Daniel Schultz, Luis and Michelle Gonzalez
Steve
Homrich finishing strong at Ironman Florida 2008!
Nadja
Pritchard with a big SMILE at the finish of Ironman Florida!
Liz at the Award Ceremony at Oak State Park XTERRA SE
Regional Championships
Steve and Nadja at Big Sur
Jason Skole, Howard Minksy, Farrell Simon,
Maria Price and Ed Mark
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2009
Michelle and
Luis Gonzalez
Michelle and Luis Gonzalez spent the 2009 training
together for various races all season. They
both work full time and have two children under the
age of 5. They both have to do quite a
balancing act to fit in all the training and racing
while still trying to spend quality time with their
children. They started off the
year with a great race at FAU Wellness Triathlon,
completed some of the Tradewinds races, improved
their times by a significant amount on the Tropical
Course in Lake Worth over the year before (which was
huge since most athletes times were slower this
year)....and ended the season finishing the Miami
Man Half Ironman. They also set PR's at the
Palm Beach Half Marathon improving their time by
more than 10 minutes from earlier in the year!
They are an amazing couple with great attitudes,
true determination and have great resolve for
balancing all the important areas of their lives!
Thanks for being so awesome and a pure joy to work
with!
Donna O'Kroy
I had
an amazing time working with Donna Logan O'Kroy this
year. She is another one of my athletes that
works long hours and wedges her training in morning
and night. I always found it quite amazing how
much she was able to squeeze into a day.
She often would ride her bike to work so she could
get her bike time in, then hit the pool or run in
the evening. She trained so hard trying
to transition over from being a duathlete to a
triathlete....with swimming being very tough for
her. She raced in a few sprints
both Duathlon and triathlon doing very well, placing
in her age group every time. She also
completed the Disney Half Ironman in May with a PR
by over 45 minutes from doing the same race several
years before. She was definitely on
target heading into the final month before Ironman
Florida, riding strong at the Assault on Sugarloaf
115 miler. Just weeks before the race, she had
an unfortunate accident where she slipped on some
wet tile and fell hard at home. She was unable to
compete due to the injuries she sustained.
We were both very disappointed, but knew there would
always be another race....and her health was more
important. I really hope to see Donna
compete in an Ironman in 2010! Thanks Donna
for not only being a great athlete to coach, but a
wonderful friend!
Donna coming out of the water at one of the local
sprints!
Kerry Whitacre
Jennifer Lucy
Don Pingaro
Larry Kraska
Tina Marie Pereira
Monica Smiciklas
Matt Joffe
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2008
2008 has been a GREAT YEAR for all my athletes! So
many of them accomplished their goals and beyond!
Below are just a few of the accomplishments from
some of my athletes in 2008.
Steve Homrich completed his first Ironman in an
impressive time of 10:55.......over an hour faster
than his goal.
He worked super hard for a full year to obtain his
goal of finishing the race feeling good! I
was also fortunate enough to help him qualify for
Boston by setting a PR and much sought after
qualifying time at Disney Marathon in 2009.
It has been such a pleasure to work with him all
year.. Congrats Steve! You did awesome!
Steve
and Nadja at the finish of Ironman Florida!
Nadja Pritchard
completed her first triathlon at the Disney Half
just 6 months after starting coaching with me.
She had a tough time of it on the run.....mainly due
to the smoke and dust bothering her asthma, but
still finished well. Her swimming and
biking were basically non existent when she started,
but she plugged away....working very hard at
conquering that swimming thing. The biking
came much easier to her and before you knew it, I
was having trouble keeping up with her!
She trained super hard for Ironman
Florida....keeping up with the schedule with no real
problems. She came out to our ocean swim
group...at first afraid to swim too far out and just
took some time to get use to the open water....then
before you knew it she was cruising right along with
the best of us on our weekly ocean swim repeats.
I knew she would be fine for Ironman Florida as long
as she didn't freak out by the mass start.
When I saw her come out of the water in 1:17...well
above her goal for the swim, I knew she was going to
be fine and do great.
She easily accomplished her goal ...doing great on
the bike and running in strong.
Congrats Nadja on a great performance and
11:34 finish!
Ed Mark trained with me for several months for
Ironman Florida! Ed is a sprinter, so
training for long distance and to have patience is
challenging for him. He did a wonderful job showing patience on the
bike and managed to PR by over an hour from his
previous IM in Arizona.
Ed has always been a lot of fun to work
with....has a heart of gold and sense of humor to
match. It was great to watch him race
with a smile on his face the whole way!
Don Pingaro participated in the entire Lifetime
Fitness Olympic Series
finishing the last 3 races really well and coming in
3rd for the series. in his age group.
He obtained his goal this year by breaking the 2:30
hour mark for many of the races....and breaking 3
hours for the tough Escape to Alcatraz.
He ended the season with a 33rd place age group
finish at Escape to Bermuda. He is a regular
at our ocean swim group and run group coming all the
way from Davie to train with us! Great racing
season Don!
He also regularly puts up race reports on the
forum.....which makes for very interesting
reading:).
Liz Hoyer had an exciting 2008 season! She
did extremely well at XTERRA Southeast Championships
in Alabama with a third place age group finish!
From there, she qualified for XTERRA World
Championships in Maui Hawaii! She pushed her self
hard on a very tough and hilly course and finished
11th place!
Congrats to Tina Marie Pereira who had an amazing
year finishing her first half ironman at
Vineman, completing BRAG (Bike Ride Across
Georgia) for the second year in a row, doing the
Miami Urban Dare as well as several other local
races. Tina has been such a pleasure
to coach the past several years....also up for
adventure and having fun!
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