McKirdy Trained

Congratulations to Kamohelo Mofolo on his debut marathon at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 2026.

At 20yrs, Kamohelo finished 11th place in an astounding 2:08:50! With his efforts he is now the second fastest marathoner in Lesotho history! This is a wonderful step forward as we continue to see develop towards the 2028 LA Olympic Games.

His teammate and countryman, Tukiso Motlomelo also set a personal best of 2:16:30.

What a difference a few years can make. It’s amazing how much we can grow and develop if we keep doing the simplest of things well. Simple does not mean easy, though.

When I look at this tree I think of all the possibility it can become. It’s already overcome so much and yet there’s still so much ahead of it. It’s part of what gravitates me towards it - and why I can find so much meaning in something we see every day.

When people ask me what I think is a reasonable goal to set I often laugh because I have no belief in the “reasonable.” I’m a dreamer. I don’t believe in reasonable.

Keep doing the simple things well, as hard as that might be.

Bloom where you’re planted.

From Coach Esther:

We all struggle to take ourselves seriously. But Juli shows up for herself with such conviction that the rest of the world can't help but swallow its doubts about her abilities.

Juli shows up every day not just as herself, but as an ambassador for people with differences - living proof of the beautiful life we can all live if we simply focus on what we CAN DO versus what we CAN'T.

In 2014 she accomplished her decade-old dream of becoming the first athlete with dwarfis to finish the Boston Marathon with a finish time of 4:43:26. After a long break from racing to raise a family, this past fall she ran 4:09 in a local marathon. Shortly after, she came to Coach Esther with the goal of breaking 4... at the Boston Marathon... and as a newly minted official USATF Para-Athlete of the T40 Classification.

She took almost an hour off her previous Boston time and 20 minutes off her PR with a 3:49:42 to set the first mark and therefore the official WORLD BEST TIME for T40 classification of athletes.

If have the privilege of truly knowing Juli, what stands out isn't her height, her speed, or her ability to overcome differences—it's the fact that she is beautiful, talented and makes everyone around her feel special.

May we all embrace our differences and overcome them in a way that makes us shine - shadowing our disadvantages and spotlighting our love, joy, and ambition!

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On behalf of all of us at McKirdy Trained... Juli... We are so proud of you. What you have done... REMARKABLE. A snapshot of your life we sincerely hope stays with you forever.

We had ourselves a day at the Boston Marathon. I'm still sorta... in the feels of it so to speak.

- 2:04:18
- 2:06:06
- 2:09:44

I'm not sure there's a team in the history of the Boston Marathon that did what we did yesterday. Man that feels good!

Thank you to our partners. Especially - by far and away the BEST fueling on the market.

has helped us shape and develop our athletes of all ability since the very beginning! They are the only app we trust in this space.

earth whose healing hands are always welcome.

Thank you for your support and messages, they are all read and FELT!

📸 .2

When/Where:
Sunday - April 19th
8am - Parkman Bandstand - Boston Commons

Who can come:
Anyone - friends or family, teammates, perfect strangers. All are welcome to our shakeouts. If you are interested in learning what McKirdy Trained is about, this is a great opportunity to see how we lead our people!

Who will lead and what to expect.
Coach James will lead this year’s shakeout. With athletes ranging to compete for the podium all the way to 5:30:00+ marathoners in this year’s field, Coach James brings over a decade of Boston Marathon coaching experience to help lead you to your best. He’ll walk you through the Do’s and Don’ts of the race, pacing concepts that will help you keep controlled, as well as how to adjust for any unforeseen weather that might pop up.

After a chat, we’ll spend time together running along the Charles River. A casual 20-25 minute morning jog to loosen the legs and free the soul of any race day worry. Stick around for personal post race questions!

We know there are so many gatherings to choose from. Wherever you end up, enjoy yourself! We’d be honored to spend a bit of your Boston weekend with you.

To see come across the finish line of .run MicrOTQ race… it touches our soul in all the right ways.

We’ve been in service to Maura since June of 2022 - Just under 4 years. The world was just coming out of a pandemic and Maura had a fire in her to see if she could hit the standard for 2024. She qualified in 2020 when the standard was 2:45:00, but 2:37:00 is a whole new world. She came close! 2:40:20 at the inaugural event in 2023 and a 2 minute personal best. Steps forward.

But life happens fast and this amazing mother of three young girls and loving wife to .lemon.2025 was leaning into all that a full life brings whilst focusing on developing towards finding out “What if?”

Maura, the ever selfless and always giving, would often ask if she could switch HER workout to match up with friends and teammates. Never shy to don a bib to represent the team so they could have the points and she could remain apart of the community that is so clearly important to her.

We found our way together - through self doubts and even moments of injury - to the deeper question of “Is this even worth it?”

Well Maura… those precious daughters of yours will get to see their mom in 2028 lining up with the very best our nation has to offer. We are in the midst of the greatest running we have ever seen and YOU are a part of it.

We created this event for you. Because you, along with every one else in the field, deserved a chance to not just dream, but truly take action towards those dreams and find out “what if?”

You earned this. You ARE.

8400 days.

23 years of marathoning and has earned his first (of likely many) Boston Marathon Qualifiers.

Dan started this journey with a 5:04 and this past weekend at .run Breaking 3 event he ran a lifetime best of 3:11:53. A monster 15 minute personal best from 3:26 set a few years ago - which was already an amazing drop from where he started.

Dan is 51!

We've together for over 9 years and we've seen it all. I am just so proud to have been there with him. A moment I will personally cherish forever.

The entire finish area cheered him in... they poured their joy directly into his soul as he crossed the line.

A lifetime moment that took 8400 days to reach.

6+ years waiting and hoping. We can now confirm that our very own has earned his place on the Refugee Olympic Team Scholarship Team.

Tesfu now has the chance to earn his place at the 2028 Olympic Games!

Tesfu - we are so proud of your work these many years. You have worked overnight shifts delivering food. You have had sleepless nights worrying about your family. And yet through all of this you have remained faithful. You have been tending to the fields through the years of drought - and now the rains are coming and your fields are ready to receive them.

We are honored to have served you through this season of life and we can’t wait to be by your side for the next season.

We are so proud of Daniel Mesfun. Today he ran his lifetime best in the marathon at the Sevilla Marathon in Spain.

His time of 2:08:24 marks as the 13th fastest marathon in USA history (record eligible course) and Daniel’s 2nd time running under the 2:09:00 mark in the last 6 months.

We are so happy to celebrate with him when he comes home!

The Legend:

At one point, after a major defeat, legend has it that King Robert found himself hiding in the hills and made his way into a cave. Trying to sort out what to do next, pondering giving up completely, he lay in the cave scared and afraid. Then he saw a spider.

He watched as the spider climbed up the rocks to make a web. He watched at the spider would lose it's grip and fall to the ground. He watched, six times, before the spider finally found its way to connecting a single strand before creating the elaborate web.

Six times between 1306 and 1307, Robert faced the English army, and six times he failed. Robert felt like he and the spider were one. He regrouped, rebuilt his army clan by clan and inspired a nation to gather around him once more.

Finally in 1314, at the Battle of Bannockburn, King Robert and his estimated army of 6000 men defeated the English army of nearly 20,000 men.

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I find so many similarities to running in this story. Maybe there's more legend than truth, but the morals remain the same. Time and time again we try, we come up short, we fail. But it's in the trying where we ultimately find success. The next effort.

I love that. I love that the story we write for ourselves is our own. I encourage you, wherever you are in your own story, to not give up and to keep trying. There's always hope in trying.

James McKirdy
Founder and Head Coach