Running PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS
For Grown-Ups: Arts and Athletics is now hosting weekly runs for the parents in our community. All ability levels are welcome. With guidance from coaches Todd Weisse and Neil Fitzgerald, participants will discover ways to make running fun! (See below for our coaches’ bios.) It’s never too late to get a running start!
For Children: Running and Track and Field are are among our favorite afterschool activities. Central Park, just one block to the east, is the site of a road racing event almost every week. It’s a place where thousands of people come from all over the world to run…and it’s our home course!




Developing a lifelong love of running
The aim and focus of our running classes is to launch each person’s lifelong enjoyment of this amazing activity. Children and adults can cover several miles each time out, but always as a fun and playful adventure. Let’s run to that bench! Who will lead as we run this hill? Maybe we should do a relay next! We want to develop participants’ skill and fitness, for sure, but we also want to develop positive associations with the activity, so that they will come back to it again and again throughout their lives.
Running, Coaching, Hosting running events, and Educating Coaches
Todd’s Coaching Resume Highlights:

Todd Weisse has well over a decade of success coaching children and adults, including collegiate coaching with the track and field and cross country teams at Columbia University from 2009 to the present. He is a USATF (United States Track and Field) Level 3 certified coach in sprints, Level 2 certified coach in youth coaching, and he has specialty certification from the United States Cross Country Coaches Association. From 2012 to 2014 Todd was the head coach of the New York Flyers marathon training group, training over a hundred runners of various levels. Todd has an active roster of private coaching clients from children to adults who he trains to accomplish their individual running goals. As a collegiate soccer player himself, Todd brings a deep understanding of running as a foundational skill that will increase success in every sport.
Neil’s Running and Coaching Resume Highlights:

- Neil Fitzgerald began training with some of the country’s top track coaches in Berkeley, California when he was in elementary school. An 800m specialist with a personal best of 1:50, Neil has applied his track and field knowledge to coaching, training coaches, and directing track meets for children and adults.
- Founder/Director of the NYCDoE Developmental Track and Field Series. The program hosts over 40 track meets per year, serving 15,000 children in grades 3 to 8.
- Coached marathoners with “Team for Kids” the charity running group of New York Road Runners.
- Director of “Friday Night Miles” through his Metropolitan Milers Club.
- Trainer of over one thousand coaches for USATF Level 1 certification in the United States Track and Field Coaching Education Program.
- Consulting coach with the NYRR instructional running videos

Neil is still running in international track meets, competing in masters world championships in Spain, Austria, Italy, Finland, and France, and winning medals in the 800m and 4x400m relay. Click here to view the 2011 World Championship 800m final.
ADULT RUNNING Program
In addition to afterschool running classes for our kids at all three school sites, we also plan to offer evening running groups for adults and running camps for kids through high school age on weekends and over the summer. These will meet at our 88th Street Studio location. Call or email Neil at 917-279-7345 / neil@artsandathletics.org for details.