In the end of 2006 I decided to move to Texas, which led me
to joining the marathon team for Team In Training. After being a participant and mentor I chose
to take the step to becoming a coach.
Right before the start of a season our walk coach decided not to return
to coaching. There is a riff in Team In
Training between the walkers and the runners, but in my mind everyone out there
is doing the same distance for the same cause, it just may take some longer
than others. So, I stepped up and
volunteered to be the walk coach. It was
quite possibly one of the most humbling things I have ever done. If you think running a marathon is hard, try
walking one! The people I coached on the
walk team were driven and passionate about the cause and I learned a great deal
from their determination.
In 2008 a friend of mine talked me into doing a
triathlon. I tried to get out of it for
the longest time by using the excuse that I didn’t have a bike, but I really
(REALLY, REALLY, REALLY) hate being bad at things and I didn’t think I could
swim very well, that was my true deterrent.
Another friend showed up with a mountain bike and my excuses were gone. I did my first sprint in the end of 2008 in
Cleburne. Now, I am slightly competitive
and was told (threatened, in my mind) by Fred Wood that “I would be the one he
would beat”. He’d found out it was my
first tri and had set his mind on beating me as his goal. Nope.
No, sir, was I going to let that happen.
Carlo (who is the one that got me into this whole mess) tracked my time
and how far I was behind Fred the entire race.
It was one of the most adrenaline filled few hours of my life!
Here are a few things that happened during that race:
-
I sat down in transition. Yup. I popped a squat right there by my bike and
took my sweet time putting bandaids on (I had really bad blisters). - I didn’t have a cycle computer and I’m pretty sure that only mile 11 was marked on the bike. I remember the scenery being really pretty, but I had NO IDEA how far I had gone or how far I had left.
- I ran my heart out. The fastest 5K I’ve ever run was at this race. Raw adrenaline and the pure lack of any sort of knowledge of what I was doing led to this.
The point being, I fell in love with triathlon at this
point. The next year I ran the ultra at
El Scorcho and decided that there was no logical reason to run 20 miles on
Saturday followed by a 10 mile “recovery” (really, 10 mile recovery run???) on
Sunday. In the end of 2009 my focus became
triathlon.
Somehow, over the next few years, I progressed from walk
coach to run coach to triathlon coach.
Team In Training is an amazing organization and the passion of the
people involved in it are what makes it so enjoyable to be a part of. Coaching for Team In Training keeps me
grounded and reminded of the hard work and dedication it took me to get where I
am today. The thirst for learning and
growing that the participants have is addicting and entices me to coach them to
the best of my ability so they reach (and exceed) their goals.
Sometimes you can get so caught up in where you are that you
forget how you got there.
Coaching reminds me that when I started, I couldn’t swim
from one end of the pool to the other without hyperventilating and feeling like
my lungs were going to explode. That I
didn’t know how to get my tire off to change it, quick release anyone? Gears…I bought my first road bike off of
Craigslist (picked it up in a dark parking lot late at night…thanks for going
with me Mer). I proceeded to take it for
its maiden ride as my new bike, then I proceeded to shift it all the way into
the hardest gear. Then it stopped
shifting. The darn thing was
broken!!! I took it to my friend, Don
Armstrong, who kindly explained (I’m sure he was laughing a little), that the
brake levers were shifters too. ..so, I guess it wasn’t broken. Clipless pedals. Oh the stories. Slow motion falling and being able to do
nothing about it…
I had my Team In Training participants take part in the Disco
Sprint Triathlon this past weekend. They
have been training for over two months now and I wanted to get them into a race
setting. For some this was their first
triathlon, ever. For some it was their
first in years. For all of them, it was
the beginning of the next phase of their training for either an Olympic or Half
Ironman. Sunday morning was a bit
quiet. I kept trying to find some of my
TNT kiddos and they seemed to have wandered off. Many of them were withdrawn and some were
outwardly nervous. Few were very smiley.
Come the finish line and each and every one of them finished
with a smile on their face and each and every one of them cheered and got excited
as the others crossed the finish line. I
am so proud of all of them! The smiles
on their faces when they finished are engrained in my mind. They were like gossipy school kids when they
finished, asking each other how they did and how they felt. One of my guys told me he swam the entire
distance without stopping. This was HUGE
for him. HUGE! Again, it grounds me to see the pure joy that
can come from someone completing the entire swim of a sprint distance race. Another one of my participants knocked 19
minutes off of her previous time at Disco.
19 MINUTES! She was bouncing
around with a Cheshire Cat smile on her face.
The best part to me? That they
were sharing this excitement with their Teammates. 
As much as I would like to attribute part of their success
on Sunday to my tutu and Monica’s afro wig and sunglasses, I think it had to do
a lot more with hard work on their part.
That day I was thanked time and time again (and so was Monica who is
ROCKING as an assistant coach this season!) for getting them to the point they
were at that day. It made me so proud of
them and proud to know that I could bring that much joy to someone just by
coaching them. I’m only part of the
equation though. My TNT kiddos have put
in a ton of hard work this season and I can’t wait to see them all complete
their events. I know there is a long way
to go and a lot of nerves, but they are more prepared than they realize. When their big day comes they’ll have smiles
on their faces for weeks to follow.
About two years ago I figured out what I wanted to be when I
grow up. It took me two years to fully
realize it and take the leap. I’ve made
significant changes in my life this year.
The next couple of years aren’t going to be easy, but with hard work and
support of some amazing friends, I know I’ll reach my dream. 
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