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ABOUT CRISTINA
Hi there! I’m Cristina
And I have been empowering children and moms for over 10 years.
I started my career in the corporate world, then switched to non profits, and when I first became a mom I wanted to get it right.
I became a stay at home mom, read every book there was known to womankind, and sought the advice of everyone I thought knew more than I did (which was basically everyone).
That’s when I discovered a passion for child development. But being a stay at home mom was difficult for me and so I became a preschool teacher at the school my boys attended.
It was idyllic.
But I totally neglected my health and was overweight and incapable of running around with my two young boys.
So I got off the couch and ran a 5K.
When I finished that 5K, you would’ve thought I won an olympic medal by how I felt.
Me? Ran a 5K? Me? The girl who smoked behind the gym throughout high school?
Me? The overwveight and overwhelmed mom?
And if I could run a 5k, what else could I do?
That’s when my journey into triathlon started.
I began with small triathlons and made my way up to racing three Ironman Triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). I also began a blog to write about my journey. It’s not updated but you can find all that here if you need help catching some zzzzs.
I also raced a triathlon with my quadriplegic friend Kerry. Check out our feature on Today.com. That too was a transformative experience, and together we started a non profit called ThumbsUp International which pairs able bodied and adaptive athletes to race. Now a days, you’d be hard pressed to find a race in Miami without a ThumbsUp pair racing.
Once my kids left the preschool I was teaching at, teaching became a job. And when I had to miss my youngest son’s Halloween party in Kindergarten because of my own classroom party, that’s when I decided to stop teaching.
And run club was born.
From a desire to make an income while still being available for my boys.
I approached my kids school principal to see if I could coach kids after school. She said yes. And I started in 2015 with a group of 20 children.
Read about the EmpowerFit Curriculum that makes DashStrøm so impactful here.
My boys were part of my business. They helped me. We did it together. And there are few things I love more than hearing my clients’ stories of how their kids are involved in their businesses.
By 2018 I had close to 200 children enrolled in my programs across a variety of schools in Miami, Florida.
In that growth process I made a million and one mistakes. Some were small, some had big consequences, all of which I learned from. And once I was confident I had gotten the system right, I began teaching other moms to do what I had done.
DashStrøm Run Clubs is now a network of independently owned and operated clubs across the country. We’ve worked with THOUSANDS of children teaching them growth mindset and character development through running games and drills.
See some of our customer stories.
As for me?
I continue to live life by MY design empowering kids and adults alike. When not working, you will find me snowboarding with my sons, hiking with the dogs, or cleaning the cat litter.