A look back and a look ahead
Looking back, a lot of great things happened in 2013. Growing Atlanta Tri Club and Energy Lab, new opportunities personally and professionally, and lots of hope and momentum going into 2014. Racing wise there were some ups, some downs, and some in-betweens.
Notably, I celebrated the one year mark of leaving the corporate world to pursue what I like to call “triathlon related activities” full-time including growing and managing Energy Lab and ATC alongside John and our other partners, as well as other side pursuits such as writing, speaking, and coaching. It has been a wonderful year and I feel very blessed to be following this new path. Here are some of the individual things I’m looking forward to in 2014.
ATC Race Team for 2014 (Sorry to leave you off the list, Joseph. In my defense I had a fever!)
ATC- growing the corporate program, putting on the very first ATC race, and continuing to strive for the goal of becoming the biggest, best, and most comprehensive triathlon club on earth. A couple of other initiatives I’m excited about are the growth and success of the race team, paratri, and youth teams. We have an expanded and awesome team of individuals this year on the race team and their success feels like my success (as does the success of all our athletes from first-timer on down). We’re also hard at work on expanding the paratriathlon program and kicking off the ATC youth program.
Energy Lab- We’re continuing to grow at Energy Lab on the cycling class side and the coaching/swim instruction side. My goal continues to be to support the dedicated athletes who call Energy Lab home whether in a group setting through programming and teaching or on a personal level through coaching. We have several new adds to the coaching roster for 2014 (as well as returning athletes) and I look forward to helping them and sharing their success with you.
Other pursuits- I’m also very excited about some side projects I have for 2014. One is continuing to be a contributor to Triathlete Magazine and other publications, and I’ll also be a columnist for Southern Bicycle League Magazine. I have a few other projects along these lines in the works that I’ll be sharing later. I’ll also be putting on a triathlon camp centered around IRONMAN Chattanooga in conjunction with my coach, Brian at Accelerate 3 and HDCoaching. Stay tuned for more details but this exclusive camp is slotted for June.
IRONMAN Louisville took top honors for “Most Fun Race”
Racing- 2013 was a fun year with some ups, some downs, and a little more consistency than 2012. Although I had a false start with training, getting very sick a few weeks ago with a virus that’s got some serious staying power, I believe I’m finally on the mend and have some big plans for racing in 2013 that I’ll spell out in more detail later. I’ll be racing on the Atlanta Tri Club racing (obviously wouldn’t consider anything else!) and will be coached by Accelerate 3. I’m also serving as a brand ambassador for 110%, Beet It, Strava, and First Endurance. These are all products/companies that I love and use already so the relationship is natural.
Christmas 2013. Photo courtesy of Capture the Moon Photography
Most of all, I’m thankful to have my family (John, Bailey, and Sadie) and my health which allows me to pursue all these fun and worthy things. This post is starting to sound like a Christmas letter, and as it turns out, I never got around to writing one this year. I suppose this post will suffice for now. Here’s to 2014!
