Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emily Harrison Torrence. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Emily, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
I’m an only child, and my parents spoiled me in a good way. It wasn’t in a materialistic sense, but they supported every endeavor I took on. These were also sports my mom was involved in but I always had my own path with them too. Before I was 10 years old, I started competing as a Junior Handler in dog shows which is where they judge your handling skills, not the dog itself. This required a fair amount of travel for shows which my parents always supported.
Then I was involved with band for a while and did activities outside of school hours, which my parents always drove me too.
Finally, I started running in middle school and they always came to all of my meets, even away meets. In high school, I started racing in post-season. This required out of state travel but they always made it happen to give me those opportunities and experiences.
By always being in my corner and giving me these opportunities, they raised me to be humble and grounded, and to work hard to reach your goals. Life skills that will carry you through any endeavor.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up running and competed from middle school and high school, through to a scholarship in college where I was All-American, to a professional level where I competed for Team USA on world teams.
All of my experiences evolved into coaching, which led to my husband, Ian Torrence, and I starting our coaching business, Sundog Running.
We aim to stay grassroots and to offer truly individualized coaching that fits our athletes’ lifestyles and goals. Every person is unique, so their training should be too. That is something we pride ourselves on, as well as staying true to ourselves as both runners and coaches, throughout an ever changing sport.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I met Ian, my cofounder/business partner, and now husband, while I was on a professional running team, and he was working with our team coach as an online running coach for non-professional runners of all ages and abilities. This was a side arm of our lead coach’s elite running team.
Ultimately, I moved into a coaching role underneath Ian, likewise coaching athletes of all ages and abilities. Eventually, we decided we wanted to branch out and stick to our grassroots feel of coaching, and we started our own business.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Referrals have been a great source of new clients for us. Also, continuing to stay active in the racing scene helps keep us on the radar. We also race direct some events and this is also another source of exposure for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sundogrunning.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundogrunning/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SundogRunning/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SundogRunning
Image Credits
Ian Torrence