Our Athlete of the Week is Brian “Walt” Walter!
Walt was a baseball player all throughout high school and college. He began his running career as a form of punishment at practice. After college, Walt stumbled across a triathlon and thought to himself, “I can swim, I know how to ride a bike, I can run…” and the rest is history. He signed up for his first sprint in 2009 and has been competing in races ever since.
Walt decided to join Endorphin Fitness to improve his running and cycling. He also wanted to get ready to conquer his goal of completing an Ironman. Walt is approaching his 2-year Endorphin-versary in April. Walt says Endorphin Fitness has taught him to Be More by teaching him to push himself and enjoy the journey.
When it comes to race distances, Walt has done Sprints, Olympic, and Half-Ironman triathlons. He has also run 4 marathons and one 50k trail run. The Olympic and Half-Iron distances are his favorite triathlons and equally painful.
This year is off to a great start for Walt. He started working out with the adult team and meeting awesome people along the way. He also got his first TT bike, which he can’t wait to race on. This season, Walt would like to improve all areas of his triathlon and complete an Ironman. With triathlon, Walt’s favorite part is working on all 3 disciplines. “Variety is the spice of life, right?” says Walt.
Walt’s favorite race experience was this fall when he ran the NYC Marathon. Training had a lot of ups and downs for Walt, but he was able to toe the starting line and make it to the finish. There were so many people lining the streets cheering you on along the way and being able to run with people from all over the world was a highlight for Walt.
Showing up to a race about 5 minutes before transition close created a negative race experience for Walt. The same race the next year, he was doing a swim warm up and had stopped to adjust his goggles when he heard the national anthem. His wave was getting ready to start so he had to swim in to run to the first wave when they said go!
When we asked Walt about advice for beginners, he said, “As Lao Tsu said ‘The journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step’ Take steps towards your goals, Enjoy the journey of training and racing and appreciate even the smallest of victories.”
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