My Rod Tidwell

In the movie Jerry Mcguire, Tom Cruise plays Jerry Mcguire and Cuba Gooding Jr plays Rod Tidwell. Jerry is a sports agent who has lost ALL of his clients...except Rod Tidwell. All of Jerry's hopes and dreams are resting on Rod.

For the last 4 months, I have been training my first actual paying individual triathlete. I have coached groups before for sprint or olympic distance triathlons. I have coached groups of runners and walkers for marathons and half marathons. I have coached Trevor for half ironmans and a full ironman. But I have never had someone pay me to put together a program just for them. Until now.

I have confidence in my coaching ability. I know I put together a good program, I know that I am motivational. I know that I am good resource for all things that come along with training. But you can't teach someone to have heart.

About half way through training for her first half ironman, my athlete ran into an injury and took a couple weeks completely off. Most people would have given up, my athlete did not. She keep a good attitude and never thought it wouldn't still be possible.

Trevor and I have been joking that she is my Rob Tidwell...the only I have and if I can't get her to finish, well, then...how will anyone else ever trust me to train them? Much better to be 1 and 0 than 0 and 1, right?

Last week, she came to see me before she headed out of town for the event. I saw alot of myself in her. She was nervous and just wanted to get started. She has questions and concerns. I gave her my best pre event advice. She hugged me and said "I couldn't have done this without you". I said "you haven't done it yet, tell me that after you cross the finish line".

Saturday was the day. I tracked her all day, her girlfriend emailed me updates. I think I may have been more nervous than her! I was concerned about her injury coming back to haunt her. Watching her times, it became clear to me that it had, she was taking a little longer than planned.

Finally, at 7 pm, I got the email that she had finished and she was hurting. I was SO relieved. About an hour later, she actually emailed me and told me she started to cry at mile 3 on the run when the pain started. That means she went 10 miles in pain. She finished. She did not quit. I am so incredibly proud of her. Even more proud than if she had finished in her goal time. Its the tough days that make us better...that teach us who we really are. Then she said "I couldn't have done it without you".

As a coach, that is the best compliment. That's the idea of a coach...to help you do something you didn't think you could do on your own. She's already signed up for another round of training, for another half ironman. And I am her coach. I love that.