Building a Running Community: Alfonzo Gonzalez and the Train Pegasus Journey

DFW Running Talk: Alfonso Gonzalez
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] Welcome to DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel. So let's get started.

All right, welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel, and today we have special guest Alfonso Gonzalez. Alfonso, how are you? Good, good. I'm glad to be here, Chris. I'm glad to have you, man. It's funny, as I was at a, I think it was a it was a running event or whatever, and I was picking up my shirt, and then I saw you at this event, and I thought, hey, I'm going to talk to this guy, because I've heard a lot about you.

You run Pegasus or at least, you have a group called Pegasus and a lot of fast runners and things like that. So one to say, Hey, and talk to you more today. How about that?

Alfonso: Yeah. Yeah. No, looking forward to it.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, me too. Tell me a little bit about you. Like you started running. You're right.

Tell me about yourself a little bit.

Alfonso: I want to say I started running probably in 2009. It's when I actually started one of my coworkers, she got me she was a runner. She asked, Hey let's go out for a run, Hey, let's do a running group. And she brought [00:01:00] me out to one of the Luke's Locker social runs that used to start at the Oakland location that you, before they moved to the SMU location.

That was my first social run. It didn't go well. I think I was struggling, of course. Of course. Especially for a six mile route that I wasn't expecting such a long run. For me, that was a long run. What was the most you did before that? Maybe three. Maybe three. Maybe three or four. Just about three or four.

That, that was a Yeah, I started to enjoy it started to enjoy it and I just kept going. And then they started meeting up during the week and I just kept at it and just tried to get a little bit better, more endurance, stamina being able to just to finish the social run without huffing and puffing.

So that, that was good. Did you start running for a reason, or were you just out of shape, or what was the no, I just, I just got invited to come run, and I just figured, hey, let's do this. I've, during high school, I played tennis, football, boxing, throughout school, but I figured, hey I think boxing is a really good, transition into running, because a lot of endurance you have to [00:02:00] Yes, I think that's the only way that helped me out finish those six miles, to be honest.

Chris Detzel: I always thought soccer players and now that you brought it up, boxers would be really good runners, yeah,

Alfonso: soccer players for sure. I play a little bit of soccer. Those guys can, they can run, they can do circles. Yeah,

Chris Detzel: they're running like five miles every time they get out there to either practice, get in the game.

Those things, even sprinting sometimes. Sprinting,

Alfonso: I want to say sprinting for sure. I feel like they're sprinting the entire time.

Chris Detzel: You're well known around the DFW area from a, your group is called Pegasus. Is that

Alfonso: right? Yes. Yes. Train Pegasus. A lot of people call it Pegasus, but yes.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

I've heard a lot about you guys just from other runners that have been on this podcast. And so I was very intrigued to hear more about what you guys are doing. You started running and tying, were you part of Pegasus or was

Alfonso: it

Chris Detzel: different? No,

Alfonso: that was back then we were just running with Luke's Vlogger program, just trying to run my first marathon that year.

So we were learning. Pegasus came around probably in 2019. The way it got started was I was coaching a few runners. I was running with other, running, [00:03:00] other running clubs, mostly Nomad. At the time, but they're a lot faster group. So some of the runners weren't going to be able to pick up, stay with us at that pace.

So they're all spread out and then they figured, Hey, why don't we, create a group and, some of your athletes can just, run together since you train us all. But that's how it got started. We started with Strava and then they were thinking of, names to call it, went from like iPhones train to train Pegasus.

I didn't want to have my name. We did have some singlets that did have them maybe first batch, but it was like more to test the the singlets. But then we changed it to a train fixes. I just. Didn't want to have my name attached because I wanted it to be more of a community, not just my athletes, where people, cause that's the way I've always run was with multiple groups, cross training from other groups, just coming in.

A while back, I think when I first started trying to get faster, I was running with Dallas running project at the time and that's where I met Nick Pulido, Stiff Pichner, Jason Truvino. Andrew Devereaux, Logan. I've heard of all those people, yeah. And [00:04:00] Jen Frankman and Don Gronigal, that's where I met that, that group there, DRP for short.

So you started Train

Chris Detzel: Pegasus because you had, you were coaching athletes at first and then you were like I don't want to call it funds or whatever. Yes. So you came up with the name and then you started inviting other people that are not necessarily training with you per se or is it one of your, you're not coaching?

