Ed Arpawong Assistant Coach

There is no doubt that running is one of the best activities for humans. It’s part of an excellent lifestyle, dramatically improves health, and be done with high-quality friends. I’m here to help kids start their journey on integrating this fantastic exercise into their lives by encouraging them to push themselves, get off their phones, and hopefully develop running for life.

My history with WeROCK

My three kids all completed three years with WeROCK. During those eight years, we have lots of great memories, miles, smiles, and pictures. Now in my 10th WeRock year, I have joined the countless other coaches who continue to coach despite not having kids in the program anymore. It is that good here.

It’s always fun to hear a coach’s race history!

I started running in 2007. Before then, I never ran and had been eating lunch out every day. When I started running, I dropped 20 pounds and a lot of aches and pains went away. My first half-marathon was Pasadena 2009 and it rained cats and dogs the entire time. We ran through rivers and I actually enjoyed the rain. I did learn, as many of my fellow male runners, to always wear two band-aids on long runs.

My current half marathons every year are whatever WeROCK does plus Long Beach and Laguna Hills. Eventually, I have my eyes set on full marathons at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, and Berlin.

Favorite WeRock Race

They’re all good! The first race of the season is always exciting. Same with the first half-marathon. If I had to pick a race, my favorite is the OC. It’s the culmination of all the kids’ hard work and it’s great to see the kids finish their full marathon. The 3:00 am wake-up and meeting before the sun rises is a runner thing. The kids do the usual morning warm-up run and stretches, like they’ve done every Saturday for nine months, but it is different. They toe the start line of the full 26.2-mile course, accepting the challenge. Watching them each come in one at a time is truly wonderful!