PRG Newsletter – Apr 2026 by Performance Running Gym
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April is one of my favorite months of the year. April gives us Minnesotans a taste of every season, all packed into 30 beautiful days as the world around us comes alive and ushers in the summer ahead. It’s also the kick-off of race season!
With dozens of Coaching Clients at PRG preparing for the big dance at The Boston Marathon, the annual Minnesota road running kick-off at The Get In Gear Events, and our first trail races of the season at The Zumbro Trail Races—which PRG is a proud sponsor of—April is truly one of the most action-packed months of the year.
It’s also a great time to re-join friends for group runs and running-focused events. At PRG, we have seen our Wednesday Night Group Runs grow since the beginning of March, and we look forward to continuing to add even more new faces to our weekly runs.
Later this month, on April 21st, we’ll also kick off one of my personal favorite weekly group events hosted by PRG: The Loppet Foundation’s Tuesday Night Trails group run!
This run has helped introduce hundreds of runners to the trails of Theodore Wirth Park since it began four seasons ago, and we can’t wait to kick things off this year in our new location at the corner of Xerxes Ave. N and Glenwood Ave. N in Golden Valley.
This month features a new column from our onsite practitioners, Dr. Michael Rodriguez, DPT, and Dr. Kailee Carlson. Their columns will focus on wellness topics relevant to runners, like injury prevention, stress management, and maximizing recovery.
We hope you enjoy the new content and that it helps you stay healthy and training this Spring and Summer!
Enjoy this month’s content-packed issue of the newsletter! See you at the gym or at an upcoming group run!
-Aaron Boike
Grandma’s Marathon Group Run
Saturday, April 4th at 8:30am
Come on out and share some miles with 2x Grandma’s Champion and Olympian Dakotah Popehn and our local “Grambassadors!”
Festivities will start at PRG at 8:30am with a raffle for an entry to Grandma’s for both 2026 AND 2027, some awesome Grandma’s Marathon swag, massage giveaways from Integrative Massage, organic maple syrup fuel from Pure Fuel, and We Get 2 Do This stickers, followed by a group run at 9am.
All paces and ability levels are welcome! Come on out, meet some new friends, run with an Olympian, and win some great swag!
Tuesday Night Trails Kickoff w/ Loppet Run Club
Hosted by PRG
Tuesday, April 21st at 6:00pm
Run starts at 6:30pm
NEW LOCATION:
Xerxes and Glenwood Ave.
Golden Valley, MN 55422
We’re excited to be hosting the Loppet Run Club’s Tuesday Night Trails again for 2026! Join Coaches Aaron Boike and David Nogle for a 4 or 6 mile run through beautiful Wirth Park. Pace groups from walk/jog to approximately 10 min/mile will be available. Join us!
Looking for new trail gear? Kickoff Night features demos from Mount to Coast, Tailwind, and Swiftwick. Demos start at 6pm!
PRG Happenings Spotlight
Beyond The Miles – Strength, Drills and Plyometrics for Runners w/ Coach David
Wednesday, April 29th at 7pm
After Wednesday Night Group Run
Coach David shares his wisdom on the factors outside of running—running drills, resistance training, cross training, plyometrics and more—that have helped him and his coaching athletes reach podium-level and race-winning performances.
Join us for Wednesday Night Group Run at 6pm and stick around after for the seminar at 7pm!
Demo Nights in April
Mount to Coast + Tailwind (Road)
Wednesday, April 1st at 6pm
Demo starts at 5:30pm
@ Performance Running Gym
Mount to Coast + Tailwind + Swiftwick (Trail)
Tuesday, April 21st at 6:30pm
Demo starts at 6pm
@ Theo Wirth Park
Xerxes Ave. N + Glenwood Ave. N, Golden Valley
Member Spotlight
Caleb Hill
Caleb has called Saint Louis Park home his whole life and is pretty much a local legend at PRG. A familiar face to those who attend Wednesday Night Group Runs, Caleb has been a member for about five years now.
By day he works in software engineering consulting, but ask him what really defines him and it’s pretty clear: he’s an outdoor person with some serious accolades on the trails.
His origin story at PRG is a classic Twin Cities tale. During a stretch of 90-plus degree heat with matching humidity, Caleb found himself “on the brink of death” after every outdoor run—his words, not ours. He assures us it just felt that way.
A recommendation from his neighbor Steve pointed him toward PRG, and the combination of high-quality treadmills and air conditioning sealed the deal.
What he didn’t expect was how much the community would shift his sense of what’s possible.
“It reset my physical activity Overton window,” he says.
Being around so many people who had done ultras and trail races fast-tracked his own entry into that world. Now he trains primarily for trail running with a healthy dose of biking mixed in, and his perspective on “a lot of activity” has quietly recalibrated upward.
“There’s always someone at PRG lifting more or running further, so nothing ever seems that extreme.”
That recalibration was put to the test at the 2025 St. Croix 40, which Caleb calls his biggest athletic achievement to date.
Forty miles, fourteen hours, a sled he’d never actually pulled before, and snow the entire way.
“In raw numbers it’s sort of whatever,” he says, “but it remains the most mentally challenging thing I’ve done.”
He gives a shoutout to Jake Knighton for walking alongside him and to Kari Gibbons for fielding a flood of pre-race questions.
When it comes to motivation, Caleb is refreshingly candid: “In a very real but subclinical sense I get depressed if I’m not physically active.”
At a higher level, it’s simpler. Caleb loves being outside, and staying fit is what keeps that door open.
For high-intensity days, he queues up the 2000s Workout playlist on Apple Music. For long, slow efforts, he’s deep in My Brother, My Brother and Me podcast territory—a fitting choice for someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously.
A few things you might not know about Caleb: he attended a Spanish immersion school and can still read and speak it, although he admits he’s a little rusty.
He’s largely off social media these days—you’ll find him on Strava and GitHub—but he’s genuinely reachable via email if you want to swap trail notes.
His current mantra comes from Frank Herbert:
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to
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