Lauren Godwin enters her second season as the head coach for the College of Central Florida Women's Cross Country team. In 2022 she became the first CF Women's Cross Country Head Coach. Her personal mantra is “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Lauren has been an educator for the past six years teaching all subjects and grade levels from elementary to high school. Mathematics, STEM, SAT Prep, Science, Government, and English ... you name it! She proclaimed at the age of five that a teacher was what she would be. Lauren has a true passion for continuing to learn and sharing knowledge. In this process she has transitioned from the classroom to the race course. She has coached middle and high school cross country where she emphasized what being both mentally and physically tough entails. 

Coach Godwin is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and holds AED/CPR/First Aid Credentials from the American Red Cross. She began running in 2008 during the summer of her soon to be sophomore year of high school. She went from a 26:17 5k time at the Bucs Draft Day Dash to a 21:55 in her first season. A native Floridian, she had played soccer, softball, gymnastics, diving, and tennis before discovering her true passion in running. She attended a running camp in Crested Butte, Colorado in the summer of 2009 where she learned what heading to the next level took.  Coached by Trent Sanderson of Team Prep USA, her 5k time dropped from 21:55 to 19:39 within weeks. Lauren ran competitively her freshman year in college for the University of South Florida Bulls. She then ran focusing on her love of the half marathon and 10K. She is thrilled to be the Head Coach here at CF where athletes will be able to competitively run a half marathon collegiately. 

Minor injuries led her to become an RRCA Certified Coach while she was in high school. She sat in a room full of prospective coaches at a conference center in Denver as the youngest of the bunch. Her race count is above 350 races and she has raced in 55 half marathons to date. She has continued to surpass all of her high school bests and is still a competitive runner today.

Running began as a back of the pack activity for Lauren. Through the sport she has made lifelong friends and beat her times by understanding the race is both 100% physical and 100% mental. Learning to control the controllables and race to beat herself and her own times led to overwhelming success.

“The only person who puts limits on yourself is YOU.”

Coach Godwin's PRs:

1600m: 5:45 - 3200m: 12:00 - 5K: 19:20 - 4 mile: 27:16 

5 mile: 32:10 - 10K: 40:34 - 15K: 1:03:27 - 10 mile: 1:08:55 - 1/2 Marathon: 1:30:26