When I first read about Caroline Gaynor's work as a guide for visually-impaired triathletes, I thought, "That's so cool!" And then I had a bunch of questions. How do you pair up with someone who has similar abilities as a swimming, biker, and runner? How do you train together? How do you guide someone effectively when you're in open water surrounded by hundreds of other swimmers? How do you get involved with guiding to begin with? Is this a full-time job? (No.) Obviously, the solution was to talk to Caroline and just ask her all these questions.
I had so much fun talking to Caroline. It turned out that she grew up in the next town over, and we would have played each other in water polo if I hadn't quit after my freshman year. She's been a guide for almost ten years, and has been doing triathlons since college. She worked in finance after college, bounced around for several years, including a stint working at a bike shop in Austin, Texas, while she was figuring out what to do next. Guiding was a constant in Caroline's life during those years. A few years ago at a bike race, she got into conversation with someone who suggested Caroline look into a company - back in finance- that might be a good fit. Caroline found that everyone she met there shared her values, teamwork and competitive drive to do the best they can for their clients, and support for Caroline's work as a guide, and she's been there ever since!
Like most people, Caroline Gaynor has a day job, working as a regional director for a large asset manager. Outside of her job, though, Caroline works hard at something that isn't a job but is more than a hobby: guiding visually-impaired triathletes. A triathlete since her college years, Caroline got into guiding by chance in 2008 and was hooked. Throughout several years of professional ups and downs, "guiding was the one constant thing in my life when things weren’t going super well professionally," and in fact, she found her current job with a company she loves through someone she met at a bike race!
