Relentless Endurance Coaching
About Me
Welcome! My name is Makenzie, and I am the owner and coach of Relentless Endurance Coaching. A little bit about me, I grew up mostly on a farm raising everything from sheep, rabbits, pygmy goats, dairy goats and chickens. Even though I was a farm girl, I always loved being active. I played many sports growing up such as ballet, soccer, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and track & field. It was not until my junior year of high school that I found my feet. In the spring, I decided to try to run long-distance in track (instead of sprinting, which I thought would help in basketball). I played volleyball, basketball and track & field through a Christian school for virtual and homeschooled middle/high schoolers. During the track season, I focused mainly on running the 1500-meter distance. My volleyball/basketball coaches at the time were also getting into running, they were training for a half marathon, and one was training for a full marathon. I was so amazed by how far they could run, while I could barely run a little less than a mile without getting totally out of breath. However, at the time I did not know anything about the pace difference. After watching my coaches train for half/full marathons, I wanted to be like them and try it.
I started running for half a mile at a time, then 2 miles and so on. A few months later, I found a local 5k race and ran it with my mom. That was when I knew I had found my feet; I loved every minute of the race. The course was on a beautiful path that I did not know even existed, the spectators/volunteers throughout the course were cheering for everyone and even the other runners were motivating each other. I fell in love with the sport; the running community was so welcoming, uplifting, happy and energized through the whole event. I also cherished running my first road race with my mom.
After falling in love with road racing and running a few more 5k’s, I wanted to run a half marathon like my coaches. I found a random-free half marathon training plan off the internet, followed it and signed up for the race. The day before the race, I learned that one of my volleyball teammates was also running the same race and decided to run it together. When we finished, I was so overwhelmed with joy that I felt like I could almost run the whole thing again. That was when I knew I was capable of running a full marathon. Leading up to this moment, I thought it would be fun to run a full marathon one day, but I was not sure when I would be ready until after finishing my first half marathon.
I knew training for a full marathon was going to be very different from my half marathon; there were so many things to consider, like the mileage/training plan, sport’s fueling, strength training, and gear, to just name a few. I figured I could just find another free training plan online; however, as I was searching, I realized how generic those plans were. The problem was that I also wanted to run other shorter races during my full marathon training, but my other races would not be included in a generic training plan. So, I decided I should hire a running coach or personal trainer who could help design a training plan that would include my other races and goals. However, I could not find a personal trainer or running coach anywhere who knew how to coach/train marathoners.
I determined I would just be my own coach, so I did a ton of research and created a training plan that fit my needs. Fast forward to the present and I am still my own coach. Over the past years, I have qualified and ran the Boston Marathon, placed 2nd overall female at the Long Beach Marathon and won many local races. After college, I became a Certified Running Coach through RRCA and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, because I wanted to be that coach to others that I could not find for myself.
Education Background
