When I started run coaching in January, I knew that my passion was to help women discover the joy of running.  As soon as I became a certified run coach, I started offering my services to whoever wanted to be my guinea pig.  I’m thankful for everyone who has trusted me enough to be their run coach so far.  I’ve learned so much through each of my athletes already and can’t wait to continue my journey!

Cara was one of my first guinea pigs. The first time she came out to our run crew, she had an asthma attack at 2k and couldn’t complete the 5k group run. Thankfully, the leader of the group stayed with her and encouraged her to come back the next week (thanks Asma!). 

I coached Cara to run her first 10k and I’m so proud of her progress! In just 3 months, she went from not being able to keep up with the 5k group to being able to complete the Sporting Life 10k.  During her 13-week training, she consistently ran 3 times a week and did 1 strength training session per week, all according to the training plan that I built for her. Even when it was cold, windy, raining, she still went out and got it done. She challenged herself with hills and strides. She increased the run intervals according to the plan even when it was hard. Each week, I could see her confidence grow as she completed longer and longer runs and running even became fun!

Thanks Cara for allowing me to be a part of your journey and for allowing me to share your story. I hope that your story will inspire others who may be holding back because of limiting beliefs about themselves. You are proof positive that consistency and hard work are the keys to accomplishing challenging goals. It has been such a joy to see you develop as a runner and I can’t wait to see you crush your next goal!

From Cara:

Ever since I was in elementary school struggling through relay racing and cross country running, I had a belief that I was not good at running, and thought that I could never become somebody that lived an active lifestyle. With the pandemic and feeling especially sluggish, I met Joyce through We Run North York (WRNY) run group, and she transformed this belief. I had an asthma attack on my first run with the run group, and could not finish the route. Given Joyce and many WRNY members’ encouragement, I ended up signing up for the Sporting Life 10K. Joyce began training me in February 2022 for my race in May 2022. The journey has been incredible.

Joyce has been with me every step of the way and I have never felt so supported and empowered in setting and achieving a goal for my physical health. Joyce created an extensive training plan for me based on my needs, checked-in with me weekly, and even ran with me; her encouragement and support put me in the best position to complete the Sporting Life 10K. She understands that she can coach someone, but respects each person’s autonomy, which I really appreciated. Her positive energy and passion for running gives her the edge as a run coach, which is underscored by the most important thing — she really cares about you and your journey. She believes in you, and wants you to excel. As someone who is a planner, I loved that Joyce is super organized, detail-oriented, and she always updated my training plan based on what I communicated to her. She is also pretty hilarious, which makes things fun.

At the Sporting Life 10K, I began the race feeling nervous, but could remember all the training and guidance that Joyce provided me with, and I knew I could do it. Every step of my race, I could see how the training plan that Joyce created for me set me up to succeed. Echoes of Joyce’s constant “hills are good for you!” and “you got this, Cara!” and “don’t go too fast at the beginning!” went through my mind as I ran the 10K, and I could see how intentional her coaching was. Joyce was even there to cheer me on, and ran with me for a little bit at the 9K mark. My goal was to be able to finish the race by alternating 10 min runs with 1 min walks, and I was able to do this successfully – even sprinting past 5 people to get to the finish line.

I am beyond grateful that I happened upon such an amazing run coach, and phenomenal human being. Joyce helped me realize that my belief around running prevented me from achieving something like a 10K. Never in my life did I think that I could do something like this. Now, she’s passed on the running bug to me, and I can’t wait to do my next 10K race. Maybe one day I’ll even do a half-marathon? Who knows? Joyce has given me the confidence and inspired me to reach for the stars in terms of my physical health goals.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, Joyce.