Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Avery.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In 2022 I decided to run 1 mile every day for 7 days. Until this point in my life, I had never run for a week straight. I’ve also never been a runner and hated running. I kept that streak and continued it for 90 days. The next 90 days I ran 2 miles every day, the next 90 days, 3 miles every day, and so on. In these early months, the idea to do something big began. We thought “maybe I can run across America” We Googled it and too many people have done that. So what if we ran from Washington to the tip of Texas then up to Maine? Then one day my wife suggested I run around the entire perimeter of America. We bought a map and calculated how many miles it would take. Some math later, we decided to travel in an RV for 365 days while I run 50k (31.1 miles) every day. And we’ll do it for charity! We call this mission “CHRIS RUNS AMERICA”. I wanted to set a 5 year plan of building my business and training, running every day while increasing miles until we began. Over the past 5 years we’ve had 2 kids, are working with 4 charities to raise awareness and money for, gained sponsors, a mentor – Joe Gagnon – who is full of wisdom and has helped others do transcontinental runs, and we have grown into a family that operates as a team to support one another. We begin January 1st out of Phoenix, Arizona (where both my wife and I are from) and will begin to run counter-clockwise around America. Seeing it like no one else and documenting every day to share.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. Absolutely not. With coming into a running challenge hating to run is not easy. We look back now and laugh at how difficult it was for me to leave every day to run only ONE mile. We would say “It will be crazy when you’re running double digits every day”. I ran on both days my kids were born, ever after my wife was in labor for 24 hours. But we made it work with full support of my wife and the team we chose to be around us. I have thrown out my back and still walked my miles. I have had horrendous stomach flus where I couldn’t even stand up straight. We chose to go on a family cruise and I had to navigate running 11 miles on whichever top deck was open during the day. There was a full year that I had shin splint pain through every run. I got a blister on the side of my foot that I thought would go away but just kept growing. While it was growing, I couldn’t wear my running shoes so I wore slides and duct taped them to my feet so they wouldn’t slide around so much through the miles. My wife and I have accepted sacrifice in this challenge to have me train every day and although we have it down now, there have been hard days to figure out logistics and feeling torn about leaving my family for so many hours every day. It’s the worst to leave for a run at the end of the day when my kids are rambunctious and happy. I’m missing those moments but we know what I’m training for is worth it. It’s hard to have a full scheduled day of business then a planned date night and have to decide if I run to meet her at the movies or start my run at 11:59pm…again… for the third day in a row. There have been a lot of struggles but we keep feeling called to do this so we have made the most of it all.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’ve been mistaken for a Life Coach before, but that’s not true. I’m a Faith-First Performance Coach, and my focus is The Whole Man — helping him close the gap between the life he’s living and the calling he was built for.
Here’s what I’ve found: most men don’t fail to reach their calling because they don’t know what it is. They fail because they’re uncertain about the risk, and they lack the confidence and discipline to go after it anyway. My coaching business eliminates that risk and builds that confidence — so men can create the purpose-driven business, income, and lifestyle they actually want.
That’s also part of why we’re doing Chris Runs America — to lead by example and show men, in a very public way, what they’re capable of when they stop hedging and commit.
I’m known for finding ways to win — for myself, and for the men I coach. One client told me recently that without our program and the brotherhood behind it, he doesn’t know how he would’ve made it through the last six months in business. We kept him focused and engaged, he grew his client base, and we found his way to win.
My approach is a unique blend: I teach men to regulate their central nervous system and pair that with God and scripture — training the body and the spirit together to make a man Aligned and Unstoppable.
But underneath all of it, this is a relationship business, not a transaction business. Building something meaningful is hard, and men need a place where they can say what they’re really going through and be understood — and have people who celebrate the wins with them, not just tolerate them. That’s why we call it a brotherhood, not a client base. Guys start as clients. They leave as brothers.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
God is the easy answer. He really is everything. There is a reason we have worked so hard and have put all our marbles into this mission to run the perimeter of America – and it’s to be the vessel to bring more good into the world.
My wife, Melanie, is the reason I started ever running in the first place. So really, it’s all her fault that we are living an incredible life! She is the Unsung Hero of it all. She finds ways to plan the entire run while making our home function, our kids happy, and she is the listening ear to my ideas then runs with me to find a way to make them possible. She’s the rock of our family and lifts me up when times are tough. In addition to my wife is my kids who she helps bring along during runs to cheer for me or squirt me with water guns to cool me off.
I was connected with Joe Gagnon this year. When you talk about somebody that just is willing to serve, that’s Joe Gagnon. He shows up for you when he has nothing to gain. Joe is the kindest, yet one of the biggest beasts in the world. He is the man we all want to know, inspire to be, and wish we had more around us. He’s my mentor with running this run and has become a mentor for my life.
In my coaching business, we have a brotherhood. One night when I was ready to quit it all because of some flu that had completely overtaken my body and had worn on my mind, I called my brotherhood and it was their words that got me outside and got it done. “What do you have to do to get started?” In moments like these, I’m rely on my brothers Zaxter Cook, Tyson Brewer, Ivan Mardesich, and Shay Aslett.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chrisrunsamerica.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisrunsamerica/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisAveryCoach
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-avery-7a4b803a7/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisRunsAmerica
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisrunsamerica
