We recently connected with Carmen T. Mendoza and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Carmen T. thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
I am the Founder and race Director for the Juneteenth Freedom Run race in Fresno, CA. I began coaching a beginner group of runners to complete their first 5K at my race in 2021. When they and others joined me again the next year, I realized there was something special there. In addition to running together, this group developed friendships and offered each other support as athletes, a name some of the trainees did not use for themselves. In 2022, I had the opportunity to become a certified Run Coach through Game Changers, a program that aims to bring in women of color as Certified Run Coaches in an effort to diversify the coaching industry. I distinctly remember writing in my Game Changers application that I did not want to coach for a fee. As long as runners registered for my Juneteenth Freedom Run race, I was happy to coach free of charge because not everyone can afford a run coach. Many people in my community are battling chronic disease and, I felt that one way I could merge the epidemiologist and coach in me would be to help my community to improve their health, one mile at a time. With that thought in mind, I launched Run 4 Health Coaching. For anyone who is looking to launch a run coaching (or any kind of business), my advice would be to do something that you are truly passionate about and how you can connect your target client to thrive in your community.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I think that I described my trajectory to run coaching in the previous question. Maybe I’ll share a little bit about how I got into running below.
I began running at age 13 to escape the domestic violence and abuse that regularly took place in my home. I used to run with my best friend, who experienced her own circumstances at home. We would literally run for hours, sharing our troubles and covering 2 to 3 cities on our route. We didn’t even know that marathons existed back then! I signed up for track in high school and realized that, if I ran fast enough, I would be invited to meets and would also be gone on weekends. So, I ran as fast as I could and got fast enough to compete with males in the 1600 and 3200 by the time I was a junior. I was the rabbit who helped girls at the State Meet break the 5 minute mile and I am proud of my 5:02 contribution way back then. Running was my therapy and I’m glad I am able to help my athletes use running for their own well-being. You never know what someone is going through.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
You have to be passionate about your business to be successful and recognize that every client is different. I can take every run certification and other related courses (higher level, gait analysis, etc.) and do well but, I can’t expect that a cookie cutter approach will work for everybody. As an adult run coach, I customize the experience for each of my athletes and meet them where they’re at. Flexibility is also part of the equation. Life, injuries, and climate happen and you have to adjust the race plans to accommodate their circumstances. Managing race expectations is challenging when there are too many changes though, but empathy carries a long way!
Have you ever had to pivot?
I was doing really well the last couple of years in my own races, being on the podium from time to time. For no particular reason, my Achilles tendon began bothering me and I took every step to heal, i.e., taking time off, getting medical care, dropping dance class, being faithful to my physical therapy plan, and returning to running slowly. It’s been nearly a year and I can’t run yet. This is extremely frustrating as an athlete but, even worse, it has kept me from coaching my athletes live. It’s been the biggest challenge I’ve had to face in ages and I had to pivot from coaching to asking 4 amazing women in my life to help me coach the 2024 Juneteenth Freedom Run group. I am truly blessed for their dedication to community!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @bolivianrunner
