Who is Elijah?

I’ve been a lifelong student of endurance training. My journey began with racing mountain bikes in my teens, followed by years of tackling long mountain adventures during and after getting my PhD in physics. At 42 I became a passionate student of trail ultramarathons.

In my first year of ultrarunning, 2016, I earned top-10 finishes in a variety of events, including a trail 50-miler, a rugged 100K, a trail half marathon, and a trail marathon. Along the way, I set a couple of masters course records. While the races themselves were thrilling, it was the community and adventures that truly hooked me.

I became obsessed with the intricacies of ultrarunning training and how it differed from traditional running training. This led me to deepen my understanding of training for all distances, across all terrains. At 44, I won my first race outright, the Arches Ultra 50K. My journey continued with significant achievements, including finishing Western States in 23 hours, placing third at Mogollon Monster 100, completing Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (6th American), and winning the High Five 100 with a course record.

My passion for the sport and its supportive community transformed into a desire to help others achieve their goals. I decided to pursue coaching, becoming both a certified running and ultrarunning coach, with a specialization in injury prevention. I leverage my decades of expertise in data analysis as a physicist in combination with my critical analysis of exercise science research literature to guide athletes toward achieving their goals with precision and care.