Jared Rothlauf

“As a coach I take major stock in establishing strong lines of communication and trust. From there I work to provide a successful service by using a combination of my lifetime experiences as an athlete with my continuing education in the field. Success comes in many forms, and I strive to make sure I’m doing all I can to guide athletes towards the goals they set out to achieve.”

My love for sport and movement started in early childhood. My first memories of running were with my parents at local road races in the mid-west cornfields of Iowa. Watching them train and observe their discipline in a competitive manner set me on a lifelong path evolving around running. I started racing 5k’s when I was eight years old. After that there was no looking back. I kept running through early and middle childhood and became extremely committed in the high school years with cross country and track.

I continued running in college at the division one level at Western Illinois University, competing in cross country and the long distances in track. I studied chemistry for a year but ended up switching my major to Kinesiology with an emphasis on exercise science. It’s here I really started to understand my love for movement and exercise. School became enjoyable because I was studying something I was truly interested in. In fact, I ended up staying in college for seven years. I extended my stay as a teaching assistant in the kinesiology department while in graduate school.

After college I focused on road racing with running teams. My main distance I trained and raced at was the marathon. I raced shorter distances as well, but I have always been drawn towards the longer races. During this time, I was living in Chicago and would continue to call it home for the next 10 years. I used my run training experience and education towards my day job. This was to help Naval Special Warfare candidates become proficient in running so they could find success in selection.

The next chapter is where trail/ultramarathon running enters as the main sport focus. I moved to my current location in San Antonio for a new job training Air Force Special Warfare candidates. I was introduced to trail running in the hill country and was immediately consumed. I really enjoy the trail vibe and community support everyone had with one another. I’ve competed in multiple trail races from the 50K to 100-mile distance. I feel like I have a lifetime of experiences at so many different levels and distances. I’ve personally experienced so many ups and downs, and I enjoy sharing this knowledge with athletes I coach. I’ve won races. I’ve dropped out of races. I’ve laid on the side of a trail not being able to move from near heat stroke and everything in between. I can also guarantee I’ll be out there training and racing while trying to gain new experiences right along with my athletes.