#316: Pablo Espitia-University of Maine

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
You're listening to the Gil Athletics Connections podcast
with host Mike Cunningham. Track and field world UNL tuned
in to our humble servant Mike Cunningham for another
extraordinary message for Gil Athletics Connections.

(00:23):
All right, you're back here on the Gil Athletics Connection
podcast, man, I'm just so pumpedfor you guys to be here every
week. We're kind of probably in the
summer at this point when you'relistening to this.
So the the season is over. I say that with air quotes
because it's track season ever over, right, in regards to
collegiate season. And then you've got all the high
school national meets. I'll be at the Nike outdoor
national meet in in Eugene. And then of course we've got,

(00:45):
you know, US championships worldchampion.
I mean it just Diamond League Grand Slam track.
Can't forget about those guys and what they're doing over
there as well. So just pump man, track season
should be 365, right? That's that's the way it should
be. And so Speaking of this is a
terrible transition. Speaking of 365, I don't know
what that has to do with Maine, but that's where we're going
today. We're going to head up to the

(01:06):
University of Maine, which I've been there one time and maybe
it'll come up in our conversation today.
Help me welcome from the University of Maine the bears,
if I remember correctly, the wise, the wonderful Mr. Pablo
Espitia. There you go.
Yeah, that. That's perfect.
I, I told Pablo I was going to just, you know, you guys have
listened to the show. I obliterate every last name for

(01:27):
some reason, and so I I do work on it, though I told them I was
still going to mess it up, but I, I did OK, yeah.
Yeah, that looks pretty good all.
Right, just in the podcast rightthere, it's a success.
We're good, Pablo, man. Thanks for being here today.
No, thanks for having me. I'm, I appreciate the invite and
I'm a follower of your podcast. So I, I, I was pretty happy when

(01:47):
I got the e-mail to be in it. So.
Oh, thank you, man. You know everybody who says
that, I put them on the spot a little bit.
What's been your favorite episode?
Who's been your favorite Favorite person to listen to?
Not surprised, but I've heard orI've listened to booze a few
times and I've I've gone through, I think I've gone

(02:10):
through most of the coaches thathave a similar background or
track background to me. So to see how it like their
careers played out because that that's I, I like your podcast.
Like you say, it's not about track, how how we do track, but
it's more like how we got here and how our curious played out.

(02:30):
So I, I really like doing that. But but booze is 1.
I know he's one and and I, I always forget his name.
That's embarrassing. But the sprints coach at
Harvard? Oh, Cava, yeah.
Listen to him a few times soon. Good, good.
Good. Yeah, well, you know, there is a
reason why booze episode is our number one most listened to
podcast, but by a little bit of a factor, by the way, and it

(02:53):
should be I I heard you say you actually listen to it a couple
times and I agree with that. Like, you know what, Boo, the
Nuggets he dropped during that episode.
Like it might not be too hyperbolic hyperbolic to say
that every coach it should be required listening because just
the way he talks about careers beyond his career, which was

(03:14):
amazing, by the way, he started as a high school defensive
coordinator for football, for crying out loud.
It's just, he just dropped so many just coaching life lessons
that I'm like, oh man, guys, gals, you got to, you got to
listen to them. And of course cable, what a, you
know what, he's an OG, right? So he was episode like #4 or
five or something like that. And I think he was our first two
parter because we actually couldn't even get it done the

(03:35):
first on the first time. And he's been in several
different bonus episodes and stuff like that.
Just what a great leader, servant leader for us, always
teaching and helping other coaches and has definitely been
a helpful in my coaching career back in the day as well.
So those are good ones, Man, I appreciate that put you on the
spot. I know I didn't even tell you I
was going to do that, but but I'd like to know that because I
like for other people to hear, you know, we're in episode 300

(03:57):
and something, you know, this isprobably three 17318 or
something like that. And it's amazing.
I can't wait till you know the person.
We're going to have an episode 400 and 600 and 1000.
But every time we move forward, my fear is that we're losing the
guests we've had in the past, and there are so many.
You know, you mentioned Boo and Cava and Diljit.
I think she's #2 on the all timelist.

(04:20):
Carol Smith, Gilbert, Tony Holler, who just recently
announced his retirement as a head coach.
I bet he's still going to coach as an assistant coach, but just
so many high school, college, professional club coaches around
the country and just I just wantto always express to people that
are listening and I'm so grateful that you listen that
there's such stuff. If you're on episode 300, that

(04:41):
means there are 299 other amazing stories for you to hear.
Now my challenge to you, Pablo, and I know you didn't expect to
be challenged and put on the spot.
You said you you like to listen to coaches who maybe have a
similar vain to what you you, I'm going to challenge you to go
find someone you think you have no one in common with.
Honestly, whether it's a high school coach, we've got a middle

(05:02):
school coach on before whatever a distance coach, go find
someone that you're like, I haveno clue who this is what they
do, how they get here. What do you mean you coach at
XYZ college proud? I don't know whatever.
And listen to them because I, I think there is value in hearing
counterpoints to how you did, how we're going to learn about
how you got to where you are. I think there's value in in

(05:23):
seeing those different paths as well.
For sure. Yeah, yeah, you.
Didn't know you're getting homework today.
That's right. Exactly.
All right, Pablo, let's hop backinto our Wayback Machine.
Let's start with you, my friend.My first question for everybody,
it's kind of been a universal question from pretty much from
day one, assuming you were a track athlete.
That's not necessarily true for everybody, that's for sure.
Where does track and field beginfor you?

(05:48):
It's quite long, I would say. I think the first introduction
to track that I had was I think maybe like grade third, like
second grade maybe or something.I, I was one of those kids that
like couldn't stay still. Like I was pretty.
I didn't grow up in the state. I'm Colombian originally, so it

(06:10):
was a different environment and I was always outside and
climbing days of coming down. My parents were, they did well
and I, I really appreciate the fact that they handle all my
energy and stuff. I remember I had like a race
when I was a kid and then I was being like, I was kind of the
athletic kid in the team, in theclassroom and stuff.

(06:31):
And I would say by fifth grade, there was a teacher that wanted
to create like a small track team for, for the school and he
reached out and I was like, alright, cool.
Like I mean like what? I don't know, 4th, 5th grade.
So it's like, yeah. So I think that was my first
introduction. I think I run maybe like a like
an outdoor sexy cuz we're have indoor over there and maybe did

(06:55):
long jump. I would say my mom also did
track when she was younger, but myself, I think that was the
main. And later on when I moved to the
States, I did high school track and and college.
Yeah, so. So when did you move to the
States? We moved to 22,008.
I was 13 at the time. So 8th grade, 9th grade, right

(07:17):
around there. 7th. Grade yeah, I think I.
Finished 7th grade here and theneighth, yeah.
So before you move to the States, and we'll get to that
here in a second, I'm always interest.
I love when I get guests who grew up in other countries,
right? Because they're just so not only
a lot of different cultures you mentioned about, you know, being
outside things like that, but also different cultures to how

(07:38):
track and field is viewed, right?
I mean, you've been here long enough.
You now know how track and fieldis viewed here in the States,
right? It's football, baseball,
basketball, maybe, you know, pickleball and then trash,
right. You know, we're just not at this
point where we used to be. Maybe back in the day.
What is your memory kind of growing up through 7th grade of

(07:59):
the respect of track and field? You said Columbia.
So I immediately, and this may just be terrible on my part.
I immediately thought soccer. I don't know, but just what I
did. But where does track and field
sit like in the like, Oh, you'rea track star.
Wow, but you're a big deal. Or like, cool.
You're Noah Lyles big, you know.Sorry, Noah, I love you.
I so I think it fluctuates depending on I guess where,

(08:21):
where the sport's at. But back then I don't really
remember hearing a lot of track growing up.
I, I knew I heard of it because my mom always said she did it
and she was like kind of a multiathlete.
She didn't really do multi because she's like women
couldn't do a lot of yeah, especially in smaller countries.
I would say. So I heard that.

(08:42):
But growing up, I don't really hear a lot of like track talk or
or sports or like in the news oranything.
And we are a soccer. Soccer, right?
Yeah. Main main sport is going to be
soccer. There was a time where boxing
was a big thing. It wasn't until maybe like the
early 2010 and 2011 when we had like the world champion in the,

(09:07):
an Olympic champion in the triple jump for the one man.
So she became like like the mostpopular athlete and.
Clumsy. Is that right?
Yeah. I mean, she's, she's a legend
down there and like, I mean, shedeserves it honestly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think because of her and
because of that time period, there's a lot more track talking
in the country and there's a lotmore investments in that, in

(09:30):
that sport. I would say a lot more.
I'm also, I've gone back since I've been an athlete and coach
and have met more coaches and athletes.
So I kind of know the sport moreas a grown up and kind of know
how it actually works on there. So now I see it in a different
view. But I think because of her,

(09:51):
there was a point in time where everyone, like everyone knew who
she was. And I mean, she's like 6 feet
tall. Like she makes a presence
everywhere, everywhere she goes and competes.
And like, so everyone knew her face and it was, it was really
nice to have that because I think she made the sport a lot
more visible in the country. And, and after that we've had

(10:12):
like 10K walk or race walk champions and, and Olympic
champions. So that's another kind of area
where, yeah, it's pretty successful.
It's, it's interesting because you know, we hear about
countries like Colombia and other countries that where like
they're, you know, if they get an Olympic champ, you know,
they, they buy that person a house and you know, they get a

(10:34):
huge stipend and all that stuff.And you know, Americans will,
you know, grumble and be like, our people don't get anything,
blah, blah. And it's like, you know, in
America, because we are so successful in track and field,
that's not a a brag. I think that's just truth,
right? We've got a lot of success.
There's just so many. Like it's like, you know, I'm
not taking away what, you know, our last gold medalist in the

(10:54):
100 or the 110 hurdles did. But it's like, yeah, we've had
twenty of those guys and gals, you know, and it doesn't
diminish it. It's just like how how would the
government specifically or how would USATF even do that?
Like how do you buy a house for every goal?
You know, those kind of examplesand I think it just all kind of
Harkins back to, you know, winning is hard.

(11:14):
And even in a country where, youknow, we we grouse about track
being so low, you know, made thejoke about it being under
pickleball. But it is still such a big sport
here that we do have a lot of people who participated in it.
You know, it's the number one most participated sport in high
school and college. When you combine women and men
together that we produce a lot of champions.
We have a lot of great coaches. Columbia has a lot of people.
There's a lot of population downthere, but it may be just, you

(11:40):
know, it sits behind soccer and maybe boxing at one point and
maybe, maybe cricket. Is cricket big in Colombia?
No. No, it's.
It's close, but not so. So we just, and maybe there,
there probably what it really is, most Colombians probably
don't have access to track and field to do it.
And so when you do get an Olympic champion, it's like,

(12:02):
holy cow, we're all in. And in America, we have, you
know, American football, baseball, basketball.
So we already have like these, you know, giants amongst us of
LeBron James, Tom Brady's, etcetera.
So I don't know what all that rambling was just I would love
for our people to make good houses as well, but just knowing
that winning is hard and so our people do a great job there.
OK, so you moved to the States around 7th grade.

(12:25):
Talk to me about let's go into high school, assuming you did
track in high school and maybe other sports, What was, was
there any kind of eye opener to you of like, wow, sports in
America is different or was it just kind of it was all the same
to you? No, it was and this kind of
links to what we were just talking about.
It's that the US, the US has so many people doing the sport and

(12:48):
not just track with every other sport.
Is that since high school and even some middle school, there's
a system of like schools and high schools have teams and they
have coaches and they might not provide shoes or everything, but
they provide travel and, and, and uniforms and stuff.
Whereas most countries and, and Colombia, I guess my, it works

(13:10):
by clubs. So high schools don't really
have teams. You have to go, you have to do
it or you have to have the energy, the determination to
join a club and, and put your time and effort and do all that.
Whereas there, there's, it's so much easier for people here to
just, oh, I'm going to do track in high school and there's going
to be 20 high schools in every state or more and, and competing

(13:31):
with each other. So that's the biggest change.
When I got here, I, I think I joined my freshman year and I
had already one of my like some of my cousins and, and sister
friend, she was doing track already.
And I was like, all right, like I've done this.
Like I've joined and I saw like,I mean, my high school, it's the

(13:55):
biggest high school in Miami-Dade County.
And I think at that time the coach had like 200 people in the
team. Lee what?
What school? Johnny Ferguson Senior High
School. Yeah, holy cow.
Yeah, so that. 'D be more like Trek kids than
you had ever seen in your life. If you like, wait.
But it's like, is this 20 different teams?
What's going on? Here.

