By Elizabeth Sims
Enterprise Editor

With 10 years as a police officer in the Chicago metropolitan area and another 15 years as an executive in the restaurant industry under his belt, it seems that founding, not one but two, running clubs would be the furthest thing from Highland Village resident Brad Lutz’s mind.

Not only is running on his mind, it has been a paramount aspect for most of his life. Lutz started running in high school to help him excel in the sports he played.

“Back when I was in school, you were kind of a weenie if you weren’t a three-sport athlete,” Lutz said. “My school didn’t really have a formal running program, but we ran everywhere because we didn’t have electronics and only three TV channels. I did a ton of running in football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey.”

Video by Maddy Giddens and Casey Klinger

This foundation in running continued past Lutz’s schooling. Lutz and his wife Beth, a pastor at Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church who heads the church’s sports ministry, raised a family of cross country and track athletes. Both of his sons ran throughout high school. His oldest son, Brett, missed the mile qualifying time at Texas A&M by 15 seconds but still went on to pursue a degree in engineering. His other son, Craig, is currently a junior at the University of Texas and is a 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter cross country runner. He has been All-American three times in college so far and finished third in nationals for the 10,000 meter in track.

“When the kids came, both of my sons became runners, and as they progressed in their careers I got more and more involved in their running and everything else,” Lutz said. “Obviously, running has been a big part of our family dynamic. A lot of our vacations have been based off who is running where over the years.”

The family’s focus on running eventually led to the founding of Lutz’s first club, Lake Cities Cross Country, in 2003.

“My son Craig was in summer track, and we got to the end [of the season] and realized there was no place for kids to run after July 31 came. We put our heads together and decided that we needed to start some sort of a running program,” Lutz said.

After going back to school and getting certified through U.S. Track and Field, Amateur Athletic Union and the International Youth Conditioning Program, Lutz started Lake Cities Cross Country.

“Our club is a very unique organization,” Lutz said. “Most everything else around is a summer track program that may or may

not tolerate distance running. We are exactly the opposite. We are a distance running program that also does distance track, and there really aren’t a whole lot of clubs around that have the same model we have.”

This program was designed to not only train the athletes to run, but give them racing experiences to carry as they continued beyond the club.

“As a club, we race locally, regionally and nationally,” Lutz said. “We take trips all across the country for cross country nationals and track and field nationals. Part of that experience is what causes kids to be excited about the opportunity to run in a program like ours. Part of the program we designed was so that they could have those experiences so that when they got to high school those big events would be like normal, everyday things because they’ve already gone through it at a different level.”

With all of the success from Lake Cities, Lutz began to see more and more athletes come back after they had gone on to high school, leading to the founding of his second program, Lutz Running, in 2008.

“Lutz Running came about because we have been successful in the youth program, and the [Lake Cities] program catered to those in third through eighth grades. Once they went on to their respective high schools, we had a lot of kids come back asking for help. I decided I would never tell a runner I had already worked with that I couldn’t help them so Lutz Running sprang up and I’ve got 53 athletes that I train,” Lutz said.

Senior Carson Vickroy has trained under Lutz for seven years through Lake Cities and Lutz Running. Vickroy, who will run at

the University of Kansas, attributes his growth and success in the sport to his time spent working with Lutz.

“I’ve put in a lot of quality miles working with him which has really helped me develop as a pacer and from a racing perspective,” Vickroy said. “His program consists of fewer, harder and faster miles than a typical high school work out, and they are all based on your time trial times.”

With so much of his life dedicated to running and training athletes, it is hard to fathom the fact Lutz is unable to run long distances due to a knee injury that has required a total of 13 surgeries. However, he has not allowed this condition to hinder him and has used his personal experience when taking care of his athletes.

“I had knee injury in high school playing football that required surgery that was not repaired well the first time. I’ve had to have seven surgeries plus a knee replacement and vascular work done on that leg. I run as much as I can but not like I used to,” Lutz said. “We are careful with what we do and we will not over-train anybody. We are thorough in diagnosing problems and have a great list of doctors and physical therapists that work with us to make sure our athletes are taken care of. We have what I call the 100 percent rule. If you have mentally prepared, you’re physically fueled, you’ve hydrated and you’ve warmed up properly, then you are more than likely going to have a good workout. We don’t leave anything to chance when it comes to getting our athletes prepared to perform.”

Conrad Vickroy, Carson’s father and a former Lake Cities coach, has experienced Lutz’s programs as both a parent and coach first hand and can sum them up in two words: preparation and purpose.

“The amount of research that he did allows runners to simply trust the program. Lutz is prepared for all the contingencies, which will come up – from the minor injuries and pains to the emotions of having a 100 percent effort undercut by freakish weather,” Mr. Vickroy said. “I find that Coach Lutz is able to be extremely demanding and have the young athletes exceed even their own expectations.  That forms a bond, which doesn’t ever go away between coach and athlete.”

Over the past 10 and a half years, Lutz has trained over 1,000 athletes. Through his thorough research, personal passion and individualized attention, he can state he has never had an athlete who did not improve.