Fayetteville Running Coach to Run Boston Marathon

Running and winning the Boston Marathon, separates the good runners from the great runners. At any rate, to even qualify takes discipline and dedication and one Fayetteville running coach, avid runner and triathlete looks forward to her second time running the race.

Lora Lewis, Fayetteville director of , a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and preparing girls for making healthy choices spends her time postively impacting many lives in our community. She also served as the running coach for the Fort Bragg men's 10-miler team. This year is the first time in 27 years that the team won the Commander's Cup trophy.

Lewis typically starts her day around 5 or 5:30a.m. meeting running groups or clubs both for her own workout and to coach and encourage other along. Oh, did I mention that she is also a mother of seven and all of her kids are runners as well?

As an uber-athlete, Lewis has run three IronMan triathlons, one in North Carolina and two in Florida. She has also completed two Triathlon World Championships in Denmark in 2005, and France in 2007. Now she will add another coveted finisher's race medal to her wall.

"My goal is a modest 4:15 because I have had 2 major injury issues since last summer, and haven't been able to train as needed for a fast race," said Lewis.

Last year's Boston winner, Geoffrey Mutai, certainly is one of the greats.

The Boston Globe detailed Mutai's annual training regimen on Friday, and it's something to behold. The 30-year-old Kenyan reportedly runs 110 to 125 miles per week for 45 weeks each year, as well as adding in speed workouts at a 4:50-mile pace.

At the Boston Marathon last year, Mutai ran the fastest marathon time ever at 2 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds, although it wasn't recognized in the record books because the conditions didn't meet specific qualifications. That's a pace of 4 minutes 42 seconds per mile over more than 26 miles according to the story in the Bleacher Report.