(14:16):
Yeah. So when I joined, I was like, oh
wow, this is like a lot of people.
And as a freshman and I was I was probably like 5 foot 5 at
that time or, or shorter and like super thin and I didn't
really stand out. I was like, I don't see it.
Clammed up a little bit, got bigger, got better and stuff.

(14:37):
But but yeah, it was such a hugejump.
That's like, oh wait, there's somany people doing that in just.
School. And then you get to see how
everything else is working like I get it now.
How did this is interesting. So we've had coaches and this is
what is amazing to me, our high school coaches here in the
States, like I like to bust myths.

(14:58):
And we talked to the several times, you know, there's a myth
that, you know, high school coaches can't coach in college
And the number one black mark against them is they don't know
how to recruit. And it's like, dude, if you talk
to high school coaches, that's all they do that they're always
in the hallway. So like your coach there,
Ferguson, to get 200 kids, you're not just opening the gate
and 200 kids walk in to do track.

(15:20):
You're hustling and bustling thehallways, your classes, your PE
classes, people that get cut from other sports, etcetera.
So we've had those coaches on before that have had 200 plus
kids, which just a mate. I mean, I can't imagine 200 plus
high school kids. So here, let's reverse this.
You're one of those kids. How did you think about your

(15:40):
experience? Did you go all four years there?
Yeah, So think about your experience there for four years.
I assume all four years you had roughly 200 that didn't just
drop off one year. How did you you mentioned you
didn't stand out because you're kind of a, you know, like most
freshman, a little freshman, buthow did you stand out?
And I don't mean like how did you stand out like like, oh, I
became better in my event, but like, how did you make

(16:02):
connection with with coach? How did you the culture of
whatever event group you ended up going to still had to be?
I mean, probably every event group was close to 50.
If I had 50 throwers, 50 distance runners, 50 sprinters,
hurdlers, How did you like the culture of of that?
Like that seems hard. Like how did you keep yourself
from being just a number, just being #199?

(16:25):
That's a tough one, so. Yeah.
And maybe how and maybe how did coach handle that as well?
And maybe not good, maybe maybe that.
Yeah. So at that time I would, I think
we had the head coach, Ryan Raposo, and he had an assistant
coach doing the throws and that was it.
It was two people handling 200 athletes and the throws coach

(16:47):
only had the throwers. So, but I, I didn't really so
back then I don't have an accentnow.
I probably didn't have that muchof an accent back then, but I
was very self-conscious of that.I was like, I don't wanna you're
in high school. You're like, I mean, there's so
many things going on in your head.
So I was very quiet in high school.

(17:07):
I just kind of went through. I think the, the, the biggest
thing that made me stand out with my coach is that I like the
sport. And I was one of them that like
practice started after school at3:00 PM and I would leave at
like 637. Like I was one of the last few
people in the track. And so I would guess some of

(17:28):
like the coach had a little bit more time towards the end cuz
there's those people and he would show up and, and guide
some like some of my practice. So I would, I really just worked
my I worked so much throughout high school and I mean, I still
I was one of those. I came in on time and just
stayed until I really couldn't do it anymore and just went

(17:48):
home. But I wasn't want to be really
out there and trying to. I was just quiet and doing my
thing and I just, yeah, I just worked.
You're like the the quiet assassin, like I'm always
around. You ain't gonna hear from me,
but I'm around. How did you So what switched for
you in regards to track and field?
Because I didn't necessarily hear you're talking about you're
you know, you're there at 3:00. You're you're what do they say

(18:10):
closing the gate? You're, you know, leaving at
6:30. You're very, I mean, that's
obviously dedication. There's other things in your
life you could have been doing. So you obviously, you know, had
a love maybe at that point for the track, for the track and
field sport. But I didn't hear that in 3rd,
4th, 5th grade. Like I didn't hear you say like,
Oh yeah, I remember 3rd grade, Idid my first race and fell in
love because I love to compete. Where did that kind of switch

(18:32):
happen of like, oh, this is my sport?
I think it's one when I was herein high school when I did, I did
my first year and I noticed likethere was one time in that first
season that I was like, I don't know if this is for me.

(18:52):
Like we were doing, mind you, it's 200 athletes.
So you're doing a lot of work that maybe it's not for you.
And like you're doing a lot of like finding out what event you
like and you're doing metal distance sprints, maybe some
distance runner at some point. And there was a time that I, I
was like, this is so this is painful.
Like I don't know if I really want to do this.

(19:15):
I kind of stuck with it. When I started doing jumps.
I became more of like a volter, triple jumper, long jumper kind
of athey and it started showing OK.
I'm a little bit better at this than the 800 or whatever the
event I was kind of we were working on.

(19:35):
Mind you, I still, we still did a bunch cuz I think he trained
everyone to see for a four by 444 by 1, whatever like he
needed. And I ended up being that
athlete that kind of did everything in the team.
But I think that first year it clicked that I started doing
better in those in those jumpingevents And, and I also got a

(19:56):
little bit more like this is kind of a, a community that I
like. I like hanging out with other
athletes and. Going from school to doing
something afterwards and I've never been to one.
I've never even want to be outside or outside with people
of groups are going hanging out outside.
I've it's either school or home.And I I did track.
So that's that was kind of like the in between.

(20:18):
So I think it was just me realizing I really enjoyed the
jumping events and I'm starting to get a hang of them And and I
also like the people that I'm that I'm around with did.
You say there were only two coaches, a throws coach, so he
or she had let's just let's justeasy numbers, let's just say 50.
And so that means there's 150 other kids that one coach was

(20:39):
overseeing 150 kids. Yeah, I might be remembering
that wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm sure.
But but large numbers. Yeah, it was large.
How do you, Yeah, how do you remember?
Because I'm just thinking like, you know, to get 200 kids, to
get 100 kids out to attract team, they have to be attracted

(21:00):
to something again, kids even. What year is that?
What year did you graduate high school?
2013. So for sure in 2013 and 20 tens
and stuff, kids have a lot of choices, you know what I'm
saying? Like other sports, other
activities, cell phone, video game, I mean, staying home and
studying. I mean, there's just a million

(21:21):
things those 200 kids been doing, but they were attracted
to the team for some reason, right?
And some of it's, you know, typically sometimes it's
winning, you know, it's a winning culture, but also it's
typically I'd say my experience is that kids are attracted to
like, Oh, I feel wanted here. Like I feel like somebody here
versus being the the 4th runningback that never plays.

(21:44):
I'm just on the John Brown team.You know, I like I get to do
something and people like, like when I improve, even if I'm not
winning IPR, like my coach says something to me positive.
How did coach from your recollection, how did coach like
connect with that many people? Like, I just don't understand
how you could even like, coach jumpers while also trying to

(22:05):
coach hurdlers while trying to, you know, in a high school
setting in this number of kids. So I'll give you that.
I I'm and I'm still good friendswith him and I talked to him and
he's a mentor, a friend and a coach and all for me.
So he he did a really good job in the sense that like he had a
lot of structure in the team when when we were there.

(22:29):
Yeah. He, he's a really smart guy.
He's got a good memory. So he, he was one of those that
like, remember everyone's names and like, Oh yeah, he would, he
could remember. Yeah, he remembers everyone's
names. And, and I think that's one
thing that athletes appreciate, especially like younger athletes

(22:49):
too, Like one of your 200 peopleand he calls you out by your
name when you're like, oh, I didn't, I didn't think he knew
who I was. And then he also with numbers
and everything, he's great. So he, he remembers times and
stuff and like what you got to do and stuff.
And it could be like the fastestor the slowest.
And he always kind of celebratedthat with the athletes.

(23:09):
So I think that really helped out for sure.
Besides just the structure like he used to.
It was 3:00 PM and he was already calling names who was
here, who was not. He would gather everyone and
then I. Mean roll call had to take 30
minutes. Yeah, I mean, he was calling
names like everyone get up and make a line.
Then once he was done, we were warming up and he kind of like

(23:31):
it was very structure and it, I mean, he helped because it's 200
people for one athlete for one coach.
And then he was a big distance coach at that time.
So that group was a little bigger.
And it's easier for you for him to send them away.
Hey, do this. And then he would have time with
hurdlers, jumpers, whatever other event he had.
So. Yeah.

(23:52):
That's amazing. Yeah.
I mean it really it shows the power of someones name.
I try hard when we're at restaurants or something if they
have like a name tag when they come up and ask you to order
like thanks Susie, just they gotthe name tag there for a reason.
But you'd be maybe you wouldn't be surprised at how many
people's faces light up when youjust say thank you with their

(24:15):
name. You know, they're used to being
told. I hope they're being they're
used to being told thank you. We should be doing that more
often. But when you say someone's name,
that's powerful. And so when you think about 14
to 18 year old kids, to your point about like, you know, you
had a lot of things going on, right.
You're you're coming from another country.
You probably did have an accent.I used to have an accent as
well. And I go, I didn't have an
accent. Yeah, I totally had an accent.

(24:36):
You had an accent. And, you know, as a high school,
you're always trying to, it's sofunny.
You're trying. You're not ever trying to stick
out, but you're always trying tobe part of a group that sticks
out. You know, it's just it's what a
terrible time to be a high schooler or, you know, being a
teenager, it's just a terrible part of life.
Well, that's cool, man. I love that.
And I'd love that your coach hada great experience on a tough

(24:57):
situation. I mean, that's just that's
amazing to me. There are coaches like him that
are doing that day in and day out where they've got 100 plus
kids and they are doing their best.
And I think structure is extremely important.
That was a keyword I think you said there.
And I think kids crave structure.
They're never going to tell you that.
I think they crave structure. So that's probably what it
attracted people out. It's like, oh man, we get stuff
done and he knows me by name andthat's, that's pretty cool.

(25:20):
That's pretty cool. As you go into your senior year,
what are you thinking about college?
What are you, what are you thinking about that next step?
How did that go? So that's, I didn't think about
until like my senior year high school.
And so I, the US has a completely different like

(25:40):
college culture than most countries.
I would say, OK, I think here people go to the school and
there's like a, there's almost like a fan base to the school,
right? There's sure there's people that
love UF, There's people that even if they don't go to the
school, they're like UN fans, they're Michigan fans, they're
whatever other fans. Troy University fan, Yeah.

(26:03):
We don't have that back home or and I'm sure other countries
don't have that either. It's just people go to school
because their academics are goodor, or, or that's just where
it's one of the better schools for whatever it is like.
And because their sports system,it's also not as well set up as
here. There's no like big athletic

(26:25):
teams or, or culture and those in universities back home.
So like, I never heard people say like, Oh, I'm going to go to
this school because this isn't like, oh, I want to be a
whatever, like or anything really down there where I
serious like I want to be a black bear, I want to be a
Gator. I want to do this.
And I my senior year at that time, I was one of the last ones

(26:48):
to graduate high school from my family.
So my sister had gone to FIU down in Miami, as in all my
cousins went to FIU down in Miami.
So I was like, I'm just going togo to FIU.
Like I, I didn't have my, at that time, my brain wasn't
exposed to being like, wait, I could reach out to the coach,

(27:11):
other countries, other state, other universities and see if I
can get in or what if they even want me.
And I was just like, I'm just going to go to FIU.
And I got reached out by one of the coaches because FIU doesn't
have a track and they used to sometimes borrow our facilities
or high school practice. So they knew, they knew who I
was. And they, we were talking and I

(27:33):
was like, OK, he's talking to me.
He, he tells me I'll have a spoton the team.
And so I just kind of went with that.
I applied to 1 school, one school only.
And yeah, I, I ended up going toFIU my 4, my four years so.
So there was a culture in your family of going to school, going
to college and, and, and that culture was we go to FIU.

(27:55):
So you're like, cool, I guess I'm going to FIU.
It's like, yeah, my family, I think like most Colombian
families here, it's, it's kind of a given.
There's not like you get, it's not a choice.
It's it's pretty much like you're going to be in school
period. And yeah, yeah, there was no

(28:16):
questions or there wasn't a point where my family ever told
me like, are you planning on going?
It's like, no, it was. It's like.
Where do you plan on going and where do you plan on going and
why is it FIU? Yeah, so like, and because all
my cousins went there, it was right.
Like it was maybe 20 minutes away from where I lived.
I, I, I just applied and I got hit, I got in and I, I, I love

(28:37):
my time there. I, I'm really grateful to, to,
to the team, coaches and everyone.
Yeah. I think it was either FIU or
FAU, one of our conference when I coached at Troy University, it
was the TAC conference. I mean it was a long time ago
TAAC conference. I don't even know if it's around
anymore, but I think I think it was our first championship was

(28:58):
it was either FII think it was FAU, maybe that's where we were
at, which is a little more north, if I remember correctly
from FIU. But the, but both of them were
in our conferences, FIU and FAU.So I know, I know them well,
yeah. So as you're exploring FIU,
you're you're really stretching this recruiting aspect of what
school you're going to go to. You're going to go to FIU.

