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Runner, Triathlete, Mentor, Race Director...
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Saturday, 30 July 2016 23:10
By Mackenzie Lobby Havey (StarTribune.com - JULY 22, 2016)
Nicole Cueno of the Minneapolis YWCA gets inspired by her surroundings and the people she coaches.
Nicole Cueno earned last year’s distinguished “Minnesota Runner of the Year” award from USA Track and Field Minnesota, but she is much more than a runner. While she qualified for the Olympic Trials Marathon both in 2008 and 2012 with a 2:42 personal best and was a four-time...
All-American in the 1,500-meter, 5-kilometer and 10K at Grinnell College in Iowa, it’s her work as a coach and race director that has enmeshed her in the local endurance sports community.
The race director of the Minneapolis YWCA Women’s Triathlon — the largest of its kind in the region — as well as the coordinator for the YWCA’s endurance sports, Cueno inspires countless local athletes to get out and get active. What’s more, she continues to be competitive in her own right, in road races to triathlons, to track cycling events at the Velodrome in Blaine.
In a recent interview, Cueno, 36, shared a bit about what continues to motivate her to train, as well as why she thinks the Twin Cities is the perfect place to be a runner and coach. Below are edited excerpts:
