Why I Left My Corporate Career to Become a Running Coach
Hola from Barcelona!!
I’m here for the next week, visiting my best friend who is testing out whether Barcelona is her long-term home for herself and her daughter. If you have been around for a while, you know that Asia is the friend I ran my first marathon with. We also trained together, along with her ex husband and my husband, for our first Ironman. However, a few months after she got married, her husband asked for a divorce.
Asia completely changed her life — ultimately quitting her job, spending a year traveling through South America and Central America, and has lived in several different countries and cities over the last 9 years. I’ve visited her in Costa Rica, Mexico City, Cancun, Rome and now Barcelona. As someone who loves to travel internationally, this is quite a convenient “excuse” to travel internationally.
When we trained for that first marathon together, we were both in long term, serious relationships and working in corporate america.
Now, we’re living very different lives – she’s a single mom to a 4 year old, living in Barcelona, working as a consultant and heartbreak coach, and I’m happily married mom of 3 elementary aged girls, still living in Encinitas, with my own coaching business. We’ve gone in seemingly totally different directions but our friendship stays strong.
Two Very Different Paths After Our First Marathon
Asia’s personal pivot born of shock and devastation — discovering who she is and what she wants after dating someone for 10 years who suddenly & shockingly said goodbye.
10 years ago, I had my own pivot – leaving my corporate job and abandoning my CPA license to be a stay at home mom (and be a coach, but at that time it wasn’t paying me much).
Why I Left My Corporate Career
But deep down, I knew it was about more than being a stay at home mom – it was about the freedom of scheduling my own day (even if it was now around a baby’s nap schedule instead of that ops meeting), and the pursuit of a new career that actually felt like a calling – coaching.
The day I flew to Barcelona happened to also be a monumental milestone – 10 years since leaving the stable path and following my heart into uncertainty.
Finding My Calling as a Running Coach
I’ve loved being a coach from day 1 (photo from the early days below). I’ve always loved helping others dream bigger, creating plans, encouraging others, nerding out over running books & podcasts, and helping people become better versions of themselves.
How Running and Nutrition Changed My Life
My life & confidence has completely transformed thanks to running & nutrition, and it feels like a mission to help others.
Building a Coaching Career Around Family and Freedom
I’ve worked incredibly hard over these last 10 years, and I am thankful for a very successful coaching business that allows me to do the work I love AND pick my kids up after school, volunteer on their field trips, be a girl scout leader, and not stress if I get a call from the nurse and a kid needs to come home. And book a flight to Barcelona. 🙂
Celebrating 10 Years of Following My Heart
So this week, I’m not just celebrating how far I’ve come in these 10 years, but most importantly I’m expressing gratitude for a career I absolutely love and that’s completely changed me and the way my family does life.
Whether I’m your coach now, or you’ve been in Run Fuel or one of my accountability groups or part of my team in the past, or you’ve been reading my blog for the last 15 years, or you’ve only been on this email list for the last few months, THANK YOU. Thank you for your support, for taking the time to hear my thoughts, listen to my insights and for being part of my absolute dream job.
Happy running,
Nicole Dobransky
You must be logged in to post a comment.