(29:21):
What were you thinking about becoming, you know, when you
grow up, when as you go into, you know, you're starting to
pick a major and things like that.
What did you think as an 18 yearold, like, oh, I'm going to go
become a a doctor, a business owner?
I at that time, I don't think I had a, a lot of, I grew up
wanting to be a veterinarian forthe longest time.

(29:41):
And the high school I went to had a, a vet program that you
would kind of go through a program and get a almost like a
tech or a vet tech degree that you can work.
And I did the program and the first time they had me like draw
blood for some front of dog. I was like, Nope, I'm, I'm not

(30:01):
doing this. I'm leave me out.
I'm not going to. Do it.
Was it the blood or was it the act of a needle?
What? What was?
It it was the act of like takingblood.
I don't, I don't mind blood, butthe whole I couldn't do it.
And then after that I switched, I think I finished it cuz I was

(30:21):
like already on my third year. I was like, wow, I'm just gonna
finish. Yeah, yeah.
And I ended up going to school. I, I applied my first year for
environmental science. So I, I got into the
environmental science program atFIU and I did that for my 4
year, my all four years. And I also added a a second

(30:46):
degree in geography. Wow.
OK, So what were you thinking? Like you're studying this.
You're, you know, you said you went all through four years.
So what were you thinking like you were going to become?
I don't know what is, what is anenvironmental and geography,
What? I don't know what they do.
Yeah. I mean, it's so broad and I
think I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a big nature and sustainability and an

(31:09):
animal person and conservation and all the, all the yeah, yeah,
yeah, that come with that. And I think at that time I was,
I really wanted to be like a notquite a scientist, but I really
wanted to work with like conservation and protecting
forests and animals. And I, I was really, I'm still,
I still really like apes and monkeys and stuff.

(31:31):
And I was thinking I was going to go and like protect animals
or something and, and plants andstuff.
Well. You know what I have to ask you
then since you just said not only animals and stuff and apes
and monkeys. So what's your opinion?
100 average males versus 1 silverback.
Who wins? Oh, it's going to be the hundred
guy, the 100 males. You think so?

(31:52):
Yeah. Yeah, 100%.
Like I've I've heard both by thetime you guys are actually
listening to this, this is this meme is probably way past.
It's it's probably past now whenwe're recording it, but I'm
going to ask it anyway. Maybe I'll pick, maybe I'll be
the guy who flames this meme back up.
But I've heard both ways becauseI thought the 100, my son who
who's a 8th grader, asked me thesame question.
I was like, yeah, I think the 100 humans and I was like, but I

(32:14):
don't want to be like one of the1st 10 or 20 going at it.
You know, the 1st 10 or 20 are just destroyed.
They're they're not going to make it.
I was like, but after, you know,304050607080 dudes, just I was
like, we can just smother the silver bag, right?
Just 80 bodies on top of his head, you know, but then I just
look at a silver bag and like, dude, that guy could RIP my arm
out, like literally just RIP my arm off my body.

(32:37):
And so but you so you think the 100 humans, huh?
Yeah, I mean, and I again, I still follow and stuff like
that, but they're like 500 lbs or something.
Yeah. And they can match 10 humans in
strength, right? So yeah, like the first, like I
would say like the first 30 humans are.
Gonna be toast, yeah. But after that, like imagine all

(33:00):
the energy that I mean, it's still a a human being.
And it had like a. No, I get it.
Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point.
Like. Energy.
Yeah, he's gonna get depleted and at the time the 60th man
comes around, he's going to be just swinging, trying to like,
mess up. Yeah, I think he'll.
Get that's a good point, the fatigue factor.
That's right. That's right.
Yeah. I want to be #100 so that, you

(33:22):
know, the gorillas are defeated and I just stand on top.
I was part of the 100 maybe. All right, good, good.
So I'm not hearing as you go through college, you study
environmental science and you study geography.
I'm not hearing like, Oh yeah, I'm going to become a track
coach. I'm not hearing.
Is is coaching at all in your mind as through your undergrad?

(33:45):
It wasn't really the first few years.
I've never, if you looked at me in high school when even
college, I was never one of those athletes that cuz there's
always an athlete or a few athletes in the team that are
always willing to help other athletes and they're like, hey,
do this. Hey, don't do that.
And I don't know. I just never had that within me

(34:08):
that I was like, I thought I wasmaybe stepping out of or
stepping on somebody's toes if Idid that or like I'm like, well,
the coach is there like he can tell that more.
So I never did that in in high school or college.
I was, I was never the one to tell anybody what to do.
And then my junior year came by and I started liking track more
as a OK like this. I think 20.

(34:32):
Yeah, my junior year I went downto Columbia for U23 nationals
and it was my first time like actually competing there as a
like as an adult. And I got to see different
things and experienced a lot, a whole different Track World than
the US And it really, it stuck with me.

(34:53):
I'm like, this is, this is kind of fun.
Like track as a even if I'm not competing, it seems fun to like
travel and coach and, and, and do the whole thing.
And it, yeah, it was my junior year where I started.
Maybe like coaching might be, might be something that I want
to do. And then I started bringing that
up a little bit more my senior year.
Again, I wasn't coaching anybodyat that time or telling anybody

(35:17):
what to do, but I, I voiced it towards my, or voiced it to my
coaches a little bit more and, and someone kind of heard it and
it also stuck with them. So that that I guess that's how
I, I started. But but yeah, it wasn't until
probably my junior senior year that I was like, maybe I want to

(35:38):
go towards track as a, as a career, whether it is like put
cuz you're always, I mean, if you're at a, if you're in a
level that you're like, maybe I can go pro because every track
athlete thinks they can go pro. And I was, I was like, and I'm
also Colombian, so it's easier to maybe represent Colombia at

(36:00):
some level, that's for sure. Yeah, I was at Decathleen
College and I was like, maybe I can go a couple more years of
training and, and see if I can go to like a, a world meet or
even an Olympic meet. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Columbia and stuff. By my senior year, I think I was
like, I don't know. I don't know if my body really
wants to do this for four more years.

(36:22):
So I, I obviously I, I ended up,I ended up not doing any, but
that's where I, I, I told some of my coaches briefly kind of
just talking that I wanted to doit.
And yeah. And they heard it.
So. Yeah.
As you're your mind, is it it it's very common what we're
hearing here on the podcast thattypically the decision or

(36:45):
thought process to become a coach is not like a light switch
where it just clicks on like 01 day you woke up was like, Oh my
God, yeah, I want to be a coach.It's more of like that slider
button, you know, the light. And so as your slider buttons
kind of going up a little bit, it was it was 0, right?
Just kind of starting and it's like, oh, you know, this is kind
of cool and it kind of moves up.You you already said that you
didn't like start like then helping her.

(37:07):
I don't want to say you didn't help because you're elite.
Nobody who becomes a coach was isn't a leader.
So you weren't not leading, but so you weren't not helping, but
you, your intention wasn't like,oh hey, man, you know what's
helped me in this event? Try, you know, whatever, blah,
blah, blah, blah, right? So you're not doing that.
But do you notice yourself now that you got perspective looking
back? Did you notice yourself?

(37:29):
I don't want to say paying attention to the coaches more,
but maybe being more curious about the workout.
So like, I wonder why we did that today in this yesterday or
what did you as the you know what I'm saying?
Because that's what you deal with today as a coach, right?
You're always thinking about howyou prescribe the workouts.
Did you start thinking about more about the workouts in that
tune or were you still just like, all right, coaches go do

(37:49):
this, I go do this. I think it's both ways because
again, like if I through high through college, I had many
coaches and then towards my lasttwo years it was a little bit
more consistent. And if they told me to do
something, I, I did it. I wasn't going to be a what are

(38:09):
we doing this? I'm I'm not going to do this.
I, I was like, all right, if it was completely like, all right,
this is a little crazy. Maybe I would question some
things, but but usually things made sense and I just did them
because my coach told me to do it.
But my last year I had two coaches that I jumped around
with like I was, I was a decathlete.

(38:30):
So one of them kind of coached me in the jumps on other things.
And then my primary coach was the sprint's coach.
So I trained with her for the 110, the 100, the four and all
that. And I really liked the way she
trained and also the way like the way she coached people.
So I started, I, I learned a lotthat year and I started kind of

(38:53):
just like looking at her more and like what she did.
And yeah, it was a very drastic change of, of training from the
previous years or not drastic, but it was a change.
And I noticed that. And I'm like, OK, like why did
we do this instead of what we'vebeen doing?
And like kind of just learning what she did and a lot of her

(39:14):
training or her philosophy and the way she looks is I, I coach
that way now. So but yeah, I start.
I learned a lot that year. So you started paying attention
to styles. Yeah, maybe not the individual
workouts, but like, oh, I, I like how she treats our group or
how how she gives us the workouts in advance or whatever.

(39:34):
You know her style more than like the specific of the XS and
OS of how she coaches 100 or oneto ends or what not.
Yeah, yeah, OK, that's a that's a great start.
Absolutely. That's important.
It, it was a lot of like lookingat what she did and how she did
it cuz at the end of the day, like workouts are just like

(39:54):
words on paper. And you can switch that however,
whatever time of year, whatever athlete it is and whatever
you're really trying to get to. So, but it's the way you kind of
present those workouts, the way you maybe play around with them
and like, so yeah, that's that. I learned a lot from them and
then from the, from the other coaches too.
I mean the other coaches, they did the throws.

(40:15):
So I learned a lot from them, the head coach and then.
My other coach was a jumps and Ilearned from her.
I think that's an important partof learning how to become a
coach. We're learning more.
We've been exploring this for the past couple months now, that
maybe in coaching, the actual X's and O's are the easy part.

(40:35):
And it's funny because we put somuch emphasis on that, right?
Every coaching education, 80, maybe 70% of all track clinics.
It's all about XS and OS, what kind of long jump workout, what
kind of shot put workout and things like that.
And in reality, we're learning that, you know, it's all the
other things. And what you're describing with
styles is, is kind of culture. You know, like I, I could give

(40:55):
the same week of workout of weekweek, the same week of workouts.
There we go to a a sprinter and do it in 100 different ways.
I could literally just print it on paper and say, all right,
show up on Monday. You see what we're going to do.
I could talk to them about, Hey,here's what I'm looking for in
today's workout. I could yell it.
I could be like, hey, today we're doing the and you're going

(41:16):
to shut up. You're going to do, you know,
there's a lot of different ways to do the same workout, a lot of
different ways to present the same workout.
And so you're learning style andthat's extremely important
because you got to start creating your own style as a
coach as well. That's cool.
I love that. Especially, I mean, like I said,
I have so many coaches to like have influence of the way I
coached. Yeah.

(41:36):
So yeah, that's definitely I think the most important thing
because anybody can learn how to, how to set up a plan.
I think so. I think so, yeah.
Yeah. It's interesting.
We had David Self from Sam Houston State.
I think this is it was his storywhere he had a different coach
every year for all four years. And.
And I was like, oh, I was like, well that like, do you ever wish

(41:59):
you had the same coach? You know, and, and I think most
athletes, kids, coaches would say, yeah, they, you know,
that's probably the preference of he said, but I got to see
four different styles. He's like, so when I became a
coach, I got to, you know, pick.I really liked what he did.
Oh, I really like how she did this.
Oh, I like how she did that. Oh, this person over here did.

(42:19):
And he's like, it helped me kindof move towards my style.
And I was like, man, I, it feels, it feels icky to say,
well, I wish every kid had four different coaches, you know, but
it's like, oh, OK, there is benefit to both.
I, I think to that you, you can have a positive benefit to both,
whether you have one coach all four years or, you know,
multiple coaches through your career.

(42:39):
OK, so you graduate from a greatuniversity with a really cool
degree, even added geography into that thing for some reason.
Where do we go from, you know, spoiler alert, you end up a
track coach. So what do you do after you're
in these degrees? What's the first thing?
So I graduated what, 2017 I believe I I started working so I

(43:01):
applied for at that time I was already set up and like, OK, I
want to coach and I applied to abunch of like different jobs
and. Did you hold on one second?
Did your family, you know, some of this is maybe a little
stereotypes as well, Pablo. So correct me where I'm wrong,
but I feel you. I heard you say about, you know,

(43:23):
in my family and in families from Columbia, like you're going
to school. It's not are you?
It's where are you? You're going, right?
You go and get these really cool.
I mean, you know, someone tells me they got an environmental
science degree. I'm like, oh, that that couldn't
have been easy, right? And you go geography with it
can't be easy, right? And then you're going to become
a track coach. And I'm not, you know, there's
no bigger fan of track coaches in this guy.
So I'm certainly not diminishingthe career of track coaches.