Okay. Now, how'd you get into coaching? Like before all that, when did you start that? And then what?

Alfonso: Said, Hey, I should be a coach. That wasn't something I even considered, during the Luke's lockers, when we had marathon training, we had sprint to 5k, I started coaching for Luke's locker during that time.

And I call it volunteer coach, but we had our group. So I was there for maybe three. Maybe three or four years of doing that. Then I left Luke's to try to, I wanted to set a PR to where I could get into Boston because through the program I was able to qualify, but not enough cushion time to get into Boston.

So I wanted to run with Dodge running projects since they were a fast group. I wanted to start running with them on the [00:05:00] weekends just to get faster and learn from those guys who've, were already fast, faster than me. It's a fun way to do it, right? Yeah. Just start running with faster people.

Just chase people. That's all it was. It was chasing for a couple of years. Inspire you a little bit and focus.

Chris Detzel: I like it.

Alfonso: Yes. And then A couple of the two of the three of the girls that I was coaching during the five K half marathon training, spring training, they had reached out since they were in my group and I was their coach during that time, they reached out if I would coach him and I'm like, sure, they were, they wanted to go to Boston.

They want to be Boston qualifiers. So they were running about four hours. At the time we got them to five minutes over their Boston qualifier. That's how the referral started coming in after they qualified for Boston. A lot of people were like, how'd you do it? Who's coaching you?

It's always been something you

Chris Detzel: pursued though.

Alfonso: It was just like.

Chris Detzel: Hey, here's this dude that really helped me get to Boston. You should talk to him.

Alfonso: Yeah, that's how it started. It didn't happen overnight, just over the year started happening. I do a lot of pacing. So anytime I get a chance to pace, I've met a lot of people that way too.

[00:06:00] I would ask like. Do you coach? I'm like, yes, I do. And they'll reach out to me to the Instagram. But yeah, I had no I didn't think of what pegs is today or the athletes, the amount of athletes I coach today, that wasn't something I pursued. I just happened by referral.

And I assume you have a full time job, right? Like besides, I do, I do, but coaching is like a full time job as well.

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Alfonso: it is a full time job. I feel like it's of course, what do you do for a living? Just out of curiosity, I've been working for AT& T for probably 20 plus years. 20 plus years.

What do you do for them? What's the, I'm an account manager. So I'm in the connected communities department right now. I'm over central Dallas. Pretty much if you have a contract with AT& T or single home or an apartment I'm the one that keeps a relationship with the ownership and the leasing staff.

Chris Detzel: Okay,

Alfonso: cool. It's funny because.

Chris Detzel: I always wondered, like if as a running coach, there's got to be like, yes, it's a full time job for you as well, but, can you ever stop doing your job, like your full time job to do, is that something that at some point you would want, you think about, or is [00:07:00] it just eh, I'll just keep doing it on the side and,

Alfonso: that is something I probably would want to when the time's right, I think that's something I would probably want to do full time. Okay. When the time comes, that would be something, because I get a lot of people that want more one on one training, and that's something I can't do with a full time job.

I'm like, I can't, train an amount of people during, throughout the day and help them. I just give them that personal training. How many people do you train today? Like right now, actively right now, I would say about 75, but I've, I want to say I've coached probably over 200. I for, I do my best to force them to.

Take a break after their marathons because a lot of them, they want to continue the training, but also you can have a break. Yeah, so I exactly that's my that's that's the truth behind it so I can have a break.

Chris Detzel: Wow,

Alfonso: I didn't know you had that many. I was thinking you were gonna say 20 or 30.

That's

Chris Detzel: pretty impressive.

Alfonso: Yeah, I have a few in Canada, Mexico and throughout the states as well.

Chris Detzel: What do you do? Just like virtual stuff? What does

Alfonso: your training look like? What is it? It's mostly virtual. I think it's [00:08:00] more virtual. There's a few people that I, I consider tier two where I do bi weekly check ins and go over their other weekly runs or workouts.

Try to focus on where I can help them get a little bit better or where they're struggling, try to pinpoint it. Oh, is

Chris Detzel: it mostly marathon training that, or do you do halves or

Alfonso: what's from one mile to the full marathon? A few ultra, a few trail runners. I've trained a few high schoolers too, that parents have, just found me.

