Hey TriDogz!

I wanted to blog about this race because it was really important to us here at TriDogz for a couple reasons.  First, it was a very important local race and some of us been training to show off our TriDogz Elite team.  Secondly, it was really the first race of the season I have been at, as coach and participant, and we were able to present TriDogz more publicly.  Lastly, We got a call from the Tribune Local about doing a piece on what we do here at TriDogz, and it was an incredible opportunity to tell our story, and possibly get it in print!

So, TriDogz Elite members have been training for this race throughout the winter.  We had some ups and downs in our training.  All 3 of us struggled with different things this year be it life, injury, or health.  So the 3 of us racing had something to prove.  We knew PR’s were not possible after our struggles this winter, but we were focused on hitting the goals we set for ourselves relative to our training.  All of us had a great deal of success with this, and I’m proud of our efforts!  Jon struggled with time commitments this winter, and had a couple of issues getting sick during the training process.  He was still able to finish around the 1:40 mark and pull off 14th in his AG.  Gordon killed it!  He nailed down a 10:55/mile pace for the 10k and took home the TriDogz FIRST EVER 1st place in his AG.  At 67 years old I’d say this is quite an accomplishment!!!  Congrats to Gordon!!!  For myself, I considered this my come back race.  I had a top 10 finish here back in 2012 with a 1:32:10, and have since struggled greatly with plantar fasciitis in both feet.  This year was the first year I’ve felt good enough to actual “race” a half marathon.  While it wasn’t anywhere close to a PR for me, it was a finish almost exactly where my training has led me to so far in my recovery.  I came in around 1:45.

Congrats to all of our Team TriDogz Elite members this weekend for a job well done!

This was the first race Team TriDogz was able to really debut.  We started TriDogz in the winter.  While we were still growing a small member base we were mostly in doors training.  This was the first time we got to wear our logo’s on our t-shirts proudly, and tell the endurance sports community what we do.  We met some new people here too, both on and off the race course, and we were proud to tell them what TriDogz stood for.  This was REALLY exciting for me, because my wife Anne and I really believe in what we are doing with TriDogz.  We are passionate about it.  We feel we have found a way to take things we enjoy, in endurance sports, and use them to raise money for local animal shelters.  I can’t say enough how proud I am of our members, friends, and family who have supported us in helping animals.  Anne and I were extra excited when we found out we would get a chance to talk about what we are doing with TriDogz to the local papers.  It gave us a chance to reflect on what TriDogz is, and what we stand for.  So here is what we believe TriDogs is…

TriDogz was really a number of things in the making for some time in our lives.  It’s a branch of Who Want’s to Pawty LLC, which is a Pet Sitting and Dog Training business Anne started a little more than 3 years ago.  Anne was always passionate about animals, and left a career in banking shortly after we were married 15 years ago, to pursue a career working with animals.  After a long career as a Veterinary Assistant, she decided to venture off on her own to start Who Wants To Pawty.  While Anne was still a Veterinary Assistant, I was focused on my job as an Equity Trader for a mutual fund company.  At some point I decided sitting in a desk all day was taking a toll on my health, and started getting involved in fitness.  True to my personality of jumping in to things head first, I quickly progressed from evening neighborhood bike rides, to mountain bike racing, and later to triathlons.  In pursuit of learning more about fitness and training I completed a coaching certificate, as well as other fitness certificates I gained as a requirement of my part time job as a cycle instructor at one of the large national gym chains.  It was last year, though, that the ball really got rolling.  We had adopted our 3rd dog.  There’s a whole story about another dog that I fell in love with, and I was going to rescue from a broken home, but in the end we didn’t get that dog.  So Anne started searching local rescues for another.  Our other dogs were getting so old, and we figured a puppy may perk them up.  All I remember was how sad she got while seeing how many animals needed homes just in our area.  We, eventually, found Petey and fell in love.  He is a 1 year old beagle lab mix pup.  But Petey was just the beginning of the story.  It was then we started thinking about what more we can do to help animals.  Then it all came together.  I was coaching a few friends and family, and one of our friends approached us about his charity work for a local rescue.  He asked me to think about coaching a team of runners he was putting together for benefit of the Live Again Animal Rescue.  I took that as an opportunity to start TriDogz.  What a perfect way to blend the things Anne and I are passionate about, and what a perfect opportunity to help all those animals that need homes.  So I decided to offer the rescue a free basic training plan for their race, and discounted my personal coaching rates for the runners participating in the charity event.  I then decided we could do more by starting our own Team TriDogz.  Every member who signs up is able to choose the rescue which TriDogz will donate a portion of team dues to every year.  It was very exciting to me to be able to write these checks for the charities!  We then contacted Petey’s Foster mom who now is fostering for Magnificent Mutts.  We are hoping to work more with these rescues in the future, and attract other rescues who use endurance sports to raise money for their rescues too.

So there we have it!  This weekend has been personally one of the most rewarding to me.  After all the exhaustion and stress of racing this weekend I have an incredible feeling of accomplishment, and Anne does too!  We feel we are doing something great, and leaving our impact on the local animal and endurance sports community.  Our team members and personal coaching clients are getting stronger, and we’ve been able to put together a company that gives back to local animal rescues.  We hope that others will see our passion and join us too.  We hope to help more athlete’s reach and exceed their goals, and we hope to be able to support local animal shelters more and more as we grow.