(43:45):
But I'm wondering, did your family have a Pablo?
What do you, what do you mean you're going to go coach people
to run around a circle, you know, like you're an
environment, go become a doctor,whatever, you know, go become a
scientist, right? Was there any, how did the
family react to this? Like I'm applying for coaching
jobs. My, my family is extremely
supportive and like any sense ofthe word and whatever we want to

(44:07):
do in life, like whether it's personal or or career wise.
But there were times where therewere comments like, why like,
like are you looking at jobs in like your career field?
Like very big, very small comments and very like, Oh, but
oh, it's great. But what about like you're like,

(44:29):
you just had two degrees? Like what?
And, and again, it comes from like a country that sports,
unless you're playing soccer andall that they it doesn't pay to
be attractive. Right, right.
It's like Pablo, why are you playing around?
Go. It's real world time, right?
Right, right. It doesn't pay to be attractive
black athlete doesn't pay to be a, a, a coach, a track coach.
And he's like, they, they have that view and it's like, why are

(44:52):
you doing this? So they times when they were all
they they were very like, yes, you gotta do that.
But have you, are you looking into like your career field?
And what else? Yeah.
And I, I always told him like there were times where I would
look and see like, OK, like maybe I could do this because

(45:13):
again, coaching is not the most lucrative career.
So like maybe I can do this coach on the side and and this
and that. I never did.
I'd never, I did some internships in college that
probably would have helped out. But no, I ended up not really
working after, Yeah, after college, I think I applied for

(45:34):
working at Nike, one of the stores down in Miami.
And they I applied for like a random position and then they
reached out to me that hey, likeI think we have a better
position for you. And at the time they had like it
was a brand new store and down in Miami Beach and they had like

(45:54):
different sections of the store.They had like a running section
of basketball, soccer and like like a lifestyle section and for
track or for running, they were looking for somebody that had
like a running background and, and could help.
They call them consumers kind ofshop and have like a better

(46:15):
shopping experience with, with running and like they'll be able
to Hey, like maybe this shoes better if you're doing 10K.
Oh, you're a track athlete. Maybe the Pegasus is a little
bit better or this and that. So that was they hired me for
that. And then it was honestly one of
like the coolest gigs I've had, like on a like smaller gigs that

(46:37):
I really, I have so many friendsfrom that time and learned a lot
too. Like I don't know, you probably
know a lot of Nike too. Like they, they have their
company set up as a team, like asports team.
So the the manager of the store is the head coach and then you
get assistant coaches and then you got a coach and then you got

(46:57):
like leads and stuff like that. So and, and everybody else is an
athlete. So everyone that works in the
store is an athlete? I didn't know that that's.
Cool, yeah. So they they set it up.
I think that's why Nike is very successful and has like a very
has like a fan base as well cuz even I was never like that.
I like I went there and I wasn'ttrying to make like a Nike

(47:18):
career cuz a lot of people go dothat and a lot of the people
that I met there, they were theythey were trying to have a Nike
career. They started as a salesperson
and they wanted to move up to coach and then maybe go to HQ
and do this and that. And like, it's, I mean, it's
great for some people. So during that time I, I helped

(47:39):
a lot of people kind of work like if they came and I had like
famous people come and they spend so much money, which is
wild to me sometimes and, and help them kind of go through
their, their running journey andstuff.
And then later on. When you say famous people, are
you talking about track famous people or like society famous

(48:00):
people? We both, we had like I, I
butchered names as well. I'm really, I'm really bad at
names. So we had Roger the tennis
player at one point. Yeah, Roger Federer.
Yeah, there you go, Federer. Dude, we had, I'm also now a, a

(48:20):
pop culture person. Like I, I don't want to keep up
with names and stuff like that. So one time they're like, hey,
this person's coming, like, can you help them out?
And I was like, yeah, sure. And I helped the person out and
he was very like, OK, like, cool.
Like he was. And I had no idea who this man
was. And like everyone in the store
was like, he's helping out. Like it wasn't until a couple

(48:44):
minutes I was like, all right, this is definitely somebody I
should know, but I have no idea.He was like a he's a producer.
Timberland, Timberland. Timberland.
Yeah, Timberland. Yeah, yeah.
I, I would have, I would have had no clue and I listened to
his music and I would have had no clue.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, I'm, I'm such a context
person. If like I, I, you know, I travel

(49:05):
a lot and so I'm in like Admirals clubs a lot, you know,
eating food, eating dinner and stuff like that, eating lunch
and, and there's a lot of famouspeople.
I shouldn't say there's a lot, you know, that is where famous
people would go. And I I tell people and I I'm
fantastic. Yeah, it's serious.
This is not hyperbole. I think if Michael Jordan walked
in, I wouldn't recognize unless he walked in with like his
jersey on. If he just walked in with a

(49:27):
suit, you know, maybe an overcoat and maybe a hat, I'd be
like some tall dude. Like looks like he may have been
an athletic back in the day. I don't know.
I would not. I don't think I would unless,
like I said, unless he on the back of his jacket, he had
Jordan. And I'd be like, that's kind of
odd. And maybe that would click in
like, oh, Jordan, Oh, Jordan, you know, yeah, I don't think I
would at all. I was flying back from Dallas to

(49:50):
Bloomington one year a few yearsago now.
And I get upgraded to 1st class.I'm just sitting there.
And when I, you know, when I fly, man, I get my iPad, my
headphone. I immediately like, I'm just
getting my zone. I don't need to want to talk to
anybody. Let's just get home, right?
And this guy gets seated next tome across the aisle, but next to

(50:10):
me. And people are like, the gate
agent came in and, oh, you know,I could see her, you know, get a
selfie with them and stuff like that.
All right, I'm looking at them and it's just, I'm not
recognizing them at all. And so we get to Bloomington
and, you know, him and a crew are sitting over there and
people are coming up and, you know, taking selfies.
And so, you know, I've never been shy.

(50:31):
So I just go up to him. I was like, all right, look,
man, you're obviously somebody. That's how I approached.
That's like, you're obviously somebody.
What do you do? Who are you?
And he goes, oh, I'm a rapper. I was like, oh, cool.
And I, you know, rap is, I love rap, right.
And so I was like, oh, cool, like, you know, what's your
name? And he's like Young Gravy, which
I thought he was joking. I was like, yeah, have you heard
of Young Gravy? Yeah, he's actually very I, I do

(50:51):
now. Listen, he he made a fan, but I
was like, and I was like, he said young great.
And I was like, and I was like, sweet kid me, what are you
doing? I didn't say that, but I was
like cool, cool, cool young gravy, young gravy.
I was like, I was like, So what?Like what kind of rap?
You know, Cuz I'm big into Christian rap, right?
And he's not a Christian rapper by far.
And he's like, you know, like fun rap.
And I was like, cool man. I was like, I'll, I'll check you

(51:13):
out, you know? And so I shook his hand.
I'm not one to like get the selfie because I was like,
you're not famous to me. I don't know who you are.
So I come back to the office andI work with a lot of young
people here. And so I come back to the office
the next day and I was like, hey, I met a guy.
I don't know if you guys would know.
You ever heard of a guy named Young Gravy?
And they're like, my God, yeah. And I was like, yeah, I met him,
talking to him. They're like, I mean, they were
blown away that I met this guy. And I was like, dude had no clue

(51:37):
if if people weren't taking selfies with him, I would have
not even blinked an eye on who this guy is.
And now I'm a fan. You should if you got a Lex or
something, you should play It's it's, it's very vulgar.
By the way, I'll. Look him up there.
But I don't hate to admit I just.
It's who I am. I think it's funny.
It's funny rap. So anyway, what are we talking?

(51:57):
How did Young Gravy get into this podcast?
What in the world? OK, so you're working at Nike,
Did you? I met a guy up at Nike Town in
Chicago. Long, long, long, long time ago
now, 5 lifetimes ago. He said that there, he showed me
there there was a culture of people who work for a Nike.
They get an upside down Nike, they call it an Ecken and like
that's kind of like you're in the cult I guess.

(52:19):
Is that true? Or is this just this one dude?
He showed me his little is an upside down Nike Swoosh.
I don't know, maybe back in the day it was different, but so now
they're called Ekens. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ekens, that's an Ekens. Yeah.
But it's, it's not like underground.
So I think so Ekens are like basically Nike specialists and

(52:43):
they work outside the store, butthey work with several stores in
like the region they're given. So they kind of they they teach
this story is about product about initiative.
So they're kind of like they're like a contact person to to
promote the the the company throughout the region that.
OK. OK, that's like a lot of that's

(53:05):
like the next step that a lot ofpeople in Nike stores want to be
cuz like that's the that's like the cool thing to do is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Want to become an Ikan and and
you get a lot more freedom of what to do and right events and
stuff. Yeah.
Yeah, it seems like you're fullyin the cult if you become that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we forget, you know what I'm
saying? Cult and maybe maybe a little
bit of humor there. But we, you know, don't forget

(53:27):
the root word of culture is cult.
So it's culture is what I'm saying in that respect.
OK, so you're working with Nike.At Nike, you get this
environmental science degree. You're still thinking about
coaching. Where do we go?
How do we connect the dots here?So I, I don't know, maybe like
late 2017 when I was, when I wasworking there, my college coach,

(53:52):
Unique Booth, she, she was expecting, she was kind of ready
to, for the baby and she reachedout to me like, hey, like I'm
looking for somebody to, to helpme out while I'm here.
And then when I leave for maternity leave to take, to take
over for for that time. And I know I don't know if

(54:14):
you're still thinking of coaching and this and that.
Because you had mentioned it, Yeah.
And. I had a really good relationship
with her when I was an athlete. So she reached out to me and and
I'm like, yeah, sure. Like I'm still in Miami and I'm
working at Nike. I could definitely do that.
So I started coaching, but it was a fully volunteer job,

(54:37):
right? I worked in the morning for
track and and then just went with Nike and did what I had to
do at Nike. So but yeah, it was it was hurt
rich now because they needed somebody to like take over that
during the time of of her leave.And and I did that for about the

(54:57):
rest of 20/17/2018 season. And yeah, it was it was it was
fun. It was like the start of of some
of that. Yeah.
So how was that experience? Because you know, as an
undergrad, as an athlete, you showed us how you were, you were
very much like, oh, well, coach will take care of that.
Well, now you're, you're the coach.

(55:18):
You got to take care of that. You got to show them and correct
them. How did you that that's a
different, that's a switch. How did you kind of adjust to
that and, and warm up to the point of like, oh, wait, I'm,
I'm the, there's no one to look at anymore.
I'm the coach. I have to to help this young
person. Well, I think I had a lot of
help from her in the sense that the athletes that she had at

(55:39):
that moment used to be my teammates.
So it's also kind of very difficult sometimes to coach
your teammates. Yes, we.
Talked about that you. Graduate, yeah, but in in
college, I think I had a good reputation on the team.
I wasn't anybody that was crazy or over the top or and like, so
people, I, I was OK, I was cool with most people in the team.

(56:03):
So when I came back, they were like, oh, cool, you're going to
help out. That's fun.
And like, I think she, because she had a lot of structure and
she kept, I would say she kept people in check.
The athletes already were like, all right, like all that he's
bringing in is what she's telling him to do because I
don't really have a lot of like freedom to do the training and

(56:26):
stuff like that. She gave me right, right.
And we looked at them and I'm like, hey, this is what we got.
And then I kind of guided them and hey, like, maybe that
doesn't look right. Let's do this.
And that's how it basically started.
So it was a lot of like, she helped me make sure that they
had confidence and like, hey, it's still her training.
Like I'm just, you guys are not on your own.

(56:48):
And like really kind of. Yeah, it was, it was a lot of
her help and, and giving me and me and the athletes confidence
that OK, like there's going to be some change, but it's just
for for a few months and it's somebody that she trusts and
somebody that they liked and stuff.
So. Yeah.
Did you did this during the 2017eighteen academic year?

(57:14):
Did did. I mean, it's kind of a dumb
question because you sit here today as the assistant coach at
University of Maine. But like, did that solidify?
Because you still don't seem at this point like, Oh yeah, I'm
going to be a coach. You know, like I if you told me
your story veered off and you became an assistant coach at the
Nike store, I'd be like, oh, that that doesn't surprise.
You know, you're a smart guy andyou wanted to help people and

(57:36):
this is the avenue you did it instead of coaching.
It still doesn't seem like, Oh yeah, this guy's destined to be
a coach. Does this 1718 school year
solidify like Oh yeah, this is what I'm going to be or or not
it? It did, but it also that.
Didn't seem very strong. It wasn't, yeah, it wasn't
strong because of, I think financial stuff, like, sure, I

(57:58):
was a volunteer coach. And then you start like, well,
you start looking at jobs and I'm like, wow, they're only
paying this much. And yeah.
Move. Across States and like it was
very. You're just driving college
coaching there. Yeah, yeah.
And at Nike, I started to get into they, they trusted me with
being, they have a run club in the store.

