Hope you enjoy!
Coach Mary Ann's guest blog
Coach MA here! Guest Blogging for my awesome athlete Sue!
I am so very honored and happy to have this opportunity to
write a blog for Sue so that I can finally defend myself in light of all of the
times that Sue has referred to me as a “ball buster!”
Kidding!
The truth is that I am thrilled to write this blog because I
can offer a new perspective to Sue’s amazing journey – the perspective of the
Coach - the one watching Sue, supporting Sue and helping her to achieve her
goal of running her first marathon.
As a Coach, you are often asked to help people achieve new
and great things. It is one of the best parts of my work and I love being the
base of information, motivation, and accountability that launches people on
their way. The hard part is that many times
people want to take on something like
running a marathon but when the reality of the work comes they back down. Athletes
find all sorts of excuses, they try to hide (I have had clients literally fall
off the face of the earth!), or they just flat out quit. Training on a consistent basis is not easy
and sticking to a plan with a Coach watching your every move, looking at your Garmin
data from your runs, asking tough questions and keeping you on task makes it
even harder. Signing up to run your first marathon is a daring move, telling
people that you are running is even more brave, writing about your personal
experience in a blog is even more courageous and hiring a coach that will be an
additional point of accountability puts it all on the line.
Sue has proven to be every level of courage. She has
joyfully put herself out in public to share her story of running her first
marathon. She has stuck with having me as her coach even when I had to keep her
on task and when I have had to remind her to stay focused on the goal and what
it takes to get there.
Her journey has been one of steps, both literally on the
roads as she ran and figuratively for Sue
as a person. She started with a great deal of desire and “want” but just a basic
understanding of what it would take to get her body strong enough to run a
marathon. As the hard moments showed up on the road, I was able to point out to
Sue when she needed to keep going even if it was tough and Sue kept on
going. She is strong and capable of
running this marathon. That is a wonderful accomplishment. Sue is ready!
The other part of her journey is been an even bigger
accomplishment for Sue. What many people
won’t take on is the mental and personal side of training. When training gets hard they often won’t take
a good hard look at themselves; they won’t answer the tough questions like “Why
do I want to quit? What am I afraid of? How can I work harder or be more disciplined?”
Sue has been brave and looked deep into herself as she has trained for this
marathon. She has faced her fears, changed her lifestyle, let everyone know
that she is taking on this task and that requires courage and tenacity.
I am deeply honored to be a part of Sue’s journey as she
runs her first marathon. I have loved
every minute of coaching her and getting to know her as a woman and an
athlete. It is a joy to have met her
family, her friends and to share a glass of wine (or two) with her on
occasion. She is a woman of strength,
capacity for joy and now….she is an endurance athlete.
As you all know from this blog, Sue has also taken on the
task of raising money for the Ronald McDonald House charity. The kids and families that this charity helps
are on their own journey of endurance. Imagine the faith and strength it takes
to endure living with an illness – please consider helping Sue to meet her
goal. Donate today.
In addition, Sue has asked for me to include my personal
contact information and information about my coaching company, INTENT
Inc. If you are interested in
getting into shape, losing weight, or maybe running your first marathon, contact
me at maryann@intentlife.com. My coaching company is designed to support
athletes of all levels by providing high quality training programs, nutrition
coaching and the motivation and inspiration that they need to succeed. The
company is called INTENT because we want athletes to know why they do what they do. What is the INTENT behind each workout?
We want athletes to know why they have to run long endurance runs, why they
have to strength train, and ultimately why they chose to do any of this. We off
the opportunity to train, race, and LIVE with INTENT!
With coach MA at Springsteen...and YES I ran the next morning :)
Thanks Coach MA! You are too kind! You helped me turn the impossible into the inevitable!!(foreshadowing for a future post)
I would not have trained this hard without your guidance, encouragement...and sometimes your "ball busting" :)
On to another quick topic:
If you are or have ever been a Prince fan his show is spectacular! Two more days to see him in Chicago at the United Center. When my wonderful old college chum Mark W texted me and said he had an extra ticket to Prince, I hesitated. Drive to United Center by myself on a Monday night? Prince started his concert around the time I've been going to sleep this summer. But it was worth it!! Luckily my super nice Coach scheduled an easy day for me today :)
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| No cameras were allowed! So I had to sneak a few photos :) |
Please donate only 12 days until Marathon and blog farewell....
Your friend Newbie (and Coach MA)
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