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Regardless of my serious pursuits, I have always focus on being the best person I can be and to seek with dedicated focus and clarity a path to steady improvement through learning new skills and sophisticated training methods. As a youth, I participated in all four of the major sports – including even hockey – but found my passion and greatest satisfaction in competing in track and field. A key life lesson for me is to focus on ways to improve myself and not to spend too much time worrying about my competition.

I competed in track since junior high, where I was a top five miler for schools in the Colorado Springs area. Then in high school I competed in cross country and the mile and two mile events at a 5A school (the highest level), where I ran varsity all three of my years there and was captain of the cross country team my senior year. Upon graduation, I decided to walk on to the team at the University of Oklahoma, where I made the varsity teams in track and cross country. During my distance running career I was trained by three well-respected coaches as well as having access to the legendary overall OU head coach JD Martin and many of his US-class athletes.

As a businessman, I have more than three decades of research and marketing experience, spanning most financial services sectors including continuous analysis of macroeconomic trends, business strategy, financial performance and investments in technology. As a long-time director for a global Fortune 250 company, I excelled at recruiting and managing young talent as well as leading highly profitable, profile projects for senior executives, including company CEOs. I can share these experiences with young athletes in helping them seek success in all their endeavors today and in the future.

I will assist young athletes to appreciate the fact that they are competing in a sport they love while always focusing on improvement and building on their successes while learning new skills and approaches to training. I will also make sure they are understanding the importance of good nutrition, rest and mental positivity.

I would summarize their training session to typically involve the following building blocks:

• Introduce the training plan and goals for the day and to check to make sure the athlete is properly hydrated and ready to train

• To focus on proper stretching and mental preparation

• Have a short, but brisk warm-up run of 1 to 2 miles

• Execute the main training of the day which will alternate each session between focused distance runs, repetitive quarter mile semi-sprints, hill training and time trials

• Ensure they have proper cool down and hydration after the more rigorous training listed just above

Though I did not formally compete for him, I was greatly influenced by Joe I. Vigil, the world-famous track and field coach who led Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado to national prominence in the sport, competing successfully against the largest US universities. During my summer breaks from OU, I would spend the summer training in Alamosa and it was here that I met coach Vigil. He had a great influence on me and advised me on proper ways to train long distances even though I was not his athlete. He always shared his great track wisdom and experience with anyone passionate about the sport. In the summers in Alamosa, I also had the great opportunity to train with the late, great Pat Porter, an eight-time national champion in cross country and two-time Olympian in the 10,000 meters. Pat was a shining example of what it took to be a champion: daily dedication, great confidence in one’s self though mixed with great humility, and possessing a long-term plan for success which was instilled in him by coach Vigil, for whom he ran for while at Adams State.

Like I did in mentoring younger executives in my business career, I will focus on building the confidence and skills of my young, but ambitious athletes. I will focus them on achieving improvement and skill building on a daily basis, but will also make sure they see the big picture in achieving their long-term goals, both in track but even in life. I personally found having proper perspective is an important ingredient in succeeding in whatever one is passionate about over time.