The Joy of Coaching!

I began running more than four decades ago and went from being a top junior runner in England to being one of the best in the world for a brief time. I have run in international competition for three different nations.. England, Ireland and USA.  But I never thought I would ever coach other runners. I even went so far as to say to my coach in college that I would NEVER be a coach.

The opportunity to coach came up while I was working at Edmonds Woodway High School as a teacher's assistant monitoring an autistic boy. The track coaches knew who I was and invited me to apply for the position of distance coach of the track team. The night before my first day of practice I was a wreck. I was sure I couldn't possibly do this. So I headed to practice with my Jack Daniels.. really!! That is Jack Daniel's book on coaching. The kids seem to warm to me quickly.. must be the British accent. Even the boys who had had some success with their previous coach were willing to listen to a woman who had run faster than many of them ever would! It turned out to be the most rewarding experience of my running career. I made some wonderful friends from the kids I coached. I've gone to about five of their weddings so far, helped my favorite athlete buy a house and seen at least 2 of them become parents (not the actual birth I might add!!).

I no longer coach high school but I do have a running group that is growing in numbers. Today I experienced my favorite part of coaching.. a runner asking to do more!! Susan heard about Janet's and my workout for tomorrow and as we left our morning practice .. she said "can I have the workout too!!" I love it when people are excited to do whatever it takes to improve. Susan is an adult woman who constantly allows the child in her to come out and play. We should all be like Susan!!

I have found one of my passions in life in the "art of coaching". It really is a joy to see others get excited about fitness and running in particular.

Want to join a dedicated running group.. dedicated to enjoying running that is!?  We meet at the Greenlake track in Seattle on Saturday mornings at 8:30 a.m. Then the fun begins.

Happy miles my friends.

Husky Teammates

I came to Seattle in 1980 on a cross country and track scholarship at the University of Washington. I still remember my first race as a Husky. We were competing in a local cross country meet at Seward Park. I found myself leading the race on a course that was not particularly well marked and when I got to a point in the race I could hear my teammate Susan Gregg yelling from behind to "turn left there". I was amazed, as she could easily have let me run off course and taken the lead herself. I'm sure she yelled more directions from 50 yards back again. Susan and her twin Sandra proved to me that day that I had a couple of the most amazing teammates ever. During our three years of training together I came to count on them as training partners and reliable teammates on and off the field. Together with Sandra and Susan Gregg and Laurie Coston (co-owner with her twin Leslie of The KingFish Cafe on Capital Hill) we set a National record in the Distance Medley Relay. It was a tremendous experience being a collegiate athlete.

I can only hope that what I brought to the Huskies in the early 80's was as memorable an experience for my teammates and Husky fans.

In my three years as a Husky I set numerous field, meet and school records. I left with five school records on the books in all distances from the 1500 to the marathon. In the 30 years since I ran as a Husky only one of my school records have been broken. One day (maybe) all of those records will be broken, but I can still remember winning my one and only National Championship in the 3000 meters in Austin in 1981, and being the first collegiate woman to run 3000 meters under 9 minutes.

As a mother, I was proud of my daughter making it to play collegiate soccer at my rival Washington State Cougars. For both of us, being a collegiate athlete really made our college experiences more fun mostly because of the teammates we were surrounded with.

So if you are out an about in Seattle this weekend and come across a rowdy group of beautiful girls, they're probably my daughter and her Cougar soccer teammates!!

Go Huskies!! Go Cougs!