Owner-Sam Rush
Sam is runner, who runs on all terrains: road, cross country, track, and trails. He has covered distances ranging from 800 meters to 50 kilometers.

Besides being a participant in the running community Sam has coached over 300 runners to reach their goals ranging from completing the distance to personal records to qualifying for the Boston Marathon in events from 10k to marathon.

In 2014 Sam was the only Authorized Athlete Representative (agent) living in Minnesota. Authorization was attained through the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and USA Track & Field (USATF).

From 2008-2014 Sam was a member of the USA Track & Field Minnesota Board of Directors. He held the positions of: Secretary and Mountain/Ultra/Trail Committee Chair along with Chair of the Twin Cities Marathon Expo sub committee.

Prior to Sam’s naming of Mountain/Ultra/Trail Committee Chair, there was no Mountain/Ultra/Trail part of the Minnesota Association. In Sam’s time as Chair he created the Ultra and Trail Championships, started the yearly honor and recognition of the Female and Male Runners of the Year, created the MUT Series-a series of 5-6 events ranging from 5k to 50k trail races where participants earned points for placement and mileage based upon miles races, and association sponsored events throughout the Twin Cities.

As a member of the USATF Minnesota Board of Directors Sam promoted creating membership value by advocating for the Annual Awards Celebration to be free for all members along with other events and defining the benefits of membership. He also promoted membership through visibility of USATF Minnesota at races and expos, and the idea that all runners should want to be members of USA Track & Field.

At the National level of USA Track & Field, Sam was the chair of the Mountain/Ultra/Trail Council’s Rules Committee. As Chair Sam sought to have Mountain/Ultra/Trail specific rules in the Rule Manual. These rules would be standards for all USATF championships and sanctioned events.

In 2014 Sam became of member of the Twin Cities in Motion Association as a member of the Communications and Public Relations (CPR) committee and Red White & Boom Organization committee. In 2017 he stepped down from the CPR committee.

As the race director of the MDRA 7 Mile Sam joined the MDRA Race Committee in 2014 and in 2015 he was made member of the MDRA Board of Directors. In the beginning of 2016 Sam stepped down from the Board and became the MDRA Race Director. In addition to directing the 7 Mile, he then directed the Mississippi 10 Mile, MDRA 15k, Victory Labor Day Races including the Steve Williams 5k and Jeff Winter City of Lakes Half Marathon. After the 2017 season Sam decided to step away from the MDRA events to grow Mountain Goat Running's events and time more track meets, road races, trail races and cross country meets.

During his time as race director for MDRA he modernized the events by offering online registration and online race day registration.

Mountain Goat Running was created to share Sam Rush’s passion for running. After suffering an injury that prevented him from running and spending time with his friends in training and at events, Sam decided to get back into race event management. He volunteered at events in a variety of roles to learn about all aspects ranging from registration to race operations.

Mountain Goat Running believes in supporting the running community at large. It is a member of the American Trail Running Association (ATRA) and USA Track & Field (USATF).

Support is not just limited to running centered organizations, but also societal based running organizations such as Defeat the Stigma Project and Mile in My Shoes running group. Defeat the Stigma Project promoted Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy. Mile in My Shoes running group pairs local running community members with members of the community at large who are experiencing homelessness.

After speaking with the Ft Snelling State Park managers we found out the awesome trail on the Mendota side of the park did not receive as much attention as it needed. In 2014 we decided to help them out by raising funds to maintain the trail through the Mendota Bottoms Trail Run. To date we have raised over $5,000 which has help pay for fixing some of the bridges and areas of trail erosion.

In 2016 at a local fundraising event Sam met Sanna Lee, co-founder of the Lee Sisters Foundation. It is an organization dedicated to creating brighter futures for children in Kenya by providing care and education. Over the past two years we have through the Autumn Trail Series donated $1,000 to the organization.