Last week, we received an email from an amazing athlete in HI.
Here is the original email and a great testimonial for our athletes and fans!
Aloha from sunny Honolulu!
I’m an aspiring vegan athlete looking for sponsorship opportunities strictly from companies that I support / believe in. As a vegan and a predominantly raw-vegan athlete, I’m constantly searching health food stores and sports shops for products and nutrition that are in accordance with my lifestyle. Indeed, it’s a rare thing to come across a fellow vegan cyclist or elite runner.
Living in Honolulu, I am constantly bombarded with questions such as ‘Where do you get your protein from?’ (most common) and ‘How on earth do you live the way you do?’ (second most common). In addition to these questions, people see my race results and are frequently asking me questions such as ‘How long have you been racing?’. It would probably shock you to know that I began my racing ‘career’ this January and entered in my first race at the Great Aloha Run. Since then, I’ve entered other races and posted very respectable times which I already know will only get better. My last race was the ING Bay to Breakers where I ran a 45:21 for the 7.62 mile course and finished 77th overall, 34th among the elite male runners. This being my third race, I’m confident that next year, my record will only get better and my times will get lower (as of today, I can run at a faster pace).
As a vegan athlete and mostly raw, I believe that is my competitive advantage over all other runners and athletes that run on processed foods and grains. The truth is, my recovery time is shortened because I place no digestive burden on my body, thus allowing my body to repair itself sooner. Furthermore, I also train with a coach who has taken me on as a private client with the goal of being among the elite runners in North America. His name is Brian Clarke and he trained under legendary coach Bill Bowerman (founder of Nike) and ran with Prefontaine during his Oregon years. He and I have extremely high expectations and aspirations for my potential.
I took the plunge into great health a few months back and haven't looked back since. Along the way, I learned about how coconut water saved our GI's lives back in WWII and was amazed. I mean, there is no way Gatorade can say 'Drink this, it'll save your life!'. In fact, compared to gatorade, ONE coconut water gives it a thorough butt-whooping in all areas of nutrition. The athlete needs magnesium, potassium, some sodium (lost sweat) and electrolytes. ONE coconut water has all of these things and more for which I'm extremely happy. I take this product after each workout in my recovery pudding.
Recovery pudding:
8 oz. ONE coconut water
2 bananas
1 cup blueberries
Ice cubes
That's what I use and it works great for me. Like my Amex card, I never workout without my ONE coconut water, never. =)
Aloha,
Alex Tellez
