NRC in Vancouver, B.C. Recap

It was an exciting week for NRC events: Tina travelled to Vancouver, B.C. to spread the word about Natural Running. The purpose of the trip was to share the fundamentals of Natural Running and the benefits of minimal footwear through a couple of coaching events for local VIVOBAREFOOT retailers. As a VIVOBAREFOOT Certified Coach and a reviewer of minimal footwear, I could have spent a week in Vancouver and still had stuff to talk about. On to the details of the trip…

I arrived Monday morning to beautiful sunshine, which apparently is a real treat in Vancouver this time of year. My lovely host, Jennifer from Precious Guise, picked me up from the airport and we headed to their showroom and offices, where I met James Precious, the president and founder of the company. We immediately dove into the material. James and Jennifer were eager listeners and fast learners. We spent the afternoon talking about minimal footwear and the evolution of the minimal footwear industry. It was great for me to share some of the topics that I’m so very passionate about.

In the evening, we travelled to Runner’s Den in Port Moody for a staff presentation on Natural Running. Everyone was keen to learn and they asked excellent questions. I demonstrated natural walking and explained how minimal footwear can benefit runners, not only while running, but also while walking in their daily lives to strengthen the muscles of their feet and increase proprioception. The staff at Runner’s Den clearly care about their customers’ overall well-being and health.

The next morning I spent catching up on coaching clients scheduling (One-on-One coaching sessions are extremely popular right now!) before the coaching events of the afternoon and evening. In the afternoon, I did some personal coaching with James and Jennifer who were both rockstar runners and learned Natural Running extremely fast. Their energy, eagerness, and enthusiasm made them easy students to coach.

In the evening, we travelled to Distance Runwear for an on-track, large group coaching event (you might notice on their website a couple of posts in regards to said coaching event on June 13 and June 20, 2012). It was my first event of this kind as my large group coaching is usually a presentation rather than an interactive, on-track running session but, after the initial jitters, I think it went really well. I talked about the biomechanics and skills of running as well as some of the causes of runners’ injuries based on the form they run with. A couple of the audience members were great sports for demonstrating two common forms of running. We all participated in practicing natural walking, jumping at 180 BPM, and then Natural Running. It was such a treat for me to see such a large group of runners all running with great form down the track! They were an excellent group of runners who asked great questions throughout and were so much fun for me coach.

I wanted to especially thank James and Jennifer for being most excellent hosts and making the trip so wonderful for me. It was a truly memorable and worthwhile trip. Thank you!

Here are some pictures from the on-track coaching event on June 19, 2012: