There are 3 races that I tend to do every spring... Lanikai, Honolulu Tri, and Honu. Lanikai was a few weeks ago. It went ok. I went a little faster than I did 2 years ago and won my age group so, nothing to complain about. Well, I mean, I pretty much always complain about how my run sucks and should be faster, so I guess that's something to complain about... but, whatever. I got to wear my new Coeur team kit and I love it so that was cool!
I started coaching the Kailua Masters swim team. I have to say, having the opportunity to be on deck and coach people in person has been awesome. I mean, it's just totally my thing! I love it, I have fun with it, and I think because of that, the athletes who show up are also having fun with it! Even when I make them tie their feet together...
My main coaching gig continues to grow and thrive. It almost feels weird how TeamBSC is growing... since we've brought on a couple new coaches and they've brought on their athletes, our private team page now has 66 members and I don't know some of them!?!? I mean, last month I saw a pic posted on the TeamBSC FB page and it was of 2 of our gals who were running Boston and they got to meet up b/c their coaches teamed up to work together and put them in touch... so there I was looking at that picture from this island in the Pacific and thinking WOW... How crazy that the team has grown to that point where these athletes get to have a 'teammate' at a race like Boston... and I don't even know either of them? I mean, it's crazy in a good way and looking at that picture made me think that what I started sort of on a whim 8+ years ago has turned out to be so much more amazing than I ever even hoped it would be. I feel like I'm blathering on a bit right now b/c I don't really have words for it, but, well, it's super cool. I don't feel like our growth has been forced. I haven't had to drill myself into the ground to accomplish any of it. I think the basis for our success is that we are passionate about triathlon and we love helping athletes succeed and we do our best to be the best that we can be and that's really all there is to it, at least in a big picture sense.
On a personal level, I've allowed myself to develop very real friendships/relationships with my athletes... Making myself open/available and communicating a lot facilitates this... and because of that, the personal satisfaction I feel when an athlete succeeds is fulfilling in a way that I don't think it would be if I closed myself off more and went about coaching in a more stoic way. I think a lot of athletes these days are craving the coach/athlete relationship where they know that their coach truly cares. So it's totally a win/win!
Lest you think that life here is all perfect, I have a sad shitty story to share as well. Did I ever write about our most recent rescue dog, Duke? I can't remember. Anyway, I saw Duke on a local pet rescue FB page and felt an instant connection like I wanted to help him. So I took him in... In a lot of ways, 2 dogs is a lot harder than 1 dog... but the dogs also had a blast with each other and the level of happy craziness in the household skyrocketed. It was all good until Duke bit one of Moana's neighborhood friends. We were shocked and obviously super concerned... I set about on a mission to rehabilitate this dog. I thought I was doing a good job with it and seemed like he was gaining confidence and getting better... but then out of the blue Duke bit my husband's sister when she was here visiting. After spending the day in the ER with her getting her stitched up, I had no choice but to return Duke to his original rescuer. It was one of the saddest days of my life, if I'm honest. He's such a sweet dog to those in his immediate pack. I hope one day he finds a home where they can help him overcome his anxiety so he can be around (and trust) people he doesn't know.
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