Heather and Jaime

I don’t think he remembers this, but I met my coach and friend Jaime about eight

or so years ago at an office party we hosted prior to the holidays. My wife

originally hired Jaime’s wife Heather as a Hospitalist at Presbyterian Hospital in

Albuquerque. At the time of the party Jaime and I were in very different places in

our lives. He was the photo editor for the Albuquerque Journal and I was an

educator on a leave of absence from the Albuquerque Public Schools in order to

be a stay at home Dad to my two kids. We talked briefly about photography. We

were brought together by a large size Harvey Caplin photograph of Canyon de

Chelly we had hanging in our living room. At the time I don’t think I even realized

he was a triathlete or a coach. He just seemed like a nice and personable guy

with a cool job.

Fast forward to the spring of 2012. My wife and family had relocated to Bend,

Oregon and had been there for two years. My wife received a call from Heather.

She was finishing up a fellowship in Rheumatology at The University of Arizona.

She and Jaime were coming up to Bend with their two girls to look at a

prospective job and to check out the community. We met them for drinks and

discussed life in Bend. At the time Jaime told me he coached triathletes and was

one himself. It didn’t occur to me at the time that this was the same person I had

discussed photography with years earlier in our kitchen. It was prior to my 50th

birthday. I was overweight, out of shape, at a low point in my life, and I couldn’t

fathom being a triathlete. Less than a week later I would look in the mirror,

decide things needed to change, and decided that perhaps a triathlon might help

me make the needed changes. I’m not sure if my meeting with Jaime had

anything to do with this change but I’d kind of like to think so.

Several months later we received word from Heather that she had accepted a

position with a practice in Bend. She and Jaime were excited about the move.

Right before their move we met up with Jaime and Heather again for dinner.

Things had changed considerably for me and I had set my triathlon goal and had

begun my training. Our meeting for dinner came after my first triathlon in Boise

and right before my next triathlon in Corvallis. It was also coming up right before

Jaime had a major long course race in Tempe and he was in his taper phase.

He and I spoke about his next race and I shared my thoughts on my first race

and my concerns about my first open water swim that I would be attempting later

in the year. Jaime gave me some pointers and at the end of the evening he

offered me his code for a steep discount on an XTERRA wetsuit so I could order

it in time for my open water swim. We walked from dinner over to the Deschutes

Brewhouse and had a beer and talked a bit more about triathlons and training. It

was a very different conversation than I had with him in Albuquerque - much

more in-depth and genuine.

I walked away that night with a greater appreciation and admiration for what

Jaime was doing. As you will discover in an upcoming blog, it made me look at

and question how serious I wanted to get with my training and how committed I

wanted to be in working towards my triathlon goal. That night as my wife and I

parted company with Jaime and Heather I thought long and hard about what he

and I had discussed. I thought about my goal and what I was doing in order to

make that happened. I came to the conclusion that perhaps I needed to explore

other options and take my level of commitment to a higher level. I had, by all

accounts, reached a turning point.