They just want to get their kids to break that five minute mark for college purposes. I feel like you don't really need marketing. It just comes now too, like you probably have too many people coming, right? No yes. Yeah. I get probably maybe anywhere from two to five referrals per weekly.

I just make sure I'm the right fit for them to also learn to. Pass on other runners to other coaches too just depending what they're looking for. How long have you been doing this? Since 2019? 18? Yeah, I want to say

Chris Detzel: 2019. Yes, 2019. It just starts funneling in. What, you must be, people really seem to [00:09:00] like you.

What's your specialty? Like why are people just flocking

Alfonso: over to you? I love it. I like to ask that question too. That's my one number one question. Like, how'd you hear about me? It's always a referral. It's, I want to say my runners have all been a hundred percent a referral.

They like me keeping it simple. A lot of the people that just want to go to Boston, want to set PRs they just like simple. What does

Chris Detzel: your training program look like? What's the I believe

Alfonso: in the 20 80 rule, 80 percent easy, 20%, hard. So I'm a big believer in that style.

So I think recovery is very important. I think a lot of people get shocked when they see me running 11 minute miles to, 12, sometimes 10, 30. But I spent a lot of time doing that. And I know we were talking about Jose Lopez on Saturday, and he always reminds you of that person. Cause he's a, he's a great runner, super fast, but you never really see him do much speed work.

Chris Detzel: And I get to run with him. I run with him now every Sunday, him and his group of folks. And one of the things he told me was look. I'm in this sport now [00:10:00] for longevity and he goes, and the way I think he does it is he'll run a lot of slow miles. He's running 60, a lot.

So he's running 60 or 70 miles a week whenever he's maybe sometimes more whenever he's training for a marathon. So he'll be at Cal town this weekend of this podcast come out by then, but he's going to run the Cal town. And I think for him, speed work comes in more races. So I'll do some five Ks, 10 Ks.

He'll get with Plano and run with them. He'll run DRC races. He'll, I think that's where he, seems like that's where he gets his speed. But he also does he'll do road, but he'll go to this one area that has woods and stuff like that, some trail like stuff. Not hardcore, but he'll run a ton of miles on Norbok.

At Norfolk park, and,

Alfonso: So it gets a little bit of different types of training, terrain. Yeah. No, I think that's definitely real good to do that. So yeah. Yeah. Now tell me let's go back

Chris Detzel: to your journey. So I'm so super interesting that all these people like love you as a coach and I've heard that.

So that's why I wanted to have you on. It was like. Who's a [00:11:00] Salfonzo guy, but you go back and you started training for, let's say a marathon, how did that go? And then tell me where you are today. Like from a marathon stamp, marathon, where's even, is that your race? You know what?

Alfonso: I don't know.

Do you like has fulls? What's I like the marathon. I like the marathon. I really can't say that I put a lot, I put more effort now, more in coaching my runners, but not only that, but, we had my Monday through Sunday, uh, runs weekly runs. Every day. And then we also Can you go to these runs every day?

Yes, except when it's cold they, I have perfect attendance when it's a hundred degrees, but once we start getting into 30 people have learned over the years that my perfect attendance goes down, my mileage goes down but we do get a lot of, I can show up for a tempo run where I plan to run with people, but then if someone new comes to the run I will stay back.

Okay. And make sure that they don't get lost. I want them to feel welcome. So that's more important to me. The run community comes first. So I will put my workout to the side and run with somebody. So they feel comfortable. But if they have someone, but if they have somebody they can run with, that's great.

But if not, then [00:12:00] I'll sit back and I always encourage them to come back. But that's what we have for, we have Monday. So we have the Monday, the Friday, and the Wednesday run and the Sunday run where it's four miles, sometimes three. They're starting to pick up a lot. We're starting, those are starting to be big attendee days now.

Chris Detzel: What where do you meet?

Alfonso: I would be here at Starbucks. Starbucks on Knox Street. On where? At Knox Street. Okay, got it. And then on Wednesdays, we join the Luke's Run at 6 a. m. So that's a good spot to go to as well. All right. Let's go. Let's go back to your journey, buddy. Yeah, I want to hear about your marathon run, when you

Chris Detzel: first started running marathons and stuff.

Alfonso: I first started running marathons. Of course, Dallas was my first marathon and that was I want to say that was 2009 or 2010, I want to say I have to go look at it, but I'm pretty sure it's 2009. That was my first marathon. It was probably, barely right under four hours, I want to say.