(58:21):
It's actually the biggest free run club in the world.
They gather at times, they gather like 400 people every
week, every Tuesday of every week to run Wow and every
Thursday. So I started helping out with
that. So I was in charge of like
making the team to who was goingto work that day, the run club

(58:42):
and run with them. So I used to get paid to run
which we always joked around like.
You made it. You became a pro.
Yeah. I was a pro athlete for some.
Sadly, you probably made more than some of our other pros, and
that's not a dig to them. It's just the dig to how we pay
our our athletes. Yeah, that's awesome.
But yeah, every Thursday we usedto get out, run a 5K with the

(59:03):
community and really just have fun.
So I started really enjoying that and, and became and kind of
like, and because I had a tribe background, people have like,
Oh, this is you're the runner, this and that and that.
So I was kind of, I was digging that for that time.
And, and I think people in the store also saw me.
I was like, Oh, maybe you shouldlike they, they promoted me for
like like smaller manager kind of deal that they have in the

(59:28):
store. And like, so some people saw
that maybe you could do like an IKEA career and this and that
and it starts playing with your head because like, it probably
pays better than I'm going to get paid as a coach.
And, but I really do, I, I stillreally enjoy track and I
couldn't really see myself not doing that.
So when I was working at Nike and it, this takes a complete

(59:48):
turn that just doesn't, it's notexpected.
But during the like late 2018, Igave myself I, I think I told
myself six months and I was like, all right, I'm going to
start applying to track jobs. Period.
I'm just going to start applying, applying, applying,
applying. If I don't get anything that

(01:00:12):
works for me and that I like, I'll just travel, take off time
and, and, and, and travel some some time.
And, and so I applied and applied and I got a couple
interviews here and there. I was still helping out at FIU,
but not quite as, as much because she was back.

(01:00:32):
So I wasn't, I wasn't needed as much.
So I gave myself those like few months and I got a few
interviews, but they were like, I had to go from Miami to like
Ohio and Illinois and this and that.
And they were only paying like stipend jobs.
And they're like, well, we can help you get a job on campus.

(01:00:54):
And I was like, wow, but that's still a hard move.
And so I ended up not getting a job for track that season and
because I gave myself kind of that ultimatum of like you
either get a job or you travel. I just went and traveled.
And so I took the entirety of 2019 to travel then see if my

(01:01:15):
head change or see what was going after that.
Yeah. So yeah, where?
Else would you go? I've had a podcast about this
too. Oh, nice.
I was a, I was a guest on another podcast.
So I, I took a, I rode my bicycle from Portugal to China
on 20/19. I usually don't brag, but I was

(01:01:38):
like, you know what? I'm.
Going to wait. Hold on, hold on, hold.
Maybe the mic cut or something. I don't.
Maybe my headphones didn't work.You rode your bike and I'm
you're the geography major here.I'm not, but I feel like the
distance between Portugal and China is far.
And you rode your bike. How far is that?

(01:02:01):
It's, I can't really tell you how far in distance, but it took
me a whole year to get there so.Dude, shut up.
First of all, I am gonna get into this a little bit, but it
sounds like you were on another podcast that maybe got into it a
little deeper. What was that podcast for people
who want to hear deeper into that?
What was that podcast? It's been a while you've.

(01:02:24):
Just been on so many podcasts you can't remember the name.
I've been in. 2 Are you gonna forget?
Are you gonna forget this podcast in a year or two?
But I was on some track podcast.It's been 6 years now since I've
been a it's It's a bike packing.Find it, find it and e-mail it
to me and I'll have it in the show notes and I'll have it in
the show notes for because I'm sure there's people listening
going, Oh, I'd like to no more deeper because I'm going to go a

(01:02:48):
little bit surface level on that.
So it took you a year. So I mean, when you say you rode
your bike, like literally you'vegot a backpack and maybe you're
pulling, you know, some other you're riding your bike like how
many hours a day? And then how did where did you
sleep? Like, how did you plan this?
Like this is just this is not soyou I thought you were, you
know, when you said this is going to take a right turn, You

(01:03:09):
know, I was like, whatever, I'vedone 300 of these Pablo, you
ain't going to say anything thatI ain't heard, you know, or
prepared for. And then you threw throughout
this. So give me give me some like
blocking and tackling some XS and OS on this.
How how long did you write everyday?
How did you sleep? Like, like, tell me, like, how
did you execute this thing? Man, that's crazy.
So you don't, you don't know me,don't know me really well, but

(01:03:31):
I'm like the product. Obviously not, I do not know
you. I'm, I'm one of the like the
most go with the flow kind of people and that's all Like once
I didn't get a job, I'm like, OK, I'm going to travel.
I wasn't a cyclist, by the way. I I of.
Course, Yeah, we haven't talked about that at all.
True. That's a good point.

(01:03:53):
The the idea, the idea popped upbecause a Co worker from from
FIU showed me like, hey, like this guy's doing a cycling trip
from like Alaska to Argentina. And I was like, oh that is
crazy. But that was years ago.
And then when I started planninga trip, I was like, hey, and I
started, I remember that articleand I looked it up and there's

(01:04:15):
actually a whole community of people that travel by bike.
So I started getting into it andI was like, you know what?
That at that point I was when I said like, I'm just going to go
in trouble instead of getting, getting if I couldn't find a
job. And I was like, you know, I'm
just going to go. And I got like any it just I
think things play out sometimes.I'm not a big faith or anything,

(01:04:38):
but I was working one day at Nike and I've never seen a bike
with like backpacks or anything attached to them.
And when this whole idea startedin my head, one random guy just
stops and, and parked his bike with a bunch of bags in front of
the store and, and came in and Iwas like, there's no way.

(01:05:00):
I just got to go ask him what why he has the bags and stuff.
And this is pretty much what I'mlooking for in terms of biking
and stuff to go to the trip. So I asked him and he's like,
oh, dude, that's, that's crazy. That's super cool.
He got my phone number and he's like, I'm going to find a bike
for you and, and, and, and see and see if you like it.

(01:05:21):
He went on Craigslist found, he found like a used bike and send
it to me. And I, I bought the bike for
like $85 at that time. And dude, how'd you fix it up
and everything? I, I, I brought up Google Maps
and it, it tells me by walking it's 157 days.

(01:05:44):
And I said, oh, I don't want to walk on a bicycle.
Yeah, you can choose that. And I click bicycle and it
literally says, I can't seem to find a way there.
Sorry to interrupt. It was just like, yeah, Google's
like, Nah, bro, I can't figure this out.
You're on your own. Keep going, keep going.
Yeah, no. So I saw the guy, he helped out,
he got me a bike. I went, met the Craigslist guy

(01:06:05):
on like a Walgreens, bought the bike from him and then.
I'm sorry I got to interrupt again, Pablo.
I'm sorry. It's my show.
So I get to interrupt. What?
What do your parents, you said they were very supportive.
I have a hard time, whether you're from Columbia or America.
I just have a hard time feeling like parents are going to be
like, oh, that's a great idea, man.

(01:06:25):
Yeah, good luck. Let us know.
Send us a picture or something, a postcard.
I think I, I think I, I trained or I don't know how to, how to
say that, but I prepared my, my family for this point my entire
life cuz I've like, it's not like I've been, I was like a
gaming person or like an indoor cat like.

(01:06:48):
Sure, sure, sure. I've always been very outdoorsy
and it was. A little different though,
Pablo. Yeah, it was a little, but what
I told them I told my cousin before and she's like, Oh my
God, this is so cool, this is fun.
Oh my God, you're crazy. This and that.
Then I told my mom and she was like kind of in like she didn't
really believe me and. That's what I was thinking.
She was like, yeah, OK. Yeah, cuz it's so big and I

(01:07:11):
didn't have a bike, but I didn'thave anything to do the trip.
So she's like all right, get back to me when you have like
actually a plan. And then I bought the bike and
then I bought the bags for the bike and then.
She's like that. Serious.
And she was like, she literally sat down one night.
She's like, all right, like let's go through this again.

(01:07:31):
Because now I now I really want like what, what's the plan?
And she got a little bit more concerned because she's like,
are you going to go through these countries and this and
that? So she got word, but she never
told me like no, no, no. She was just like.
I am trying to my son going to be a high schooler next year.

(01:07:53):
If he told me at some point he's20 something years old, Hey, I'm
going to do this. I would probably be like, I'm
just trying to put my myself in your mom's shoes.
I think I'd be the same way of like, whatever you never buy.
What are you talking about? And then as I started seeing the
evidence, like, oh, we bought a bike.
Oh, he's doing Oh, he's Google mapping, you know, and I'm like,
hold on a second. But then I'm still trying to

(01:08:13):
feel like, would I be? I mean, I guess, you know,
you're an adult, there's a little bit of you lose power
over your children and it's like, I can't tell them no,
they're not using my money. Wow, okay.
Just for the sake of time and the other podcasts, cuz I want
that to be the deeper one. Give us just kind of an overview
of how many hours a day did you ride and how did you find places

(01:08:35):
to sleep? Like how did you execute the
actual trip over a year? Wow.
Yeah, no, I, I relied a lot of camp, so I did most of the time
I camped. So I had my camp in my tent with
me, OK. I had all cooking supplies.
I rode pretty much what I wantedevery day.
So if I could do 10 miles, I could do, I think the most I did
was 120 or something. So I really did it.

(01:08:58):
It really however I felt that day, whatever the goal for me to
get to that, to wherever. Were you safe the whole time?
I never, yeah, I never felt any in any danger.
I mean, there were sketchy parts, but I think I was pretty
safe and maybe smart and too hotthe way I did it.
And I think my looks help out inthe sense that like in some

(01:09:23):
countries I don't really stand out as much where?
This guy would stand, this guy would stand out.
I'd be dead meat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I and I wouldn't be able to do like a mile a day.
So I'd take meat, you know, my whole lifetime.
Did you like, how did how did you eat?
Is that the right question? Like, like, how did I know?
You obviously had to save up money from your job.
So as far because, you know, there's expense, but like, how

(01:09:45):
did you like? So did you literally get up
every day? And it was just like, all right,
it's not raining. So I'll do more miles today than
the previous day because it rained or whatever.
Literally. So you didn't map out like OK,
day one, day 20, I'm going to behere.
Day 40 I'm you just wow. No, it's, I think it's really
hard to do that. I knew I was going to go to
China, so the only way to get toChina is go east.

(01:10:09):
So I'm kind of just like, I haveto go east from here.
And obviously I had maps and kind of an idea of where I
needed to go that day, but I never had like, OK, this week
I'm gonna go here, here. Yeah, it was more like I'm going
that way and kind of wherever I and do.
You ever get lost? No, it's it's not really hard to

(01:10:30):
get. Lost and no injury like no like
Oh yeah I was laid up for a month because I slipped and you
know busted my knee and Nope dude you blog this or anything
I. Mean, I kind of have I have it
in my Instagram. I have a lot of videos and
pictures and I kept people updated on Instagram.

(01:10:52):
Looking back I feel like I wish I would have vlogged it a little
bit. More.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just not into all that.
Yeah, but you gotta. But I wish I had.
Yeah. I mean, I have it written down
stuff. Yeah, I would encourage you to,
whether it's a blog or, you know, a lot of people forget
that LinkedIn has an article system, you know, an article on

(01:11:13):
LinkedIn like somewhere capture that for a couple reasons.
One is much like that person whowent from Alaska down to
Argentina. And the reason I asked, like
where you say it, because I think that person did get mugged
somewhere. If I remember, if it's the same
story, but someone who did this crazy thing got mugged.
But much like that guy's story inspired you, even though you
weren't like when you heard thatstory years ago, you weren't

(01:11:33):
like, Oh my God, I want to do this.
But then years later, like, oh, wait a minute, that dude did it.
That's something, you know what I'm saying?
So that your story could do thatfor someone and have this
amazing experience. And two, you know, at some point
you're going to be an old man. You might have children and
grandchildren and other family. And you do have a big family of,
you said cousins and things likethat.

