Chris Compson founded and launched Endangered Endurance Running Co. after 20+ years of competitive running experience at the high school through post-graduate levels, and years of junior high, high school, and adult coaching. Chris continues to coach cross country and track and field at the high school level, leading his teams to 15 NYS Section V Championships, back-to-back New York State Boys’ Cross Country Championships, and five NYS Championship podium finishes. Members of his teams have won individual NYS Championships, qualified for NXN National Championships, Footlocker National Championships, and NCAA National Championships. He was named the 2014, 2015 & 2019 All-Greater Rochester Boys’ Cross Country Coach of the Year, 2017 All-Greater Rochester Girls’ Cross Country Coach of the Year, and 2015 NYS Section V Excellence in Coaching Award winner.

His post-scholastic and adult athletes have competed and set personal bests in events from 5K to Ultramarathons. Chris has successfully coached adult athletes to goals from finishing their first race to Boston Marathon qualifying times and finishes.

Chris founded Endangered Endurance Running Co. with a simple desire:

To provide training plans, programs, and coaching that meet the unique needs of today’s runners. Regardless of their goals or competitive aspirations, runners today demand a responsive training plan that adjusts to fit their demands and their lives.

After casually assisting numerous friends, local runners, and other training programs, Chris decided to create a means to reach and help more runners. Thus, Endangered Endurance Running Co. was born.

Chris is a USATF Registered Coach and NFHS Accredited Interscholastic Coach with numerous top-ten finishes in the ultramarathon, marathon, and half-marathon distances, including a first-place finish in the 2015 Runners Marathon of Reston and the top-American finisher in the 2013 MVP Toronto Marathon and first-place male finisher at the 2018 Ridge Rumble 50K. Chris is a two-time Boston Marathon finisher and twice competed in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge World Championships. In expressing his coaching philosophy, Chris comments,

“My personal bests and running accolades are irrelevant in helping others achieve their goals. While drawing from personal experience is important, many coaches fail to prioritize listening to their athletes and clients to develop the training that will work best for the athlete, not what worked best for the coach. Helping athletes learn to listen and respond to their bodies, enjoy the process of pursuing a goal, and simply gain a greater sense of personal fulfillment in their running is the greatest reward and measure of a coach. To hear an athlete say, ‘You helped me learn to love running,’ is a greater accolade than any personal running achievement I could hope for. Running should not be something that is seen as a sacrifice or a cost. Rather, when designed properly and with the individual in mind, it should be something that adds richness and benefits to one’s life. Understanding how running can fit meaningfully into the genuine, hectic, and busy everyday lives of runners is what separates my approach from other coaches.”

Chris’s “post-30” PRs
5k Cross Country – 16:09 (2012)
5 mile road – 27:58 (2016)
10K road – 34:29 (2012)
15K road – 54:53 (2015)
1/2 marathon – 1:17:48 (2016)
Marathon – 2:50:35 (2015)
Trail 50K – 3:49:39 (2020)