Probably right under four hours. That's normal, it was rough. I didn't want to run again, to be honest. It took me You felt like me. Yeah, I remember [00:13:00] sitting after I finished a set against the at this time, it was at the American Airline Centers when it started, so I remember just sitting at the Putting my back against, sitting down against the building and just, it took me a long time to, before I even decided to stand.

So it's yeah, that, that was my first marathon and I figured it would be my last as well. But then my the person that got me into running Randy Burnett, she, she's let's go do another one. And I think after that it was I want to say it was probably the new, the rock and roll New Orleans or New Orleans run was probably my second one.

It might have been Austin to go back and look, but they didn't go as good as either really. I think no, a bad

Chris Detzel: marathon.

Alfonso: The first one wasn't bad. It was just your first. And then, yeah, I think the second one or third one was even I struggle even more. Yeah. More. It was more than the first.

Chris Detzel: I think that's good.

If you look back at that, you kinda understand what it's like to struggle. And then, for your runners that you talk to, you have some compassion for them. It's not like all of a sudden. You just was this amazing

Alfonso: [00:14:00] marathon runner when you first started, no, not at all.

And I still have once a year I try to run at least a good marathon. I think a lot of people notice that I don't get bummed if I don't do well I give it a shot. I don't try to go, Hey, I don't go out there trying to look for another race. There's always next year. I'll take the L and we'll work on next year.

It wasn't my season. It wasn't my year. I enjoy running, but You just do one a

Chris Detzel: year, or?

Alfonso: No, I do a lot of pacing but I put effort into, I try to put one effort one race per year, where I just put effort I've been, I'm gonna try Boston, it's gonna be my effort run this year.

It's it's going to be a tough one. I had Berlin later on this year as well, but I think that's going to be more about the star, but yeah, I know you have all

Chris Detzel: seven. Are you going to get, are you trying to get six, seven stars or is it?

Alfonso: Yeah. You know what that's the plan. I ran New York. I got into New York this last year.

I ran New York for the first time. And so I got that one. And then Berlin had a qualifying time. So I had a good qualifier. So I got into that. My next one after Berlin, I'm gonna try to if I can get into London and then Tokyo would be the next two. The tough [00:15:00] ones. Yeah, the two tough ones.

Yeah, so those are we'll see what happens. There's Australia now, yeah, no, yeah, Sydney too. Yeah, I wish I would have took their offer then, but it wasn't part of the major. So I wasn't sure if it counted during that time. Of course there have been majors, you get their kind and they'll send you along.

If you're in the top age group, they'll send you some At least a guaranteed entry. What's your best marathon? I would say CIM 2 42 40, okay. Two 40. Is that kinda where you are today? Is that Yeah, two 40. I think my range is probably the last two that I've offered was 2 40, 2 42 consistent, 2 45 or 40, anywhere from 2 43 to 2 45 is usually my consistent pace.

And you're, are you masters shit or no? Oh yeah. I'm Masters. I'm a, I'm 45, so definitely. Okay. I ran Houston this year. I paced a couple of my runners. So they wanted to break a sub 250. So that was a marathon recently ran for New York. That's

Chris Detzel: pretty impressive. 250. Yeah. Wow. I talked to what's his name?

He won the Masters Houston. I forgot his name, but I just, he it'll be on the podcast coming up. But [00:16:00] yeah that's pretty cool. So you've got. Runners that are running 250 and you actually pace them.

Alfonso: Yeah. I pace them. They did anywhere from 248 and above. I've had a few that go under 245.

I prefer to pace, pace my runners if I can. As long as I'm in shape. I love that. You

Chris Detzel: were telling me before we got on, you were, you're running CalTown and you're pacing in three hours.

Alfonso: Yeah. Three hours. Yeah. I've paced probably CalTown the last maybe four or five years in a row.

It's a great race. It's probably, I'm probably going to get Legacy the way I keep going there, hopefully. What's Legacy? What's that? I think it's after you run Kowtown either the half or the full ten times. Okay. Maybe they give you Legacy. Did they keep track? Because I know I've run that thing at least ten times.

I think they asked me, I was like, I don't know I know I've run

Chris Detzel: it like,

Alfonso: Yeah, I know they have a legacy section. I think they might confirm through there. I haven't looked because I know I've only run six total with a half, but that's a fun race I've been doing. That's become tradition to be a pacer there.

