Coach
Sujaa Raghunath
"Endurance running is much like life. What you get from it depends on what you put into it and you learn a lot about yourself along the way."
Sujaa (aka Priya) is an RRCA certified long distance running Coach who joined RHWB as a runner in Season 3 and as a Coach from Season 6. She lives in Westford, Massachusetts with her husband Raghu and 2 boys Vishal & Rithvik and a hunky 80 lb “puppy” Max. Sujaa is a coffee connoisseur, enjoys varied musical genres, a keen traveler, a hiking enthusiast, and a movie buff. She enjoys a good challenge - be it badminton, board games, poker or trivia.
Sujaa had an active athletic life during her school days but upon developing Asthma in her teens, sports took a back seat until much later in life. After having her two boys and well into her 30s, she picked up badminton with a co-worker and that developed into a regular lunch-time routine for about 7 years.
Around the time the badminton group dissolved, an interest in hiking developed and some Summer and Fall weekends were spent exploring fantastic hiking trails in the neighboring state- New Hampshire.
Sujaa has done about 50 unique hikes mostly in the US with the more prominent international ones being Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp (EBC) both organized by her high-school classmate- Coach Bala- whose prime passion is actually mountaineering!
Sujaa first took up distance running in 2019 as a way to get fit for the EBC hike. 5K seemed like a formidable distance then! Coach Bala convinced her to try his Half-Marathon training program in January 2020 and there has been no turning back since then.
Under RHWB training with Coach Bala since Season 3, Sujaa has completed 3 half- and 4 full-marathons. Most were virtual races due to the Covid pandemic when live races were canceled. She finally got her live race experience in 2022, almost three years after embarking on the long distance running journey, scoring a Half-marathon PR in April at the Newport Road race in Rhode Island and a Marathon PR in October at the Abbott World Major Chicago Marathon
Sujaa is a great coach. She is very prompt in responding and made the learning experience along with having fun.
Sujaa was so invested in my goal and success. She checked up on me after I had injuries and gave some suggestions and encouragement. She also suggested the metronome app to increase my cadence.
Sujaa is knowledgeable about running and gives appropriate feedback on how to make my runs better. I always loved to check for her comments. She is very approachable and helped me throughout my season. She inspires and motivates everyone. She was my inspiration to start and finish my first season.
