How it started

Sunday, February 07, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Grab your coffee and pull up a chair. For most of my life I hated running and when I did run, it was only because I either needed to get in shape or was mandated to by the military. I grew up a jock, playing all the sports that required a ball of various shapes and sizes. Running for those sports served a purpose and made sense. Take me off a court or a field and running was the last thing I would choose to do. One year in high school I injured my shoulder and could play my regular sports and was cohered into running Cross Country. The coach told me it would get me into great shape for basketball. I can still remember that first day of practice showing up in my high top basketball sneakers. I cannot sit here today and tell you that one year of Cross Country changed my life or even changed my view of running. That first practice when we ran like 3 miles and I thought we were done, only to find out that was our warmup. Are you kidding me! I was not particularly good though do to the size of our team and some injuries, I was one of the top 5 runners on the team and got to participate in the state tournament. After that one less than enjoyable season I hung up the pair of used running shoes the coach gave me and my running days were over. So I thought. Sometime later in the mid-90s I for some reason probably because I was getting fat, began running with some regularity. At the time I would run with a couple guys at the base and then my girlfriend and future wife started joining us. I actually remember when Kathy first started running with us and how she struggled to run even a mile so early on I would trick her and tell her we hadn’t even run a mile yet and that seemed to keep her going. Watching her run today, I am truly amazed at how she has overcome allergies and asthma to run amazing distances. Yet still running wasn’t anything more than an attempt to offset poor eating habits for me. A few years later and now with a gold band on my left hand I was running somewhat regularly and despite that my weight had climbed to an all-time high with my waste-line closer to 40 inches. While running is one of the best calorie burners it could not offset poor diet choices and my enjoyment of soda. Running was still not like my favorite activity but, Kathy and I dabbled with 5Ks here and there. Then one day Kathy read in the newspaper about a training group for a half marathon and she asked me if I might be interested in joining? Now that sounded totally ridiculous as well as extreme! I had actually shed some weight and waistline by that time thanks to better diet choices and cutting out soda, so my motivation to run such a distance wouldn’t come from weight loss, so why would I want to run 13.1 miles? Well, after a short discussion we agreed to give it a try and at worse we might never finish but, we would certainly run a distance further than we ever had. A few weeks later we met all of our training at Runners Alley in Portsmouth and our journey began. Week by week we added to our miles and around week 7 we ran a distance that was now a personal record for me. Kathy may have hit her PR before me as I had a little more experience under my belt. Quickly we connected with our team finding running partners and developing friendships. I was amongst the faster runners (relative to our beginner level) and Kathy found others that were a good fit for her pace. This group was exceptional in that we connected unbelievable and to this day we are very good friends with many from it. We not only completed the training and ran a half marathon, we also discovered a passion. Running now meant so much more than we could have ever imagined! The following years Runners Alley owner Jeanine Sylvester lured me into leading her training groups and eventually that led me to wanting to learn more about all aspects of running. You see once upon a time I was a high school basketball coach and coaching was absolutely what I always wanted to do. With my passion for running and my desire to coach, I set out to educate myself and with some encouragement I took on the title of “coach.” “No Finish Line Running” came into existence nearly 5 years ago and has grown to be far more than a one man coaching business. While many think “NFLR” and think coach Mike Davis, we actually have a team of fully certified and experienced coaches. Lew Rick for example has helped many runners run from 5K through crossing a 26.2 finish line. Together we have built a wonderful business that helps individuals and groups of all levels. To think it all started with my wife and happenstance ad in the newspaper. I could not imagine what my life would be like today without not only running but the running community. A little long this morning but, I felt like reminiscing about how it all really started! Have a great Sunday! God Bless! Mike