My plan was just to do the half is when I reached out, I was like, Hey, I want to do the half. [00:17:00] Okay, great. And then there hasn't been many pacers this year. So yeah Hey, I'll take one for the team. And three hours. It is. I think last year it was 305. But right now, we're just looking for pacers, because right now, I think there's one 255.

Then I'm the three hours, there's no 305, there's no 310, there's no 315, and then the next one is 320, which is Ray, and I think you got Paul Wells as the 255, from what I see. Those are

Chris Detzel: really fast, so I'm sure those are really hard to find,

Alfonso: Yeah. Yeah, I'll I think Logan Sharma's gonna run a little bit with me too.

I'll have his company for a while. That's good. So it'll be good to have him.

Chris Detzel: Have you run with him before?

Alfonso: Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, I've actually he got me, I think Houston 2020. We ran with the b standard, the Olympic b standard for the women. So he was the official pacer for 245. I wasn't sure what I was going to do and I remember him just saying, Hey, why don't you help me?

So I was like, sure. So I hopped on that train with him and that was a good [00:18:00] experience to, to run with him. And he's a legend

Chris Detzel: here in Dallas.

Alfonso: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I think my first 5k I ever won, he was. In the race. And he let me win right before we crossed the line. He let me win. He let me win. He turned back around and went to go help some other runners.

But yeah, he's a great guy.

Chris Detzel: Did he really let you win?

Alfonso: No, he let me win. Wow. He let me win. He said, go ahead. I'm going to go back. That's all. So I was like, that is nice. I can't believe it. Yeah. Yeah. He just just having a show that's yours to go. I'm going to go. He started running backwards looking for a friend.

He said, I'm just going to go look for a friend. You just keep going. Wow, super nice guy.

Chris Detzel: I mean your 5k has got to be pretty fast. I assume

Alfonso: it's right in there I have to go back look, but I think it's right at 17 or right under 6 under 17.

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Alfonso: I haven't run 5k It's probably only run maybe 3 5k it's run in the last 6 years or so, maybe 7 But yeah, 5k is a tough man.

I don't know if you think that same thing, but

Chris Detzel: I

Alfonso: feel I do [00:19:00]

Chris Detzel: You know, at least a half marathon or marathon, you can get in a groove and things like that.

Alfonso: 5k just feels like a sprint all the way till the end. Oh, and the one miles even that's even something else.

Chris Detzel: I'm sure the one miles are off.

Alfonso: It feels like I ran a half or a marathon.

That's the way I feel. It's just it's something else.

Chris Detzel: There was a race this last weekend called four falls fitness. And, I think the first place person won or got 16 50s. I forget exactly in the second. It's 1701. There's some pretty

Alfonso: fast people

Chris Detzel: here,

Alfonso: No, absolutely.

I definitely agree. I think we're just getting even more faster. I feel like every time I turn the corner, there's someone new and someone running faster, setting PRs. It's like the guy that won

Chris Detzel: Dallas this year. It's his first marathon. Yeah. And, his first, look, he was, he's a, he was an elite athlete, went to college, just got out of college.

They were, he said he was running, his name's Travis, but he was running, um, 60 or 70 miles anyways, just for 5Ks and four miles, and he goes what's next? So let me try the marathon and just

Alfonso: [00:20:00] Trained for that and won it. Yeah, that's a, it's amazing. That's talent as well.

But yeah, he puts it, he puts in the work on top of that. So amazing.

Chris Detzel: You have to put the work in, to run that fast, but it's not like that was new to him, right? These college athletes know what it's like to. Put in the work, they just don't know what's next after college.

Alfonso: Yeah, we've had several people throughout the week or some of our rents that'll come by and they just got to, they got that background from college and they. They're so fast. Yeah how many people are in the Pexis group? Like, how many people show up during the week? No, I think Mondays and Fridays is starting to get to where it's, anywhere from 20 to 30 now.

Wednesdays, it's a mixed group there. I think you can get 60 to 80 there sometimes on Luke's run. But on Saturdays, I would say I think a lot of people come for Tuesday, maybe Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays. We can get anywhere from 30 to 40 more when people like if the co op's there or if the completely slots are there, but if racetrack club comes, even the Lake [00:21:00] Highlands track club, sometimes, we're all mixed in, we've all run together in the past.

