Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Gunsur-Smith.
Kat, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Ten years ago I ran my first half marathon and saw hundreds of people in orange cheering for others and thought to myself, I want people to cheer for me! That day I had no one there to cheer for me or celebrate with me at the finish line. I was going through a very difficult time that I like to call my “quarter life crisis” and running was the beginning of me working through it all. Little did I know, this would be the catalyst for the beginning of my career with Team Challenge, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s endurance training and fundraising program.
After that day, I signed up for my first triathlon with Team in Training, which is a similar program to Team Challenge. I immediately fell head over heels for endurance sports and fitness in general. But, more than anything, I fell in love with triathlon. After my first triathlon with TNT, while teaching group fitness classes and working as a personal trainer in North Carolina, I was asked to become a TNT coach
I loved NC but I knew I had to get back to San Diego (Aztec alum 2006!) I found a job on Craigslist “Team Challenge, Triathlon Team Fundraising Manager”. I had NO IDEA what Crohn’s and Colitis was but I knew that I wanted to combine my passions of helping people and triathlon. I’m so proud to soon be celebrating my 7-year anniversary with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of which I now run the triathlon and IRONMAN® program nationally. We have raised $7 million for these horrible diseases since I started in 2012.
Our Team Challenge colors are orange so it was only fitting that I was hired at the first San Diego OrangeTheory Fitness in La Jolla by Billy Borja. I LOVE teaching group fitness and OTF’s heart-rate based training is incredible. The workouts are always changing and it’s so fun! Shout out to my awesome 5am and 605am crew!
It’s amazing to have a career where I can help find cures for IBD through triathlon and IRONMAN® races while also teaching part time. two years ago, I was honored to become a lululemon Ambassador in La Jolla! I am our resident running and triathlon ambassador and host the lululemon run club every Monday #nomatterwhat at 5:45pm. Our #nomatterwhat tag refers to the fact that we literally run in the dark, light, rain, wind (ok we don’t really get much of that!), holidays and more. We never cancel!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I am known as the bubbly blonde with seemingly endless energy. People see me taking on new challenges and races like IRONMAN, ultrarunning and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. However, it wasn’t until last July that I finally had to admit to myself that I had been disregarding how depressed I truly was. I had everything going for me, and everything I could’ve ever wanted. I was a lululemon ambassador, work for Team Challenge & OTF was so rewarding, I had just bought a house and gotten married, but I still had this feeling of hopelessness.
I know that I have absolutely no external reason to be depressed and I realized that it was something that I had been living with and covering up for the past 10 years. In a way, all these good things happening made me realize that something much deeper was happening inside of me and I am so grateful to get the opportunity to realize that.
It’s so hard to explain when it appears like you have it all. But depression doesn’t care and it’s taken me a long time to accept it and realize that this is the one thing I can’t train through or fix on my own.
My husband Scott and my best friend Jenna have always been my biggest support and urged me to get help.
I resisted for a long time but when I finally caved to finding a solution, I was embarrassed. I felt weak. I thought to myself, “wow…. you are such a loser. You think you can fix everything but you can’t. You’re not strong enough.”
I hope others can agree and say that depression is not a weakness. It is something I have been trying to be more open about because I know it affects so many people who probably have the same thoughts I did and still have.
If you feel this way, I want you to know that you are not weak, you are not a loser. You are human.
For so much of my 20’s and a good portion of my 30’s, I was fighting my depression. I encourage anyone out there to find that support system, those who will fight with you, your cheerleading squad! The people who will cheer for you the loudest. I cannot believe how much better I feel today with therapy. My only regret is that I had not done anything sooner.
what should we know about Team Challenge, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and OrangeTheory Fitness La Jolla? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
People know me because orange is the happiest color, and you can usually find me in orange with Team Challenge, coaching at OrangeTheory, running with the lululemon La Jolla run club or hosting moving cheer stations at local races. That’s my kind of fun!
At OrangeTheory La Jolla, all of our coaches are so incredible and unique in their own way. I’m known for being the run specialist and proud leader of the early AM crew! (Shout out to the 5am, 605am & 710am class!)
I also love finding those hidden challenges in the workout to get everyone to push past those limits we put on themselves.
At lululemon La Jolla, I am the run, triathlon, non-profit ambassador. My dream is to help others find the joy in movement in however they like to move. Not everyone loves running so at our free weekly Monday night run clubs (every Monday 5:45pm #nomatterwhat) I think it’s important to not take our run to Windansea beach so seriously. We’re all there every week to chase the sunset and start off our week on a strong foot. Every time we leave, EVERY TIME, someone says, I’m so happy I came, I never regret it!
Finally, at Team Challenge, the Crohn’s and Colitis foundation, I’m known for my energy! Race weekends are long with expo and race day going from 6am to midnight and I LOVE IT. With our local coaches, Skip and Linda Slade, we’ve formed a dream team. They have a 100% success rate of helping people cross the finish line at their first triathlon! I wouldn’t be as successful as I am without them. They coach and I help people realize that a triathlon is within their reach; they CAN do it. We’ve seen teammates go from not being able to swim one length of the pool, to finishing a sprint triathlon, to Olympic, to 70.3 and now many of them are IRONMAN® completers!
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
In high school, I was a part of our dance company and was a good enough dancer, but never seemed to be chosen for the front row or solos. My Dad told me, “go to your teacher and tell her you want to be in the front row. Tell her you want to be considered for upcoming solos. Then SHOW her that you are capable and that you’re willing to WORK for it.”
The opportunity was there, I just needed him to give me that extra push to make it possible. It wasn’t easy for me at all. I was incredibly shy and timid. For a 16-year-old girl it was the scariest thing in the world for me to do. The day I told my dance teacher what I wanted after much hesitation and self-doubt, I saw her face change and I’ll never forget it. Her eyes got bigger and I could tell she was impressed with my ask. She said, “Kat, I’ll put you in the front, but you have to continue to earn it.” It stuck with me and since then has built my self-confidence with every ask I’ve had. Every ask from that time on, I’ve been eager to prove I could do it.
Pricing:
- $7.03 for IRONMAN 70.3 with Team Challenge, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation
- $14.06 for IRONMAN® with Team Challenge, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation
- $0 to Race in Orange with Team Challenge, fundraise as much as you like!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.ccteamchallenge.org
- Email: kgunsur@crohnscolitisfoundation.org
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katgunsursmith
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/katgunsursmith
- Other: http://bit.ly/OrangetheoryKat
Image Credit:
Scott Smith
Daniel Duane Thompson
Erin Shelton
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
