I tell the story of my experience at the 2013 Cork City Marathon as the catalyst for getting me into coaching. At the time I was a fairly new runner myself and had been on a weight loss journey seeing me lose five stone over the previous two years. After completing the race, my third marathon ever, I was driving home and had to cross over the course route. In doing so I saw a woman still on the course, at least two hours after I had finished. Her determination to complete this race was a truly inspiring moment for me. I thought to myself that it takes enormous strength of mind and body to stick with it, knowing how much pain she must have been in. From that point on I wanted to reach out to new runners and watch them do things they never believed they could do, much like myself and this stranger on that marathon course.
I have since gone on and have become a UK Athletics Coach In Running Fitness and have taken on the role of head coach in two different clubs, began a junior running programme in two clubs, got involved in our local Parkrun, and regularly put on Couch to 5K programmes locally.
In the past six years I’ve had the privilege of coaching some athletes to their first sub three hour marathons, worked with juniors who have gone on to represent Northern Ireland in international competitions and through my own experience have improved my own running significantly. I’ve seen so many runners over the years accomplish their goals and knock some lifetime bucket list items off. Some people going from never having run, to running their first 5k and then on to complete their first marathon. One of the most satisfying experiences for me is when coaching a group of new runners and seeing that moment when their self-belief kicks in. I can always see it in their eyes. It happens every time during that one session where it clicks and they know they can do this. This thing they never thought possible, they can run.
I am grateful to have this opportunity to spread my passion for the sport and, in some small way, make and help inspire positive change in someone’s life. It is a great honour and I thank all of the athlete’s I’ve worked with for making this part of my life so rewarding. I would love to take on your personal goals and help you achieve them through my online coaching experience. Drop me a message and let me know what is on your bucket list and we can look at possibly working together to achieve them.
I am also a self-coach. I’m currently working through a 16 week plan for the 2023 London Marathon. You can follow along with my progress as I aim towards another sub-three hour marathon finish.
List of Coaching Services:
Marathon Planning
Target Race Planning of all distances
Beginner Programmes
Development Programmes
1-to-1 Online Coaching