So it just varies on who comes, but we did get a good turnout overall. You

Chris Detzel: seem to have, so one of the things I always think about is the community of runners and just if you look at Dallas, Fort Worth area. It's huge. There's so many groups out there, and I love seeing that and what you guys are doing is really cool.

What's your, cause you think of the love of running, the love of the community. Obviously you have some passion for that. Can we talk about that?

Alfonso: No, I just, it's just something I've always enjoyed. I think it, not only that, but I think it's a good stress. It's, I feel leaving work at home and just being stress free.

That's one, one of my. Many things that one of maybe three things that I like to do where I just enjoy it and then helping, helping others that want to get to a level where I used to be at, where they're just starting, getting them there, getting them to that one mile, getting them to the second mile, the third mile, as long as they keep coming, that's just, it's just something about it that I've always enjoyed.

Just, it's just peaceful and relaxing. I enjoy it. I love how you done it [00:22:00] longterm,

Chris Detzel: right? You. Just not stopped, right? It's hard because you have a full time job and I'm sure you have obligations at the house and things like that. And then just consistently bring in people.

You're coaching people. Now you've been doing that for a while, and then. When you think of like just going there every week, four or five times a week, you're going to meet people to run and just keep that community going. And you should be proud of what you've accomplished in the community.

Alfonso: It's pretty amazing. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. I think it's yeah, it does. One thing too, is every time I get someone new that it's going to come for the first time, I make sure I'm there and make sure they feel welcome. So if they reach out, it's going to be their first time. I'm.

Chris Detzel: What do they just send you?

Are you guys just mostly on Instagram or what's the

Alfonso: Instagram. Yeah, it's Instagram. Astrava. They usually send a DM or they'll send an email or they'll find the website. Yeah, we get a lot of emails for coaching or asking, can anybody come people from, Austin who hear about the group that run in the past, Oklahoma, anytime they reach out, just try to put them, try to find out what pace they are and try to put them with [00:23:00] somebody that's going to be able to run with them.

And if, if we don't have somebody at that pace and then I'll refer them to another running group where they're going to benefit more as well. So it's it's also make sure coordinate as well, put them with the right, if we're not the right fit, put them with the right fit. Right group.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

First when I was first talking to you, I thought one Pegasus just a really fast or train Pegasus just a really fast group only, but it sounds if you're running 10 or 11 minute miles at times, right? That's. Sounds like it's for most people,

Alfonso: At any level

Chris Detzel: almost,

Alfonso: right? Yes. Is that right?

No, yeah. It's just probably for anybody. But I do let them know that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and Sundays are where it's going to be more laid back, more social, more 10 30. But Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the people that come, they're there to clock in. That's what I say. They're clocking in.

They're going to put to work. It's They're serious. They're serious. So yeah, we've gotten a lot. Cause like you said, that was the reputation we had in the beginning where it was like we were just too fast. People didn't want to come run. And I think people started to see me run [00:24:00] slow on certain days, which were those days that Monday and Friday and Wednesday and Sunday.

And they're like why don't you just have a Monday through Sunday group? Cause we're always asking who you're, you're running. And then more people just started to come on those days. Sometimes those days, most recently now we're getting like 30 people that come on what used to be maybe four, four to 10 people on those days.

Now we got new, brand new people, beginners that are feeling comfortable. You're

Chris Detzel: always going to get that, man. As long as you can continue on, the people just come and run. And you'll. You know this,

Alfonso: but yes, that's pretty cool. I love what you're doing. Yeah. It's a,

Chris Detzel: yeah,

Alfonso: It's great to see. I love the running community and it's, it always comes first.

Chris Detzel: You run this, but is there somebody like also helping do some of this stuff or, do you have a partner in crime or anything like that? Or, I'm sorry, go back. You cut off there. I don't know. Do you have a partner in crime that, that helps you do some of these things? Or yes,

Alfonso: Joe Wolf.

She does a lot of the event coordinating. She sets the Strava events. [00:25:00] She'll, before we start, she'll, give a speech and make sure everybody has a partner as well. If not, I will, if she's not there. I actually recently moved to Grapevine, but she still comes on the the workout dates, the clock in days is what I call.

