Support Staff
Amy McDowell || Team Manager
Amy McDowell is the RDP Team Manager who is more of a second mom to the RDP squad. Amy helps coordinate race and team event plans and enables RDP to focus on their goals.
Initially from Oakland, California, Amy moved to New York City for college and grad school and then bounced around several Southern cities before landing for good in North Carolina.
When she's not returning e-mails on behalf of the team, Amy works as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and focuses on improving health outcomes for her clients. She is passionate about universal health care reform, improving quality of life and removing barriers in the health care system. Amy is also an avid ultra runner. She prefers the trails to the roads, but will run a road marathon if it promises good snacks. She is hoping to break 24 hours in the 100 miler within the next year.
Amy lives in Raleigh with her husband and two dogs (Fridge and Carrot). She can often be found running in Umstead park, dancing to Taylor Swift, or watching football on the couch.
Board of Directors
Michelle Ames
Michelle Ames is a pharmacist by day, an avid runner 24/7, and a relentless supporter of all things Raleigh-running related. Upon moving to the Oak City in 2009, running became more than a form of exercise, expanding into source of community involvement and a large social network. Michelle has been a long-time member of the nOg Run Club, Big Boss Run Club, and Runologie group runs. The Sir Walter Miler holds a special spot in her heart as her favorite Raleigh running event. Year over year, she has looked for opportunities to contribute to the event with a favorite role of host family to the guest elites.
While not uncommon to see Michelle’s name on the participant list of countless local races, it has been the large, world class marathons that stole her heart. Her running resume includes 19 completed marathons, a 4-time Boston Marathoner, and a recipient of the Abbott World Marathon Major Six Star Finisher award in 2018 at the Tokyo Marathon. The 2016 London Marathon stands as her marathon PR, though hopefully not for long! Chasing her next goal of completing a marathon on all 7 continents, only South America, Oceania, and Antarctica remain between Michelle and that finish line.
After earning her Doctor of Pharmacy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 2001, Michelle spent the last 16 years her career with a focus on geriatric care. She currently holds the position of Area Vice President of Pharmacy Operations for PruittHealth Pharmacy Services overseeing the company’s long-term care pharmacy services for Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Outside of the pharmacy and running worlds, Michelle is mom to two retired racing greyhounds, Finley and Torch, who “run the show” around the Ames’ house.
Omer Idriss Abdulrahman
With a smile that is as contagious as his stories, Omer brings a genuine passion for others to our Board.
A Sudanese refugee, Omer chose to turn to running to ground himself and motivate his daily pursuits here in the United States. Omer has run countless local races in Raleigh, and is the elite race coordinator for the races put on by Raleigh’s local running store, Runologie. Omer travels up to Connecticut every year to race in some of the competitive 5ks there including the West Hartford 5k and the Newington Road Race.
Omer is a huge asset to the Raleigh community serving in so many local areas and always offering a helping hand for others.
Omer Idriss is also a skilled Disc Jockey, and in his spare time helps with music selections and stylings for various events.
Jessica Hofheimer
Jessica Hofheimer currently lives in Raleigh with her husband Robert, her three kids, and their dog.
As a running coach, Pilates teacher, and active member of the running community, Jess loves to share her passions to help others discover their own strengths and possibilities. She is also a RRCA certified running coach and owner of Pace of Me, coaching runners of a variety of abilities and experience levels for the last 9 years.
Jessica has been teaching Pilates for 8 years as a certified, comprehensive Peak Pilates teacher, and is currently teaching private lessons at Evolve Movement in Raleigh.
A passionate distance runner, Jessica has completed 20 marathons so far. She has qualified for Boston several times, and has run it 3 times, including her PR. At age 42 she believes that she still has her best running ahead of her.
Jessica has been a Coach for Saucony’s, “26 Strong” program, along with a few running clubs in the DC area. She currently holds several brand ambassadorships/partnerships, and over the years has written for or been featured/quoted in Runner’s World, Women’s Running Magazine and Competitor Running.
David Jones, MD
Dr. David T. Jones, originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, has been with The Bone and Joint Surgery Clinic since 2006 after he and his family moved from New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
Dr. Jones trained at LSU New Orleans in Orthopaedic Surgery and began private practice there in 1998. He moved briefly to Boston in 2002 to complete additional training in trauma and minimally invasive surgery at Harvard.
After returning to New Orleans, he served as the team physician for New Orleans’ only professional soccer team and helped care for professional hockey, baseball, as well as numerous sports teams from the middle school to college level.
Dr. Jones is currently one of the team physicians/advisors for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team and is an active member and past Chairman of the Sports Medicine Committee for US Sailing. Dr. Jones understands many athletes on a personal level, as he played soccer in college, in Europe, and for a professional team in the USISL. He is also a national champion in sailing. His approach involves individual attention, conservative treatment if possible, and the latest techniques and skills if surgery is required.
Dr. Jones has served as Chairman of Orthopaedics and Chairman of Surgery at two hospitals in New Orleans and has served as Chairman of Orthopaedics at Rex Hospital.
He also serves as an ongoing educational consultant and instructor for other Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Pat Price
Pat Price is a lifelong runner and advocate for the sport. He is one of the Co-Founders of Sir Walter Running, which produces the Sir Walter Miler, the Pop Up Miles series, Pop Up Cross Country at Dix Park, the Rocket Mile, the Raleigh RunDown Downhill Mile, the Summer of Miles podcast, and the Postrun brand.
Sir Walter Running has been monumental for the growth of Raleigh’s running community. Since 2014, the Sir Walter Miler has brought in elite runners and olympians to compete in the one mile track race. Starting as an attempt for long-time friend Sandy Roberts to break 4 minutes in the mile in 2013, the race has since transformed into a pinnacle race for the professional running world and the Raleigh running community.
Pat graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. He is now a Senior Mortgage Banker with Movement Mortgage and is married with one daughter.
Chris Seaton
Chris Seaton has been part of the NC State Track and Cross Country staff for the past 16 years, first as a graduate assistant for three years and then an assistant coach working with the men’s and women’s distance runners over the last 13 years. During his time on staff, Chris has helped guide the men and women to eight ACC Cross Country titles, 24 NCAA Championship appearances, of which 5 were top-10 finishes, and individually has worked with over 40 All-Americans.
In addition to his coaching and recruiting responsibilities with the Wolfpack Track and Cross Country program, Chris is the meet director for the Raleigh Relays, one of the east coast’s largest collegiate track meets. He also oversees three of the most prominent high school cross country events in the southeast each fall that are hosted at the WakeMed Park in Cary, NC.
A runner since he was 12, Chris competed in college first as a member of the Virginia Tech Track and Cross Country teams and then finished his eligibility at NC State, where he was cross country All-American. Chris competed post-collegiately and was a 2008 Marathon Olympic Trials qualifier.