ph: (205) 989-0098
Local Staff Contacts
Alabama/Gulf Coast
100 Chase Park, 220
Birmingham, AL 35244
Birmingham, AL 35244
Meet Our Coaches
Birmingham Run Coach, Prince Whatley: Prince ran his first marathon at the inaugural Mercedes Marathon in February 2002. Since then he has run 62 marathons/ultras, including three 100 mile races (and every Mercedes) with a personal best of 3:03 at Mercedes in 2010. Prince is a member of the Birmingham Track Club, the Darkside Running Club, the Auburn Opelika Running and Track Association (AORTA), the Georgia Ultra Trail Running Society (GUTS) and the United States Running Streak Association (having run every day since July 1, 2004). Prince became involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a participant in the Walt Disney World Marathon of 2008 after his daughter Katie (now 15 years old) was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on November 3, 2006. He is now the Birmingham run coach for Saturday morning training. Prince is a 42 year old traveling chemical salesman who is married to Holly and training mentally to endure the teenage years of his two daughters, Katie and Alice (17). Prince?s favorite quote is, ?Hey, watch this!?
Huntsville Triathlon Coach, Carrie Cowpethwait: Carrie joined TNT in 2003 after the birth of her first son, Jake. Her goal was to lose the extra baby weight she had packed on during her pregnancy. She competed in the Country Music Marathon and LOVED it. The energy was electric (and she pulled off those extra pounds ? plus some)! So after the birth of her second son, Tyler, she once again joined TNT to run the CMM. Again, she had a fantastic experience. Shortly after that, she thought she'd try her hand at triathlons and was HOOKED! She has competed in over 25 events, ranging from sprint distance all the way up to a Half Ironman in Augusta that she completed with TNT last year. She is super excited to be able to help others achieve their goal of completing a triathlon and can't think of a better organization to do it with than TNT! Carrie's favorite quote is, "Give yourself permission to shoot for something that seems totally beyond your grasp. You may be surprised at your capabilities." -Danica Patrick
Florence Run Coach, Chuck Terry: Chuck has been a runner since the 90's. He has run at an amateur level in distances from 5k to the marathon. In 2010, he made the step to ultra-marathon running, completing 50k trail races as well as the JFK 50 miler in Maryland. His current goals include training for a 100 mile stage race in the Himalayan foothills this fall. He has spent the past year incorporating yoga and stretching into training programs to reduce injuries and promote recovery.
Pensacola Triathlon Coach, Stan Adams: Stan wanted more diversity after four marathons and joined the mere mortals training group to learn triathlon. After several years of racing age group, he was invited to train TNT triathletes and he eagerly accepted. He still does triathlons but he much more enjoys helping others succeed in this wonderful sport. He received great training by TNT's coach Dave Scott and now can train even advanced triathletes. Stan?s favorite quote is, ?The chief cause of failure is trading what you want now for what you want most.? Zig Ziglar
Mobile Running Coach, Thomas Sasser: Thomas has been running distances from 5K's to Marathons since 2000. He joined TNT in 2009 and completed the RNR San Diego Full and have never looked back. He is also proud to say that his wife, Katie, has also run the Nike Women's Half with the TEAM. He does not have anybody in my immediate family who has had a blood cancer, but he strongly believes that a discovery of any sort in any type of cancer will help cure the world of these horrible diseases. If by him helping people train for their events with TNT helps that to happen, then he's all for it! He has had an awesome experience with the TEAM and looks forward to many more.
Mobile Triathlon and Marathon Coach, Heather Edwards: Heather is currently coaching the Nation's Tri team 2011 in Mobile. Heather's first event with TNT was Nation's Tri in 2008. After this event, she was hooked on the Team and became a mentor for the Capital of Texas Tri 2009 and also for San Diego Marathon in 2010. She started coaching for Fall season 2010 and was the event coach at Disney in 2011 and had an amazing experience! She completed an Ironman last fall and was proud to wear her purple for the race. She is so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful organization and to be able to do something bigger than herself. She has met some amazing and inspiring people and will always remember where it started. Heather's favorite quote is "There will never be a day when we won't need dedication, discipline, energy, and feeling that we can change things for the better." George Sheehan
Mobile Triathlon Coach, Debbie McGowin: Debbie came to Team In Training as a participant, doing her first marathon in 2000. She did two other events with the TEAM but had some injuries that lead her to begin cycling. She said, "I had always been intrigued by the sport of triathlon, but I was completely intimidated by the swim. I started swimming too which led to my becoming a triathlete." Debbie began coaching for Team In Training in 2007, the same year she completed Florida Ironman.
Mobile Triathlon Coach, Kathy O'Conner: Although Debbie has gained a love for swimming, Kathy brings her experise to the sometimes most intimidating part of a triathlon-swimming. She has been a swimmer her entire life and begin coaching at age 14. She got involved in triathlons when some friends asked her to coach them in swimming. She went to watch them a few times, completed her first sprint distance and she was hooked. She now has a long list of events she has completed, including an Ironman 70.3. She came to Team In Training in 2009 and ejoys working with participants at all levels to train for an Olympic and Half Ironman distances.