(01:11:55):
Like there's just a little bit of like just archiving things
like that of like, wow, Uncle Pablo did what?
Like, I don't believe that. And then, you know, they go and
read this article from 2025. It's like, holy crap.
Like that's like, wait a minute,if Uncle Pablo could do that,
maybe I can move to the state orwhatever, you know what I'm
saying? Like there's inspiration there.
So I just encourage you to to dothat and send me the do do some

(01:12:15):
Google in there. Find me that podcast.
I do. I do want to have that down in
the show notes for you guys. If you're interested in hearing
more in depth on that story, because that is that is cool.
For time's sake. We're going to move forward.
And you have reached China. That's the, you know, after 300
episodes, I feel like I've said everything.
I've never said that yet. So you've reached China.
How do we get back to the states, go back to Columbia

(01:12:36):
again? We're, we know, we've, we today
we finish up in Maine. How do we, what do we go?
Where? Where do we go from China?
So, so crazy it it actually doeskind of start in China.
When I was in China, I started applying again for jobs and, and
my college coach reached out, Hey, they're looking for a coach
here in some high school. I believe in Florida.

(01:12:57):
So I, I reached out to them, butI, I've never been want to
really want to coach high school.
Nothing against high school coaches or anything, but I, I
just couldn't see myself coaching.
I don't have, I don't think I have the patience to.
I think my reference of coachinghigh school is coaching 200
people and 100 different personalities, a good .50

(01:13:19):
people. I mean, half of them really just
being there for friends and looks and, and it's cool to do
sometimes. So I really wanted like now if
I'm going to do, I want to do college and, and, and when I got
back, I worked again with Nike because I reached out to them.
They're like, yeah, that's fine.You can come back.
They like me and that's fine. So I work with them a little bit
more. And then my coach left FIU and

(01:13:44):
the head coach reached out to melike, hey, like would you be
interested? And I have, I have a good
relationship with, with the staff there.
So they reached out and I'm like, yeah, let's yeah, I'll do
it. And I got hired as a part time
assistant coach for the sprints and hurdles.
So I yeah, that's basically how it actually started to be in a

(01:14:04):
paid, a paid job. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
A little bit more serious now. They're my actual athletes.
And so I coached there. I I was their assistant coach
for a year and a half and then Imoved to to Maine.
Were you at FIU because now it does feel like knowing that, you

(01:14:28):
know, FIU domain. So there's some stability now in
the coaching world here with you.
Were you doing where does coaching education fit at this
point? You know, I've said this many
times, coaching education to me is, is a, is a dual path.
There's formal and informal. Both are important.
Not one is more important. The other in my opinion, formal
is, you know, USATF level ones, level twos, USTFCAA, Altus,

(01:14:51):
those kind of classes, if you will.
And then informal and it's just as important is maybe more
peer-to-peer. So you know, I called, well,
you're at FIU so you called yourold track coach, but maybe you
call a coach that, you know, youcall a Boo and things like that.
Are you doing any of that at this point during the the FIU?
Yeah. So I actually did a USATF course

(01:15:13):
right after I graduated. So the summer of 2017, I took
those like the Level 1 USATF course in Baltimore.
John Hopkins is it? Yeah.
Yeah, Johns Hopkins. Yeah.
So I did that right out of college and kind of when I
already knew I was going to coach or wanted to coach, and
then more informal, I reached out to my high school coach and

(01:15:36):
kind of got a bit more ideas. Hey, I remember, hey, do you
wanna go get food and talk aboutthis?
He knew I got the job at FIU. So we sat down and talked about
some training and stuff. And then a lot of the other was
from the coach that left. That was she was my coach.
That from her too. So yeah, she had.

(01:15:58):
She had a big influence in your coaching.
What was her name? I don't remember if you said
that. Unique booth.
Yeah, Unique. That's right, Unique Booth.
Yeah, cuz she had a pretty big influence as far as style and
even inviting you back to help during when she started going to
maternity leave and now she leaves and so you take her spot.
That was a pretty big impact on you.
Yeah, definitely. I think her and my high school
coach, and I mean all the, but those two I think have had a lot

(01:16:21):
of impact and I appreciate, I mean all them and yeah,
absolutely. I'm glad I had them as a coach
and as mentors and stuff. Yeah, that's cool.
So you said about a year and a half I think FIU, why did you
leave there and. So I think I started the 20
2022-2023 season and I, I, I applied throughout the summer

(01:16:47):
and I started looking cuz I thought when I was at FIUI had,
I was working at Nike, I was still working on FIU.
There was a point in time where I was working another job and
I'm like, this is a law. So if I find a better gig, like
I'll definitely see if I can leave.
Yeah. And like the coaches are new
like, like they knew they weren't going to make that

(01:17:09):
position a full time. And even if it's a full time, it
doesn't pay like extremely well.So it's Miami.
I mean, yeah, yeah, incredibly well to live comfortably.
So I applied throughout the summer and nothing really came
out of that. And when the season started and
looking back and hearing, hearing or listening to booze

(01:17:31):
podcast or episode kind of made me realize that too, that he, I
think he said in his podcast, like, don't do it for that.
Like every coach is like, oh, but the athletes don't feel you
got to do it for yourself. And I think that's definitely
true. And at that time, I didn't do
that. I as soon as as soon as the fall
came, I'm like, all right, I'm not going to apply now because I

(01:17:53):
don't want to leave in the middle of the season if I do get
a job. And this I started thinking of
that. But then one of my college
coaches like the jump start of coaching, she was working Sacred
Heart at that time and she got ajob army and she's like, Hey,
I'm, I'm going to leave Sacred Heart.

(01:18:14):
They're looking for somebody andthey're basically kind of
letting me find people to to fill that position.
I was thinking of you. If you're interested, like let
me know and we can make happen. And I was like, I think it was
maybe October, November at that time.
And I was like, I I think she told me I already talked to

(01:18:35):
Ryan, which was my head coach atthat time.
And I was like, oh, OK, like I'll talk to him too, just cuz I
don't want to blind side anybody.
Yeah, for sure. And he's like, yeah, that's
fine. Very supportive.
So. I applied to Sacred Heart, I got
the interviews and stuff like that.
And because I was applying to Sacred Heart, I was like, I

(01:18:56):
might as well apply to other jobs if I'm already applied to
this one. So I'm, I have the, I have a
Google track, track job alert and the University of Maine came
up and I looked up, I went online.
So they had indoor and outdoor facility.
I vaguely kind of looked up at the numbers they had athletes,

(01:19:18):
performances and I applied, I sent an e-mail to head coach and
he replied to me pretty quick that week.
He's like, yeah, we're going to reach out in a couple and like
next week to get interviews and all that.
Great. It went by maybe like a month
and I never heard anything back from from your main.
And I kept interviewing with sick or hard, but they, they,

(01:19:41):
they did like 3 interviews and Iwas like, OK, like, and they
just kind of kept pushing the, the yeah, I don't know, it just
took forever. And I was like, maybe they just
don't want to hire me, but I don't know.
I don't they just didn't seem that interested.
And and then I think I had one interview where he had me have

(01:20:03):
he, the head coach at that time,I don't know if he saw that he
had me interview with his assistant coach and it it went
all fine. And then that day, Adam, my
current head coach here, reachedout like, hey, do you have time
for interviews? And I was like, yeah, sure.
We sat down or tomorrow, whatever.
And I, I sat down with them, hadthe interview.
It was like a funny interview because I was, I didn't have an

(01:20:24):
office that I found used to, I was in the like the student
athlete academic centers there and the computers there.
Like if you, if you don't move the mouse for a while, even if
you're in a call or something, it shuts off.
Oh jeez. And I was in the interview and
the computer just shuts off. And I was like.
Oh no. And it.
Goes off and they're like, yeah,didn't, didn't do anything for

(01:20:46):
me, but it was funny. I was like, oh, I'm not, I'm not
gonna get this stuff. Like, And after the interview,
he's like, hey, great. Like we'll be in touch.
And usually when I hear that I'mlike, right, we'll see if I get
an e-mail in the next few days and stuff.
And then I think I went to work that day for Nike in the
afternoon and he, he called me again or he, yeah, he called me

(01:21:10):
on, on my phone. I was like, hey, do you have
time to talk later today? I was like, yeah, sure.
So he called me and offered me the job.
And I was like, and I was still talking with Sacred Heart.
But I was like, this has been like a long process with them.
Like, mind you, they weren't really paying all that much.

(01:21:30):
You know, I'm going to take it. And I was like, I told them
like, yeah, for sure. I'm in.
Wow. So it was very quick with Maine
when it started. It took a while to get the
process going, but once you it it, it started like it went
really fast. And yeah.
Yeah. Well, I can tell you, you know,
and maybe this is hindsight advice for you because you went

(01:21:53):
through the process, but other people that will go through this
process and you'll go through other process, potentially
you'll go through other processes.
As someone in my world who's hired a lot of people, you know,
our entire team for the past 20 years close.
It never goes for the person who's hiring.
It never goes as fast as you want.
There's always, whether it's HR has certain stuff or, you know,

(01:22:14):
we've gotten caught where it's like, oh man, I want to
interview this person or my VP wants to interview this person.
But my VP already had vacation for this week.
So now it's, you know, a full week past that.
And I, I think the, the real lesson there is, so maybe head
coaches who are listening, who are thinking about who are going
to start conducting interviews or start asking for resumes and
stuff for position have open. I think it's being open about

(01:22:35):
that communication. Like I think about that Sacred
Heart example we gave. First of all, if they're still
interviewing you, they were interested in you.
You made the comment of like, well, maybe they're not really
that interested. They're interviewing, brother,
trust me. They're not wasting their time
with someone who they don't wantto hire.
Trust me. Trust me.
No one goes through that. No one does that, not at all.
If they're interviewing you, they're at least a little bit
curious of like, I would this guy fit?

(01:22:56):
OK, so take that off the table. That was not the case.
But I think I'm willing to bet that you would have had a better
experience with that Sacred Heart process if at the
beginning they said, hey, Pablo,just to be upfront with you, we
typically do four different rounds of interviews here and
that, you know, because of vacations and summer and travel
and the conference meets or whatever, blah, blah, blah.

(01:23:17):
It may take up to 6 to 8 weeks before we make a final decision
on who to hire. You'd have been like, oh, OK.
And then you get to decide, by the way, 08 weeks.
I, I'm looking to turn this around in four weeks.
I appreciate you guys. Thanks, but no, thanks.
But then you, you have the expectation of like, oh, it's
week six. Well, you know what they told me
it's going to take about 8 weeks, All right?
We're still on track, you know. So I think the real lesson there
is for people over there as coaches or HR and HR should know

(01:23:40):
better because this is their whole gig.
But for coaches who are learning, there is no training
for coaches on how to hire and evaluate and fire staff, by the
way. So we're just picking up it as
we go, I think for our head coaches.
I think it's just being open in the communication of, hey,
Pablo, we got a position here. Certainly your interest in you.
Just so you know, you know, I'vegot a, I've got a month
vacation. I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bike

(01:24:01):
from Portugal to to China. So you won't hear from me for a
month. And, you know, be just be aware
of that. So you don't you're not worried
about what's going on. And you're like, oh, OK, cool.
This dude's doing something crazy.
I'll hear from him in a month orwhatever.
So, yeah, little tongue in cheekthere about the bike ride, which
is still crazy, by the way, but I think that's the real, real
lesson there. So you go to the University of
Maine. Now it, it's interesting your

(01:24:22):
entire life with this huge one exception has been in this Miami
area. And I see that a lot where
people are like, oh man, I just,you know, from here, it's, it's
my roots. I, you know, I want to coach in
this area, blah, blah, blah. There's other options, things
like that. Barring this crazy bike ride.
This is your first time since you've been into the states of
like, oh, I'm moving somewhere else from my career.

(01:24:44):
You go to Maine. I mean, that's pretty.
You didn't ride your bike up when you moved up, did you?
OK, good. I just thought about that.
That'd be like a cakewalk for you.
That's certainly much shorter than Portugal to China.
So when you get to Maine, it's different.
It's different than FIU, it's different than Miami, right?
How have you been adjusting there?
I really like it up here. I think a lot of people ask me

(01:25:08):
that there's, I mean, there's definitely it's a way different
climate and seasons and people and culture.
But I think because of me movingyoung to the US, I I didn't
really have a a huge attachment to Miami.
Like I'm not like till I die kind of person.

(01:25:30):
So it's very, I was like, I'm I'm willing to leave Miami, like
I'm not. And I've had that explorer kind
of mentality. So like I really did not mind
moving up here because that's the first thing people are like,
man, you sure you want to go there?
Like it's cold. So it's always and I'm like,
yeah, that's fine. I actually do it.

(01:25:51):
I enjoy the snow, I enjoy the seasons and like I I like it up
here. I.
Do you really, because I'm, so I'm originally from Alabama and
now I live in Illinois and everyyear I try to travel as much as
possible during the winter. I hate the snow.
Do you really, I mean, you're from Columbia.
There ain't no snow in Columbia from I can tell Miami, there
ain't no snow in Miami. Do you really?
I mean like when it because you got to get some pretty good snow

(01:26:14):
there, buddy, you got you got toget some like real snow and you
still enjoy that when your car'sstuck and.
So, so I'll I'll doubled on thisor I don't have a car here.
Oh, of course you ride your bike.
Yeah, of course. So I I think not having a car
makes my winters more enjoyable.OK, OK all.

