My wife, Melissa, and I have lived in Rye for the past 15 years. Once here, we joined the Rye Y. The Y is a great place to take spin classes, to swim, to strength train and to get a run in on the treadmills, especially when the weather isn’t very nice. I’ve made lots of friends here in Rye and met lots of people at the Y. It has been a great experience.
Over the years, Melissa and I have done a bunch of triathlons and we both just love the sport. The beauty of triathlons is in the cross training element. You are conditioning your entire body and not generating too much stress in any one area. I was the president of the triathlon club for three years and grew it to 300 members. I decided I wanted to get an understanding of more of the coaching elements so both my wife and I got certified as USA Triathlon coaches and as Road Running Club of America coaches; more recently I added spin and swim instruction to broaden and help others.
Recently, I became involved in teaching adult swimming classes as well as spin classes at the Rye Y. The most satisfying thing for me is seeing people achieve their goals. Some of us were athletes earlier in life; while others were not. We got involved in careers and raising a family and now are all coming back to fitness. We all have goals, whether it is competing in a 5K or 5-mile Rye Derby, training for an ironman or fund raising for a cause. The camaraderie is great. If I can help others reach those goals – that is very rewarding.
Being helpful makes me happy and definitely inspires me. Especially when you have people who are not Michael Phelps/Katie Ledecky in the pool, top cyclists or triathletes. But they have gone from a sedentary lifestyle or a very modest athletic capability to doing something that they didn’t think they could do.
As long as I help people move from a less healthy position to becoming more fit and meeting their goals, it is a win!
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