Get to Know Ben Rosario
In our Question and Answer blogs, Nuun athletes/coaches introduce themselves to the Nuuniverse and (in their own words) dig a little deeper into their life as an athlete, muuver, and human!
+ Name/ Location/ Sport
Ben Rosario/Flagstaff, AZ/Distance Running
+ Can you tell us what drew you to coaching runners in the first place, and how your coaching approach has evolved over time?
I have coached athletes, in some capacity, my entire adult life. I’ve coached everyone from eight-year-olds to eighty-year-olds, beginners to professionals, and all ability levels in between. Over time I have learned that my high school coach, Jim Linhares, had it right when it came to coaching. Above all, you have to care.
+ When you’re not coaching and/or running, what’s your second favorite form of muuvment?
Tennis. I never turn down a request to play tennis, even if it’s just for a half hour. Any tennis is better than no tennis.
+ What’s the first thing you’re grabbing from your fridge after a killer workout?
A cold beverage. No, not a beer (unless it’s maybe a Friday evening!). Not just saying this, but mixing some NUUN Endurance in with a super cold glass of ice water really hits the spot.
+ Early Bird or Afternuun Owl? Walk us through a day in your life.
Early bird all the way. I rarely wake up past 6am and I always shoot right out of bed. I love going to practice every morning. I am most productive from there until about 3pm. That’s when I start to lose steam. If I can grind away until 5pm, that’s when I like to reward myself with a game of tennis or a round of pitch and putt golf with a buddy. Then it’s dinner and some family time before going to bed early. I hate staying up late.
+ Do you have any heroes/ idols/ mentors in the running arena?
Of course! As a high school runner, like so many, I idolized Steve Prefontaine. As a college runner I really loved how Adam Goucher trained and raced while he was at the University of Colorado. But now that I am a coach I tend to see other coaches as my mentors. I think back to so many lessons I learned from my high school coach and my college coach. I think a lot about what I learned from Kevin Hanson, not just about coaching, but about how to be a great businessman and a great dad. After that, there are too many others to list and I feel like I don’t want to leave anyone off the list.
+What’s your favorite Nuun flavor?
Strawberry Lemonade.
+ If we’re talking big dreams, how do you want to be remembered as a coach?
First of all I only care about how I am remembered by people that I actually worked with. But I hope those folks will remember me as someone who cared about them as people—not just as athletes, as someone who always had their best interest at heart, and as someone who believed in them in such a way that it helped them believe in themselves.
+ What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome as an athlete and/or a coach – mental or physical?
The biggest obstacle I have had to overcome as both an athlete and a coach is simply the stress that comes along with caring about something as much as I care about running. As much as so many runners care about running, at all levels. As it stands today, I am in a place where I am more pragmatic than I have ever been and that has really helped. However, the passion is still there because if you lose that you lose your edge, and I do not ever want to lose that.
+ Which of your athlete’s races are you most looking forward to this year?
That’s easy. Whoever is racing next! After that, it’ll be the next one, and so on.
+Anything else you want to say?
I would just say this; I love running but more so, I love the people that I’ve met through running. Runners are eclectic and yet so incredibly similar. All of us runners speak the same language, regardless of age, gender, race, income, nationality or just about any other label society may try to give us. I’ve seen doctors and lawyers become best of friends with contractors and lawn mowers, through running. I’ve seen relationships begin, and turn into marriages, through running. And I’ve seen so many individual lives changed, for the better, through running. In my experience, no one activity brings people together like running and no one activity has the power to give someone a second chance in life, like running. And for those reasons, all of us should be extremely grateful to be involved in this great sport.
