It's a PASSION, not a paycheck

Some years ago (not that many in the grand scheme of life), when I qualified for the Boston Marathon the first time, a few friends of mine asked me if I would help them along the same journey:  to qualify for Boston.  I didn't think anything about it at the time, but those were my first "coaching" jobs.  We had the best time when we ran together.  I never asked any of them for a penny.  Gatorade, and Gu, but never any monetary compensation. Along the way I have learned new techniques, new methods, and have attended coaching/certification clinics to better hone the skills in order to better serve an athlete.  I have listened and questioned, and researched nutrition "tweaking" and the multitude of available products and who might benefit most from those products.

Since then I have coached first time marathoners, first time half marathoners, first time triathletes, Boston Qualifiers, Ironman finishers, experienced athletes with finish time goals, runners who wished to branch out into triathlon, and people simply looking to add something new and healthy into their lives.  I have collaborated with other coaches on training camps geared towards athletes with a 70.3 or 140.6 event on their calendars.  I have discovered that I LOVE the mentoring/coaching/guiding/teaching side of endurance sports.  I would much rather spend 30 minutes talking a wary athlete through a beach entry swim start, or hang off the back of the ride than push myself in the faster group just to get in my own workout.

Broadening one's horizons means sometimes stepping out on a limb.  In the past, I have kept my coaching in the shadows, so to speak, as I do not view myself as qualified as others in my area.  With the advent of on-line coaching, tracking software, and (Gasp...) maybe the use of Skype, the opportunities seem wide open.  If I ignored the potential of social media with regard to my being able to assist an athlete, I would be sliding backwards and not progressing with the times.

I hope you will share this information with people you know, and follow along on this new path that I envision leading to the same destination: an athlete's success.