Alan Webb
Episode 213
27 FEB 2023
He is one of the greatest middle-distance runners in American history and currently serves as the Head Coach for Track & Field/Cross Country at Ave Maria University. He is a three-time United States champion in the 1500-meter run and represented the United States in the event in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Prior to his current role he made coaching stops at the University of Virginia, Portland State University, and the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Following his retirement from competitive running, he became a successful triathlete, ranking in the top 100 in the world in the International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series in 2015. In his early days he was even a successful youth swimmer.
Notable guest quotes:
“I guess it hadn’t really been revealed to me how important and really, truly, deeply that should be the number one thing.”
“I was sucked into sort of the secular system and sort of the idol of sports, I would call it, which I believe is a very dangerous thing.”
“That was like a lifetime goal of mine, was to be an Olympian. I didn’t compete as well as I would’ve liked, at the Games themselves, but I certainly learned a lot from it and it is still just in the top three things that I accomplished throughout my running career, was, to be an Olympian.”
“It was a long time in the making… God was kind of whittling me slowly.”
“I knew it was something that should be around in terms of faith and pursuing the Lord.”
“Once I took a step back from my running career, my athletic career, there was a void there that needed to be filled and I really felt that.”
“It kind of led me from, well, what is the truth, does God exist, who is God, and where do you go to find Him right now?”
“From that point on, every time I took a step forward into, like, deeper into the church, the more I was sucked into it, kind of like a magnet.”
“Because I didn’t have the sports side taking over me, I wanted to take all of the gifts that I had been given and realizing that those were gifts from God, I didn’t earn that. I didn’t earn those things.”
“The most rewarding part is being able to openly express that side of my own personal journey and being able to encourage a group of student-athletes in their own faith.”
“The saints are real people that existed and do exist, and I want to be one of them.”
Related link:
Alan’s bio on Ave Maria website
