Antonio Vega Takes the Next Step

Antonio Vega

It was October of 2012.  Antonio Vega had just run within ten seconds of his personal best for 10-miles at the US Championships/Medtronic Twin Cities 10 mile.  He'd done if off of only 40 to 50 miles a week of training, less than half his usual load.  He'd spent the day before the Twin Cities race coaching the Holy Angels high school team, hardly the perfect pre-race routine.

The Team USA Minnesota runner who in 2010 had won the national championship in the half marathon, was the USA Running Circuit champion, and USATF men's LDR runner of the year appeared to be well on his way back from a series of stress fractures that had put his promising pro running career on hold.  Distance running is a tough way to make a living.  Former world marathon recordholder Steve Jones of Wales summed it up best when the press was fawning over his achievement of setting that world record and appearing to be invincible at a young age.

"Look," Jones said.  "I'm just a hamstring injury away from oblivion."  All runners, whether they are aiming for Olympic medals or merely recreational runners have a breaking point.  Unfortunately for Vega his was his hip, which soon after the Twin Cities race would break yet again, another stress fracture.  Vega's goal had been to run the Olympic Trials in Houston, but the series of stress fractures--three or four, he says, in the end he lost track--delivered the clear message, his professional running career was over.

Fortunately for Vega, he was wise enough not to "put all his eggs in one basket."  Like many of the Team USA Athletes, he'd worked as well as run.  He had the high school coaching job and a potentially more lucrative, but not too dissimilar opportunity. Vega had been doing personal coaching for an Iowa company, Zoom Performance.  The company specialized in providing guidance to triathletes and Vega became their running guy.

A kinesiology major at the University of Minnesota, Vega had planned to go back to school to study physical therapy, but his wife is in the midst of medical school, so Vega had to put that on hold and be the family "breadwinner."  He developed within Zoom what amounts to the running division.  Through "word of mouth" Vega built a client base that has reached 40 runners.  These are not elite level athletes, but rather recreational runners who want some help with training, motivation, and creating their own running programs.

It's for "the average person," says Vega.  It's also his way to "give back to the sport" where "you can make money at the same time."  While most coaching programs can be perceived as "intimidating," Vega's style is more personal and welcoming, getting to know the individual runner and provide them with the tools to achieve their goals.  "A lot of people start to realize that one-on-one(coaching) is priceless," Vega says.

As a coach Vega attempts to transfer what he's learned over the years to his pupils.  To give them the tools they need to succeed.  He's a teacher, a motivator, and enabler.  It's the opportunity to use the knowledge base he's accumulated over the years and  use it to help others achieve, help them get the satisfaction and lifetime benefits he believes the sport provides.

While others might see the demise of his own ambitions as a professional runner as the end, Vega just views it as a fork in the road, an opportunity to do something else.  He's still passionate about running and coaching is just another way of sharing that passion.  Vega has turned what could have been the loss of a running career into an opportunity to do something else he loves.  It's not the end of a major part of his life, just the next step in the journey.