails, at distances from 5K to 100 miles, done mentoring with the Fleet Feet Murfreesoboro Half-Marathon training group, and co-coached the very dedicated group of ladies in the Greenway Marathon group to finish their first marathon.  Colleen is an active member of the Boro2Square runners and founder of the Mad Cow Running Company.  Her next goal race will be the Yeti 100 mile trail run in Abingdon, VA in late September.  Colleen’s philosophy on running, coaching, and life in general comes from a quote from Steve Prefontaine, “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift”.