Professional Running Teams

With every sport, there are professional teams with professional athletes. Being a runner I started following professional teams and professional athletes. I respect the time and effort these athletes put into training. Though many runners have sponsors (Brooks, Hoka One One, etc), it's not like other professional sports where an athlete can sit on the bench and still get paid. If the runner doesn't race and do well, they don't get paid.

Some of the professional running teams I follow are Hansons Original Distance Project (Hansons ODP) and Northern Arizona Elite (NAZ Elite). I know there are many other professional teams and professional runners. These are the two main teams I follow.

I started following Hansons ODP because the team is based in Michigan, my home state. The coaches of the team are Keith and Kevin Hanson. I like their philosophy of allowing the Hansons ODP runners to live together and train together. When the runners aren't out for a run, some of them work in the Hansons Run Shops in Metro Detroit area. This is where I go to get my running shoes. I like having a professional runner help find me shoes that fit my running needs.

The Hansons ODP team has the following runners on the team: Melanie Brender, Bobby Curtis, Brendan Gregg, Mohamed Hrezi, Luke Humphrey, Melissa Johnson-White, Katie Kellner, Desiree Linden, Dot McMahan, Cally Macumber, Dani Miller, Mike Morgan, Jake Riley, Jen Rock, Clint Verran, and Jason Witt.

This year the Hansons ODP team has 9 runners who qualified for the Olympic Trials Marathon: Dani Miller, Desi Linden, Dot McMahan, Jen Rock, Melissa Johnson-White, Bobby Curtis, Jake Riley, Luke Humphrey and Mike Morgan. There are 3 runners who qualified for the Olympic Trials Half Marathon: Melanie Brender, Katie Kellner, and Brendan Gregg.

I started following NAZ Elite from learning that Ben Rosario (former Hansons ODP runner) started a professional running team in Arizona. I like his coaching style. He's able to help his runners to run well in races all while keeping a light atmosphere with his team. It's also great how he works on keeping NAZElite.com updated so fans can keep up with the how the team is doing.

The NAZ Elite team has the following runners on the team: Ben Bruce, Stephanie Bruce, Ryan Dohner, Scott Fauble, Eric Fernandez, Rochelle Kanuho, Lauren Kleppin, Matt Llano, Craig Lutz, Scott Smith, Kellyn Taylor and Amy Van Alstine.

The NAZ Elite team has Kellyn Taylor, Lauren Kleppin, and Matt Llano qualified for the Olympic Trials Marathon. Ben Bruce and Scott Fauble qualified for the Olympic Trials Half Marathon. Rochelle Kanuho qualified for the Olympic Trials 10K.

I highly recommend checking out these runners and teams. It's a lot of fun watching people do what many of us wish we could do for a living!