Milton Lyons

Milton started running in the summer before his freshman year of high school when he began training for cross country – a mere means to get in better shape for his first love, baseball.  However, it was after his first cross country season that a passion for running quickly developed.  Subsequently, he ran all four years at Citrus High School (Inverness, FL) and opted out of baseball! Milton then attended Florida Southern College (Lakeland, FL) and ran cross country/track until the beginning of his senior year where he was sidelined due to a ruptured appendix.  This is where his coaching career began and he became a volunteer assistant coach for the women’s program at Florida Southern.

After college, he became the first employee at FITniche (a local specialty running store) and began working at Webber International College (Babson Park, FL) as the assistant cross country/track coach.  At Webber, he oversaw the girls distance program and was in charge of all recruiting operations.  Also during his tenure at Webber, he received his USA Track & Field (USATF) Level 1 Coaching Certification.  In 2007, he was presented with the opportunity to teach Spanish and coach high school track and cross country at Santa Fe Catholic High School (Lakeland, FL).  Currently, Milton coaches at Santa Fe Catholic and Lakeland High School distance program while working full time at FITniche.

On a personal level, Milton began running marathons and competing in triathlons during the beginning of his coaching career. His first marathon was the Gasparilla Marathon in Tampa, FL where he successfully hit the Boston Marathon qualifying time.  He then ran Boston in 2010 and has competed in 5 marathons (and counting) since that time.  Milton is huge sport guru and still dreams about becoming a baseball player (time is running out for him).  When he isn’t coaching, running or working he enjoys spending time with his wife, two dogs and mother. Also, he loves to travel, meet new people and see what the world has to offer.  Milton currently resides in Lakeland, Florida.

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Shayla Meadows 

 Shayla enjoyed running, but mostly did it to stay in shape for other sports.  The summer before 10th grade Seffner Christian Academy added a cross country team.  She joined without hesitation, and she ran cross country and track the remaining three years. She attended Florida Southern College after graduating high school.  While attending, she fell in love with long distance races. She completed 4 half marathons during the duration of her college career.  While attending FSC Shayla became assistant coach for her high school alma mater cross country team, and then went on to being the Girls cross country coach(2011-2012).

She started working at the local running store FITniche in 2012 where her knowledge about the sport grew. Since graduating college, Shayla got married to a local runner. They enjoy running in local races, and training for marathons. She loves spending time with her family when isn’t running or working. Shayla currently resides in Lakeland, Florida.

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