ABOUT ME

About Nate

Growing up in the Central Valley of California I was active in all traditional sports, I also really enjoyed skateboarding and snowboarding. I joined the United States Marine Corps after graduating high school in 2001 and was excited to push myself mentally and physically in ways that I hadn’t before. My time in the Marine Corps taught me a lot about life and leadership. Visiting new countries gave me a renewed appreciation for so many things that I had taken for granted. 

Having fulfilled my 4 years of active service with an honorable discharge I began attending California State University, Fresno. While enrolled at CSU Fresno and working full time I met my wife Jillian and shortly after our wedding I was recalled, as part of an emergency order, to active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Upon fulfilling my entire contract with the Marine Corps I returned to work and school and also found a new outlet in running. 

My interest in running and what the human body was capable of intrigued me and I wanted to explore the potential of my own mind and body. I ran my first 50k in 2010, I had no training partners and didn’t do much research on training and found myself just forcing my body to cross the finish line. After that painful experience I began looking for information on how to improve and what kind of training I would need to do so that I wouldn’t be in pain for the last half of the race. I started running more and found trailrunning and fell in love. I started to look up new races around California and began working up from 50k to 50 miles then 100 miles. I was so in love with the sport and the community of amazing people I met through it that I eventually created my own race in 2014, the San Joaquin River Trail Half Marathon in Auberry, Ca. 

From there I found myself working as the Race Director, for the largest race in my area, the Two Cities Marathon & Half in Clovis/Fresno, CA which also happened to be my first 50k in 2010. I started creating new trail races around the area eventually directing and hosting 12 events throughout the year and making it my fulltime job and starting my company San Joaquin Running. I’ve continued racing and training while managing my business and raising two amazing children with my wife and continue to do so today. 

In my own training I found that I lacked the experience needed to reach my goals and set out to find a running coach after experiencing my first DNF at mile 80 of the 2016 Tahoe Rim Trail 100mi Endurance Run.

In 2017 I  began working with the legendary Ann Trason, a person who I looked up to as a hero in the sport of Ultrarunning. Working with Ann as a coach helped me grow and improve my own running so much in just a couple years that I became a big advocate for having a running coach, if you were looking to achieve specific goals. Ann helped me achieve a PR at the 2017 Tahoe Rim Trail 100mi race, also finishing under 24 hours at the 2018 & 2019 Angeles Crest 100 mile Endurance Run and placing 3rd overall at the 2019 Bishop High Sierra Endurance Run, along with completing a ton of self-supported ultra distance efforts in the Sierra’s. As of 2020 I now have the distinct pleasure of having David Roche, of Some Work All Play, as my coach while I continue to learn and grow in the sport of running. I am also a Certified Ultrarunning coach through the United Endurance Sports Coaching Academy

Over the last few years I began getting inquiries from local athletes about coaching and found myself coaching two amazing athletes locally. This led to a more formal coaching service where I began working with more runners helping them achieve their running and fitness goals. I focus on helping athletes become more well rounded in their approach to training while also helping them discover the true joy of freedom and expression through movement and self propelled endurance adventures.