Hi! I am in my first year of teaching Pilates and this is one of my first success stories. I have a runner that has been doing 2 private sessions a week for about 6 weeks. She ran her first race since starting Pilates training, a half marathon, yesterday. She improved her best time by 6 minutes and finished the race #7 among the women runners. She attributes it to the Pilates, as that is the only thing she has done differently as far as training goes. I, myself, like many others before me, was drawn to Pilates because of back issues. It has really helped me. I live daily as a testament to the benefits of Pilates. It is so fun to see it help other people... those who are in pain, those who just want general health benefits, and those who want to improve athletic performance. I was so excited by this news, I had to share it with someone. :-)