A legendary runner.

Andy Palmer did not begin running until he was 23 years old. Prior to running, he was passionate about basketball. The year after he graduated from the University of Maine in Presque Isle, he ran a 13-mile race in Waterville. He completed the first 12 miles at about 6 minutes per mile but crashed in the last mile. A year later, he was still running from up to 20 miles per week to 100 miles per week. By the fall of 1977, he was competing against Maine's very best runners and took fourth place in two straight Aroostook County races. He won a race held in Fort Kent, the first of many wins. Following this, Andy soon realized that he had endurance and moved up to the marathon, winning a race in the Maritime Provinces. He then decided to move to Boston in order to run with the very best in the world. In Boston, in the late 1970s, he trained with Bill Rodgers, Greg Meyer, and Kevin Ryan. Bill Rodgers secured jobs for Andy at his different stores and provided a healthy, high powered atmosphere in which to train. Kevin Ryan, a New Zealander, served as Andy's first coach, providing the Madawaska, Maine native with valuable tips on training schedules and discipline. Andy was also coached by Charlie Spedding, a British Olympian.

Since Bill Rodgers trained in the south during the winters, Andy moved into his house and even bought Rodgers’ Volkswagen. Things really began to fall into place for Andy in 1984, and he became a nationally ranked runner. At the prestigious Cherry Blossom 10 mile road race, Andy ran a 47 minutes, 52 seconds race, a finish good enough to be ranked 10th fastest American for 10 miles. In 1984, he also ran for an American record at the 30K distance for 29 year olds. He ran in the Olympic Trial Marathon in 1984 and 1988, and was 13th in the trials for the World Championship Marathon in 1986. Among his other times were:

3 minutes, 55 seconds: 1500 meter run
4 minutes, 13 seconds: mile
29 minutes, 4 seconds: 10K
2 hours, 16 minutes: marathon

Andy maintained a rigorous training regimen, and often ran between 150 and 190 miles per week. One February he averaged 27 miles per day, logging 670 miles for the month.

Andy pursued an education related to physical and mental health and has attained the following degrees:

B.S. in Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Maine at Presque Isle M.Ed. Physical Education and Administration, Springfield College
M.Ed. Exceptionality, University of Southern Maine
Ph.D. Educational Psychology, Florida State University

For most of Andy's professional career, he has been a teacher and mentor. In 1995, after attaining his Ph.D., he developed a private performance enhancement practice which continues to this date. His focus is on helping aspiring runners to develop the mental and emotional skills to succeed. He has directed and owned the Maine Running Camp at Bar Harbor since 1980; has been Head Coach at Crafts bury, Vermont from 1988 through 1995, arid since 1995 has been a Sport Psychology Consultant for Roy . Benson's Nike Running Camps. Andy has been on the Road Racing Club of America's Committee for Certification of Coaches of Adult Road Runners since 1996 and he has consulted to Reebok, Nike, and New Balance over the past several years.

Currently, Andy is in the process of establishing a fitness center in Lenoir, North Carolina. This facility will house around 30 runners and will host fitness and performance seminars. Plans also include horseshoe pits, a croquet court, a basketball court, volleyball area, biofeedback equipment, a lap pool, altitude simulation, and a fully equipped exercise science laboratory. The purpose of this facility will be to provide a high level of support to emerging athletes, with the proceeds from the camps, seminars, and workshops going towards supporting six to ten post collegiate distance runners. To this end, he is working with Team USA with hopes of becoming one of their training facilities.

Andy is now involved in private coaching and counseling with four athletes that qualified for their respective Olympic trials and a fifth person who made the USA National l00K Team. Andy's training philosophy is based upon the principles of periodization in training and patience in attaining results, using effort based training to realize the athlete's individual goals.