(01:26:35):
Right, because everyone complaints about their car in
the winter. That's what I'm saying, right?
Yeah. They're like, I gotta dig my car
out of the snow. I gotta do this.
And I'm like, I just walk out ofmy house and I live like I, I
live so close to campus that Oh,cool.
No, yeah, I'm yeah, it's not a problem with for me.
Alright, alright, so it's it's yeah, I enjoy it.

(01:26:58):
I really the snow, it can be a lot like this winter was rough
up here and it was kind of, it was like probably the the most
real winter I've had since I moved to Maine.
It snowed it, it was pretty consistently cold throughout,
but I like seeing like when it'sall white and and and quiet,
it's really cool. Yeah.

(01:27:19):
And then you get to see like thechanges in the spring and summer
and fall, so. And I like seeing pictures of
all that snow. I don't want to be in that snow
at all, at all. You know, you do have that
explorer gene mentality, if you will.
Have you done anything crazy like snowshoed from the top of

(01:27:39):
Maine to the South of Maine? Have you done anything else kind
of crazy like that yet? I haven't, I haven't had not the
time because I've been here already for 2 1/2 years, but
you're. Busy.
Just at 1st and I've done Katahdin, which is like the
highest peak of Maine. Oh wow.
But it's like just a regular hike.
It's really not that bad, and other than that I haven't done

(01:28:03):
any crazy stuff. Yeah.
Yeah. So what are you doing today?
It's 2025. You know, you are in your career
now, right? Like you are fully.
There's no going back to environmental science or
anything like that. There's probably no more, you
know, year long bike rides in your future.
So you're you're a track coach. So what are you doing today to
improve yourself as a track coach?

(01:28:24):
And we talked about coaching education.
Maybe that's part of it. What are you doing?
You know, you seem like a guy who likes to get better at
things, So what are you doing tobecome a a better track coach?
I mean education wise, I've donea couple like smaller classes
that again, I forgot his name, the coach from Harvard offers.

(01:28:46):
Yeah, Ciba, Ciba. They offer them throughout like
the year here and there. I've done a job.
I I think I did like 3 this yearwith him and I'm planning on
doing the the weightlifting one where you you're still.
Seeing. Yeah.
And in terms of that, I'm just, I'm, I'm getting to the point

(01:29:08):
where I want to one, definitely like be a better track coach
with all the like really learning how to coach the events
that I'm I'm coaching right now.I, I think I've had success and
I enjoy the coaching them. I have the team, the team and

(01:29:29):
athletes that I had. We've had like really good
growth and I obviously want to continue that, but I'm looking
to maybe having a more, I guess like a more holistic view of
coaching and how I prove cuz it's University of Maine.

(01:29:49):
Like the chances of me recruiting and, and, and
coaching and developing a Olympic athlete from here is
going to be really rough. Like we have really good people
here and, and we can in, in the near future, we can have them
get to regionals to NCAA and I can see that in my future.

(01:30:12):
But now I'm like thinking, how do I get the ones that are not
really maybe getting to to that point in in college career,
maybe beyond that to to be better athletes, better people,
better. How do I work with them in their
like their careers? Like so I'm looking into more of
a. So, so where's that lead you?

(01:30:33):
Because this is very interestingto me because it kind of fits
into that same narrative of like, you know, maybe the XS and
OS are the easy part. It's all the other aspects that
surround coaching that maybe is the more important part.
So where do your, where do you, where are you seeking?
What are you finding? What are you, where are you
looking for for this kind of thecoaching head?

(01:30:54):
So this this year, I started bringing up ideas within my head
and with other people on campus and how I can help students and
started with a small group, not a lot of people.
Now there's just a few people. So somebody, if they hear this
at work, they're going to be like, oh, is he really trying to
do? But it's hard to.

(01:31:17):
So when I was in college, we hadevery senior, they used to have
like a career development sessions.
And if we went to all the sessions and we did what we did,
what we needed to do in all the sessions, the university gave
you like a voucher to get a freesue or like to pay for a sue and
like to go to an interview and get a job and stuff.

(01:31:40):
And me coming out of high comingout of college was definitely
like I had, I probably had a suit, but it was not like very
professional. It was, I mean, I didn't know
better that I finished all that.And it got me to this, a place
that sold them and kind of really helped you out.
And that was probably my first real suit that I got and I

(01:32:01):
actually wore for some of my first interviews and stuff.
And I so I, and not only that, Ithink the whole process of like,
we learn how to network and they, they sat down and hey,
this is what a regiment looks like.
This is what they brought a bunch of alumni and people from
school and they made us hey, go out there and talk, introduce

(01:32:22):
yourselves and do this and that.So I think that's what I'm
trying to do. I'll reach out to a couple in
the university. So I want to get to a point
where I can have a program here with my athletes and I love that
cuz I know like, I mean, most ofthem are going to graduate in
four years and track is probablynot going to be a thing they do.
And I see that more, I see it more now and I see more here in

(01:32:46):
Maine. There's a lot of weather is the
long winters, but there's a lot more social or lack of social
interactions happening now. They there's a lot more people
on their phones. There's a lot more like people
reach out through on Instagram, whatever emails, there's not a

(01:33:07):
lot of face to face. People don't know how to as much
as there's so much technology. I sometimes hear students say
they don't know how to do thingsin Word and Excel.
And I'm like, whoa, that's like super basic, like maybe what's
going on? So I think just kind of helping
my athletes get past the track once they actually graduate

(01:33:30):
because I think I I also had a hard time when when did that?
Like I was so into track and andI wanted to do this coaching
stuff at that time. But right out of college,
there's sometimes like you don'tknow what's actually like, OK, I
don't know a job. Like what am I going to do?
Like you apply for a job, but you don't have one.
Like what's the next step? So I think if I can get, if I

(01:33:53):
can, if I can help my students and my athletes to get to that
point without too much worry, I think that's that's kind of my
next step. I love that.
One of the things that I'll continue to shout is that no
matter what level, by the way, University of Maine, University
of Florida, University of Miami,99%.

(01:34:15):
Maybe Florida has 98%, but 99% of your kids are not going to go
pro. But you know, air quotes, no one
goes pro. You look at the elites, there's
there's so little compared to how many kids are competing the
college level, but 100% of them will go on to become moms, dads,
business owners, Ekins, clergy, coaches, teachers, etc.

(01:34:39):
And that is the real impact thatyou as a track coach makes.
Your high school coach made thatimpact on 100 thousands of
people, right? That you know, very few of them,
you know, was it roughly 7% of high school kids go on to
compete in the NCAA. So roughly 7% of all those kids
on your high school team, they got to go on to college, But
that means 93% of them did not. And they someone on a trade

(01:35:02):
school, someone on a four year, someone on to go military direct
to the workforce, etcetera. That's the impact your coach
made. That's the impact you're making,
the positive impact you're making on these young people
beyond the how do I become the, you know, an Olympian long
jumper, right? So I love that that's where your
thought process is. I just want to bless that.
Keep doing and working down thatAve. because you're going to

(01:35:25):
create something. I love that program at FIU.
Like that's like I'm thinking myself coming out of college
like, Oh my God, like, yeah. So I got to do some things that
are going to make me better by the way.
And then you're going to give mea free professional suit that's
going to help me even if it doesn't help me in regards to
like, you know, whether you weara night suit or a regular suit
that gets you the job or not. But like, oh, I feel better.

(01:35:47):
Like I feel like I'm a professional doing this
interview. That's amazing.
Bravo to FIU and I hope I'm surethere are other colleges that do
that, but bravo to FIU. Keep going down that line with
you there at University of Maine.
You're going to build a program for that for a couple reasons.
One yeah, even if slash when youleave University of Maine,

(01:36:08):
that's the kind of program that can live past you, right?
You can then bring that to otherplaces.
But also that's the kind of likewhen we talk about the Gill 1918
project, we talk about that as the Ted talks of track and field
podcast. That's the kind of topic that
you can come and talk about that.
And then other people, you know,someone at a high school goes,
oh, wait a minute. Well, we should be doing this.
Like how are we doing this in regards to like college

(01:36:28):
recruiting, you know, as far as interviews and how do you
present yourself? How do you e-mail?
Like there's something that can build tremendously from that.
And so I love that you're thinking that and not when I
first got into coaching, I was like, I'm gonna be the best
sprints and hurdles coach in theworld.
So 100% of my attention was to how to this little thing in the
block start and this little thing at the finish and this

(01:36:49):
little technique of the hurdle. And in reality, again, we keep
saying it more and more, the X&O's part was a small part.
And I I was blind to the all theother aspect and had to learn
that throughout my coaching career and finally got to where
like, Oh yeah, these are human beings first and foremost.
Not, not robots that hurdle and jump and throw the shot.
But so I love that Pablo, that is so cool.

(01:37:10):
Where does that? And I know you had that
experience at FIU, but that kindof leadership.
So you're really thinking about other people there because it
doesn't you you're not interviewing for jobs, you know,
helping these things out. Where does that come from?
Is there a like, did you have some kind of like a guidance
counselor or a teacher or a family member?
Claire G, Is there someone that kind of modeled that for you?

(01:37:32):
I don't know. I think my family overall, like
I, I, I told you before, I have a extremely supportive family
and a lot of things or the way Iam and the place I am today is
because of them. So for sure I, I, I enjoy also
doing that. So I've had now that I've been
here for a couple years now, I've had athletes that I've been

(01:37:55):
able to like, hey, like mentor and, and guide them through
difficult times and whether it'spersonal or academics or, or
track related stuff. And, and it, it, it looks good.
It feels good. Honestly, when, when you see
them like get out of that bad spot that they were and you're

(01:38:15):
like, OK, they're doing good again.
And, and, and kind of, I mean, Ihope that they're also not just
at that time, but they continue to be good and, and successful
and whatever they do in life. And, and that, that, that is,
that spreads throughout. Like I think I'm, I'm a big, I'm

(01:38:35):
always usually pretty energetic and I go to practice and I'm
never going to be like in a bad mood.
And like, obviously there's daysthat you're like, it's the rough
day, but. You're human.
Yeah, I think what you put out there is what you get back.
So I try to do with my athletes and hopefully they they they

(01:38:56):
learn something and they if I help them out or not, that's
fine. But yeah, I just kind of want to
have that so that come back, yeah.
That's great man. I love that I've lost that.
Just keep keep going down that Ave. and you are going to have
an even larger impact that you could even imagine today.
And you know, you have a large impact today.
So it's it's going to just kind of like a fire just continues to

(01:39:18):
grow there. Pablo, as you look to the future
here at University of Maine and you get to define future,
whether it's 20262036, what's got you excited, man?
There's there's a lot of good things going on there.
They are. I think I, I moved up here in
like a really fun time to be at Maine.
I think the university itself isgrowing as the university.

(01:39:42):
It's also growing as an athleticdepartment.
We are getting an outdoor track.It's being built at the moment,
so that's really exciting cuz it's a brand new facility that
we're gonna have for athletes. Mind you, we train indoor for a
lot of the time, but that indoortrack is also getting resurfaced

(01:40:02):
like a few weeks, so that's really exciting too.
Nice just having 2. New facilities to have new
athletes and it's huge recruits and like really show, hey, this
is like facility wise, we got tocover.
Like we can definitely bring youin and have that covered.
I think I'm really excited that the the athletes that I have and

(01:40:23):
some of the ones that are comingin like they've grown so much
athletically and and personally too, but I now can't see that
group. Like, OK, we can think of not
just making a conference team and and maybe making a top 8 and
giving points for the team, but my 400 group and if my Atlas

(01:40:46):
here, they they won't be surprised.
It's probably one of my better, my better group, my 400, my
sprinters and my my triple jumpers are kind of like the the
better ones and not the better, the best.
They're also like the bigger ones that have like maybe six
men in the 400. I have 3 in the triple jump.

