In 2019 our first episode was full of success stories and inspiration for our listening audience. However, we did not have a female perspective, so today’s episode will focus on Bethany Rutledge.
Bethany is an endurance coach, writer, small business owner, who regularly contributes to triathlon and endurance sports publications such as Triathlete Magazine, Women’s Running, and more.
A self-described ‘unlikely’ endurance athlete, she and husband John are now co-owners of Atlanta Triathlon Club, a large triathlon community in Atlanta, GA, and Energy Lab, a unique cycling and coaching studio. Throughout her career as a coach, Rutledge has worked with hundreds of athletes, each with their own inspirational story.
Bethany is also a two-time Kona (IRONMAN Hawaii) qualifier and new mom of twin boys.
In this episode, Bethany describes her entry into running and endurance sports and her journey becoming an author and fitness coach. She shares with us how her book, The Courage to Tri: Finish Your First Triathlon. A Motivational How-To for Women, can help athletes of all levels have a successful Triathlon.
She also educates us on the rules, various courses and distances of triathlon events and how stretching out of our comfort zones by trying something new and challenging can open many doors beyond just fitness.
Goodbye, 2018; Hello, 2019
As we enter into a New Year, we take time to reflect on some running success stories close to home, even if they’re half a world away. ‘Close to home’ because our guests today all are part of the RunnersConnect family. Today we hear from our podcast editor, three of our coached athletes, and our founder, Jeff Gaudette.
Jeremy Noessel began running in the spring of 2017 and completed his longest distance race to date this past summer; a 10-miler in the hot and humid New England summer. We get a glimpse behind the scenes and also insight into his approach to running. Jeremy also shares with us his favorite episodes from 2018.
In 2018, Ethiopian-born Tensai Asfaw started competitive running in boarding school in New Jersey at age 15. He finished as NJ state champ in cross-country and the mile and received All-State honors. He ran at Princeton University where he was a multi-time Ivy League Champion and Captain of the Princeton Track team. He has worked with RunnersConnect for just over a year and has shaved 2-minutes from his 8K and 10K times and 45 minutes from his marathon time.
Scott Borella added the RunnersConnect Strength Training to his training in 2017 and saw an amazing improvement in his 2018 5K, 10K and Half-Marathon races. Scott talks about his competitive background and how he has applied swimming and strength training to his running program.
Our third success story is Rodrigo Jara from Paraguay. He started running in just a couple years back and his speed and training intelligence has led him to overall and age group victories. A software engineer by day, he started training with RunnersConnect 2 years ago and it changed his entire perspective about running. He shares with us how he achieved his 2018 goals by working with his coach.
RunnersConnect founder, Jeff Gaudette, now experiences most of his running life through RunnersConnect. He shares with us his thoughts on 2018 and what the future of RunnersConnect looks like.