So she helps me out on those days. And then I'll take on the other days which I enjoy. Social runs, the 1030, the 930s those are the days that I love. Yeah, because she helps me out. Yeah. Yeah. So she definitely definitely helps me a lot. I think now you got to have more people and I'm sure there'll be eventually there'll be, as a group continues to grow, I'm sure somebody else will step up and take a, take another role, even when it comes to coaching as well.

Somebody will eventually come along and I'm starting to see some of the groups Take the group by, people are starting to be leaders and inviting other people and they're making it their own group, which, it's good to see. So most of the time I like to sit back and just let the group run it.

But every now and then I can't do everything, you're going to

Chris Detzel: show some leadership, but at the same time, how do you because it's a free group. I know you coach some of these people, but what can you do? It's not like anyone's getting paid. It's not a completely organized, [00:26:00] like it's like a DRC, right?

Like that you have. Space groups and all these other things, you have to have people

Alfonso: stepping up. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, you're great to see. It's great to see that. See Pegasus take that life, starting to grow, so that's good. I

Chris Detzel: love

Alfonso: it. I love it. Is there

Chris Detzel: anything

Alfonso: that, you know,

Chris Detzel: that I completely should have asked you that I just didn't ask?

That you were like, man, you should have sent this. No,

I think I'm sure there's like a thousand things. Yeah, no,

Alfonso: there's there's always there's always things that come up. No, I think you the marathon, I've, I've done 33 marathons, I think, total. Okay, I would keep going.

So that's good. Yeah, just keep going. Yeah. No, I've enjoyed it and you know Collabing with other groups as well whenever we get a chance. There's always that opportunity as fonda you're doing some great

Chris Detzel: things training pegasus and just you're Continued journey with not just running, but building up that running community.

I love what you're doing. I think it's important and you've got all kinds of different, it sounds like people running with you, whether you're, running at nine or 10 minute [00:27:00] paces all the way to 240, 250 marathon, that's pretty impressive or faster. Some of these people are running way faster.

Alfonso: No. Yeah. Some of them they're definitely I've noticed that as soon as they get faster, sometimes they when it comes to coaching. A lot of people will ask, especially new coaches that are coming on board, I do have some to reach out and they Hey, they want a little bit of feedback.

How did you get started? Did you do marketing? Is this something I want to do? I'm not trying to take your runners, I'm not trying to compete with you, this is something I'm trying to grow. So that's one thing I do try to help us more coaches.

So you start seeing more coaches here in the DFW area. I like to always let them know it doesn't come overnight. I've been doing this. A long time. So it's not like it happened right away. Just coach people. You're going to get referrals. You're going to have some athletes that leave you and go to another coach, don't take it personal.

It's just business. It's just business. It's just like me. I'm in the telecom communication. I'll have a good friend that's been with, ATT. And then suddenly he wants to go to T Mobile or Verizon. Can't get it. Your feelings hurt. It's same here and they're ready to move [00:28:00] on to another level, you know I had a recent

Chris Detzel: Luka move on from the Mavs, it's just business.

Oh,

Alfonso: man. I'm still hurt from that We're not recovered from that yet Yeah, so that's one thing I do try to let some of these new coaches that they're coming aboard not to take it too personal, cuz I had one reached out and I guess one of his actually went to another coach and he he was a little bit blind.

Yeah. And I said, no, it just it's part of the game and it happens, I've had runners that I've had for five years and it's, sometimes it's time to try something new and they want to get it, different coaching style and that's totally fine. Vice versa might not be the best fit for somebody as well.

And.

Chris Detzel: Just

Alfonso: like you

Chris Detzel: said, sometimes maybe you were a good fit for five years and then You know, just, they want to try something different, there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, there's

Alfonso: nothing wrong. And I always tell my runners, Hey, you're welcome to continue to come here. I don't want it to be weird or anything.

I want what's best for you. I just came up here, just be a part of the community and share your wisdom with other runners that are, want to get to your level or just starting. [00:29:00] I'd love to know where you came from. I love that.

Chris Detzel: Fonzo, this has been great, man. I really appreciate you coming on.

You bet. No, thanks for having me. All right thanks everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel, and please don't forget to rate and review us, and know that we do have a group called DFW Running Group of 10, 000 plus runners that connect online, so go to the Facebook group, join if you'd like, and Alfonso, thanks again, really appreciate it.

Thanks, Chris. You have a good day. Bye.