(01:41:06):
I've got a few sprinters here and there.
So and, and, and kind of just, that's where I've put a little
bit more effort and energy and recruiting and stuff that
because it's more viable for me both at conference and, and, and
having those people score and how that whereas like it's hard
for me to bring maybe just out ahigh jumper that only does a

(01:41:29):
high because that it's it's not going to be as I don't have a
lot of time to coach maybe that one event, one person.
So I'm really excited for the group that I have now for them
to start thinking more about waylike we can make a regional
meet. We can make a 4 by 4.
We can, we can do, we can not only win conference or like

(01:41:54):
we've set up a bunch of school records.
Mind you, they weren't very fastto begin with, but we've like
broken them little by little. And yeah, now have athletes that
are like pushing each other to like, hey, maybe we can get
individuals to a regional meet and hopefully a national meet at
one point. But yeah, I think I'm really
excited to get them in the mentality of like, oh, we're not

(01:42:18):
just like New England big because I don't know how you're
with New England, but people in New England have like a skew
vision sometimes of like where they are, especially in high
school. So I think they're realizing now
that like, oh, I'm not only New England good.
Like I can compete against like those big SEC schools and ACS in

(01:42:43):
like they can be more competitive in that area.
Yeah. So I'm really excited for them
to realize that and think of like, OK, this year my goal is
not only to win conference, but heck, if I don't, if I don't win
conference, like I should be able to make a regional me.
Yeah. So I think that's that's where
we are so. Yeah, setting expectations and

(01:43:03):
resetting expectations and just keep, you know, to use that high
jump as an example, just keepingraising the bar.
If you're not raising the bar, well, we're not, we're not
getting better. So you're just raising the bar
for the program and what's expected.
And you know, and that that takes steps.
You don't go from today to yeah,we want to win the national
championships. Like, well, you know, that's,
that's a whole different stratumon your bar, my friend.
You need to start winning conference 1st and then come off

(01:43:24):
after regionals, winning regionals, etcetera.
So that's good, man. That's what that's what good
coaches do. So you're on the right path, the
right track, if you will. You know, Pablo, it, it struck
me earlier something you said when you were talking about
during your coaching and coaching search and you know,
maybe a little bit of, you know,my words here, life search as
far as you know, am I going to be a crazy bike rider?

(01:43:45):
Am I going to be a coach and am I going to work for Nike,
etcetera. You know, I've been doing this
podcast now for 5 1/2 years. So January of 2020 is when we
started and you mentioned about,you know, then I listened to
booze episode and you know, thatthat really helped me understand
of like, you know, I shouldn't just stay at FIU just to stay
because that's where my alma mater like, you know, I have to
grow and things like that. And that that meant a lot to me.

(01:44:08):
You know, we work hard at being bringing this weekly, you know,
people's stories, people, different people's backgrounds,
different levels of, of our sport, different successes and
however you define that. And so sometimes it's easy to
stay in my, you know, bubble and, you know, do these and
continue to do them every Mondayand things like that.

(01:44:29):
And sometimes forget like, oh, real people almost kind of like
that 200 track team of like, youknow, there's real people.
Joey's a real person, Sally's a real person, Pablo's a real
person that there are people that are listening to the show
that are listening to our guestsand their journeys and it's
affecting them in positive manners.
And so that just gives me like, I appreciate you telling that

(01:44:49):
because it gives me more continued motivation to, to do
this. You know, this is, I've said it
many times, you know, this is ontop of everything else I have to
do. Like, you know, when I started
this podcast, they didn't say, oh, cool, Mike, you don't have
to do this anymore. But the podcast and it's like,
Nope, you got to do all that in,in the podcast.
So sometimes it's hard. It, it's, you know, I'm, I'm,
when we're recording this, I'm about next week, I'll start and

(01:45:10):
I'll be on the road in the next 8 weeks.
I'll be on the road about 6 1/2 of those.
And so that's hard. Like, so I can't record during
that time, right? So I've got to like, build these
up and that, you know, that takes more time of taking away
from the meetings. I have to do the, you know,
talking with coaches about theirfacilities and things like that.
But your story, your experience reminded me that it is all worth

(01:45:33):
it, you know, to take that time,you know, for Boo specifically.
So we record this, as, you know,during working hours, right?
So 8:00 in the morning till 5:00at night.
And you know, I, I have a studiohere that if you're on YouTube,
you see, you know, we actually have a kind of a neat little set
up here that they allow me to dothis.
And I don't do it because I've been working really hard the

(01:45:54):
past several years of like when works over, works over.
You know, Pablo, if you call me 8:00 at night, ain't nothing I
can do for you, brother. You know, I can't ship anything.
I can't, I can't do anything. You know, I can't fix anything.
So I can't even like, walk you through like if something went
wrong or whatever. So probably you call me 8:00,
you're going to get a voicemail.I'll get to the next morning.
Sorry, not sorry. I guess I don't know.
So when Boo and I were talking, he's like, oh, yeah, can we do

(01:46:17):
it, you know, at 7:00 at night? And I was like, Boo, I really, I
got, you know, that's family ties.
So I'm at the house. You know, I was like, really?
He's like, yeah, I just sorry, Ican't, you know, my schedule,
blah, blah. And I was like, you know what,
Boo, because he was my mentor coaching.
So, you know, he means a lot to me personally and
professionally. And so I was like, you know
what, for you, I will. And so, you know, I didn't have
family time that night. We spent two hours at night

(01:46:37):
doing that. And now again, I just say it was
all worth it because it helped you positively.
And I know there are thousands. I mean, that's a huge episode
for us and it's deservedly so. There's thousands of others that
have listened and had other positive experiences from his
story and the other 300 plus individuals here.
So I just, I just kind of made me think a little bit like, oh

(01:46:57):
man, you know, this has been going on for 5 1/2 years now.
So there are people who, you know, we we have one individual,
Sam, who reached out when he wasa college athlete and he said,
Hey, I want to be a college coach.
I listen to your podcast. I wanted to know, you know, can
I ask you some questions? And you know, you know, you know
me, Pablo, I was like, sure, canI record it?
I want to put it on the show. So like, I have this time

(01:47:18):
capsule, this kid, he's not a kid anymore.
When he was an undergrad wantingto be a coach.
And now he's coaching Jacksonville College down in
Texas, a JUCO down there doing athey're signing a recruiting
class that they've never signed down there.
They're doing a great job. And 10 years from now, he's
going to be the assistant coach at University of Maine or you
know what I'm saying? Like it just, it just kind of
struck me a little bit of like, wow, this program has been going

(01:47:38):
on long enough that undergrads have become full time coaches.
People have, you know, at the infancy of their career have
been affected positively by it. So I just, I just want to say
thanks for sharing that. It really meant something to me.
No one else is going to think out of that, but I did.
So I'm just, I'm really gratefulfor that.
Pablo, thank you. Thank you.
Oh, yeah, it's it's one of the part like track podcasts that I

(01:48:00):
follow regularly because of that.
Because again, like anybody can take a class for track.
Not anybody, but you can take a class, buy a book and kind of
see, OK, this is what it works. This is the pace, this is the
rest. This is the, yeah, I'll try
that. But in terms of career and how
people got to where they are, you get to see so many different

(01:48:23):
perspectives and see, well, theydid that, I should have done
that, or maybe I could do that or see.
And they also speak about their mistakes or things that they
should have or should have done.That's right.
It gives you a lot more of AI would say there's the podcasts
and and track podcasts are like a class and you're like, this is

(01:48:44):
a little bit more like you're sitting down with a mentor and
like, OK, this, this is like a aa lot more.
It's not just technical stuff. That's right.
And that's why, you know, we're very intentional that, you know,
there's other great track and field podcast and you know, I'm
I'm a big fan of anything that helps our sport, right?
Like I even invited, I invited every podcast that I could find

(01:49:05):
and you know, not everybody accepted the invitation, but we
had I think 2025 somewhere around that number podcast that
I featured on this podcast. Like I was like, hey, let me you
listen to our podcast. Maybe you might find a other
podcast that you might like. So I love those, but we
intentionally are the long form podcast where the hour, I mean,
we've been going hour and 45 at this point, right?

(01:49:26):
Like that's intentional because the details of your journey are
important, not just Oh yeah, I was a, you know, multi event
athlete in high school, went to FIU and then went to, you know,
helped out at FIU. And then I did this crazy bike
thing and then I went back to FIU and then I went to make
like, there's more to it. That's super important for
people to hear those journeys. So we're we're very intentional

(01:49:47):
with that. So it's almost like a symposium,
if you will, each one of the episodes.
Pablo, dude, thank you so much, man.
You know, you're busy. You're right in the middle of
trying. I mean, you're a championship
part part of the season and you know, who knows you, you maybe
you're coordinating some other bike ride or maybe you're going
to maybe you're going to become like a personal triathlete.
Maybe you're going to do some long swim down the Mississippi

(01:50:08):
River. I don't know.
I will not be surprised if I hear about you doing something
like that. I I won't be like, oh, yeah,
that's Pablo. That sounds, sounds like him
from what I know now. But I'm so grateful for you,
man. You know, the most expensive
thing, the most valuable thing that you can give me is your
time. And you know, I know in the
middle of tracks is not a great time to do it, but I'm very
grateful for you sitting down, being so open to authentic with

(01:50:31):
your journey because it's important and it's going to help
other people who listen to it aswell.
No, thank you. Thank you for the invite.
I appreciate it. It was fun talking about this
whole thing. So it's really fun to share that
and see kind of also just looking back, this is remind
reminds me of so many other things and yeah, it's really fun

(01:50:51):
to see that. I was like, I got to text my
coach and kind of how they're doing and.
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, so.
You know, I don't remember my reasoning or thought process
around calling it the Connections podcast, but I knew
there was something about like, how do I connect Pablo with the
world? Like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, you know, someone in Jacksonville, TX may not know

(01:51:13):
about Pablo for many reasons, because you're up in Maine and
they're in Texas and they're JUCO and you're juvon, all that
kind of stuff. But through the podcast, maybe I
can make that connection and I, I have had it.
It's been amazing. I've had many, many emails,
texts saying, Oh man, hey, I heard so much so and so story
and I reached out because of that.
That's huge to me. That's, that's the connections
part. So I'm so glad that it makes you

(01:51:33):
think about like, oh, maybe I need to reach back out.
Haven't talked to so and so in awhile that that is important and
you're busy and they understand that.
But you know, it is important toto keep those connections alive.
So man, Pablo, thank you again so much for being here.
Just super grateful for you. Big fan of you guys and your new
facility. I'm grateful for what you know,
that partnership we've had with that and just excited for your
future as well. Not only me, but you.

(01:51:55):
You're yourself, Pablo. Appreciate the same.
I hope hope to listen to it oncethey come out, but you
appreciate it. You will you'll be on a bike
ride somewhere. All right guys, thank you so
much for being here. This was a lot of fun man.
You know, I love young coaches who, you know, quote, UN quote,
haven't done anything yet because I, I get that a lot.
Every once in awhile when I'll invite a coach who's young, I'll

(01:52:16):
hear the response of like, well,I'm not, I'm not sure I'm worthy
of it yet at this point. Michael, first of all, I love
that they think that this podcast is that elevated that
you have to be worthy. But first of all, you're a track
coach. So you are automatically worthy
because you have something to help the coaching community
learn from. Whether it's your first year
coaching or your 100th year coaching, you have something to
give. There are perspectives that are,

(01:52:37):
I think are super, super important and I'm hearing the
feedback all the time in regardsto, you know, connections,
hearing this person's story. We've had recruits and their
parents who have listened to your story here on the podcast
before and that's how they choseto go visit.
I've had coaches tell me that recruits are visiting them
because they've been on the show.
I mean, that's I love that I just continue to build up the

(01:52:57):
coaching community and I'm so grateful to be in the seat that
I am and help steward that in your your journeys out there.
So I appreciate you guys. We are still in the midst of our
Gillights and 18 project. That's going to be a year long,
years long. That's just part of our podcast
now. So I think this will, you're
probably listening to this in June.
Hopefully we're still getting submissions.
Your voice matters. Please, please, please reach out

(01:53:19):
to me to record your own 10 to 30 minute podcast on that.
And we'll talk more about that when you reach out.
But I'm just so glad and grateful for you.
So we'll we'll leave it there and join us next week.
We'll do it all over again and join us tomorrow for the GO 1918
project. Thanks guys.

(01:53:39):
The goals to appreciate the coach the ones that point people
most every season needs a voice of reason speaking the growth
you got to bet before you carry the load ice coffee to the soul.
For those of us stay on the go proper handoff to stay in the
zone which you packing for the road.
There's more than one way to go taking notes that's paying your
toe. It ain't practice if your
purpose Saint Clair. It can't happen until you listen

(01:54:01):
with both is can't mentor without a mentor of years of
experience. You can reinvent those years
Every plan's got to stand and deliver to and the price
sacrifice can you give up you. It's a choice and a fight, not a
win or lose. It's not a ploy boy device.
Y'all can make more moves. It's not about how to it's all
about why. You don't know till you know who
you are inside 6 when you waste of time choose none.

(01:54:24):
So y'all cross finish line. The work ain't done so we learn
from the experts but y'all got to put in the network.
Guild athletics use the network.It's all about connections put
together for the profession to where every track coach could be
blessing.

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