Devon Horn is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Marcos De Niza for AZPreps365.com

Tim Bolen impacts his Marcos de Niza student-athletes' lives far more then coaching them along the course.

Bolen has been an athlete for his entire life, and being a coach is just a small part of his journey.

He started to become an avid runner at nine years old after his brother joined his middle school track team. By the time Bolen was 14, he entered 10Ks and finished his first marathon with a time of three hours, two minutes. 

He ran for the Eastern Michigan University cross country team as well as the track team for four years. Following his graduation, Bolen would start entering triathlons while working for his family’s business.

In 1992, Bolen moved to Arizona and kept competing in running events, and he also competed as a Category 1 cyclist on the Trek/Volkswagon Landis Team. After years of working in sales management, he created Excel & Beyond Coaching, in which he guided endurance athletes through running, ultras, cycling, and triathlons.

This is where 12 Hours of Pain and Purpose in Papago Park was born, a fundraising event to raise awareness for the Sydney Hudson Foundation. After two years, the race was sold out, and Bolen handed over the event to Lifetime Fitness.

In 2011, Tim began working for Best Buddies Arizona, a nonprofit organization serving those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After two years, Tim found a passion to help the IDD population compete in sports, so he created the Best Buddies Marathon Team.

After two more years, he would create the Phoenix Dizzy 250 cycling and endurance event, as well as the 12 Hours of Pain Spinathon, both of which fundraised for and gave the IDD population a platform to perform.

Since athletics is such a big part of his life, Tim knew he wanted to give back through coaching.

"The high school coaching is fairly new for me; I’ve only been doing the high school coaching for about 4 years,” Bolen said. “But I’ve been coaching elite athletes and endurance athletes for almost 19 years.

Bolen has taken his long-time athletic experience and honed it into his new opportunity at Marcos, but has seen some trouble as far as expanding the program.

“It’s been awesome; the problem is that I don’t work in the school, so it’s super hard for me to recruit within to help the program grow,” Bolen added. “But obviously, the kids that we have who come out are phenomenal kids. They show up at 5:15 every morning and run, and how could I ask any more than that?"

One of Bolen’s toughest challenges came in 2020, when he was diagnosed with stage 4 non-hodgkin lymphoma. He went through intense chemotherapy, and his passion for athletics pushed him through the battle, as he never could imagine giving up running or cycling.

“I think once I first got diagnosed and I had to go through the hardest rounds of chemo, in my own mind, this is how I’m going to approach fighting cancer. I’m going to use running as my fight,” Bolen said about his treatment.

“Even when I was super sick and didn’t even want to get out of bed, I literally forced myself to get out on the trail.”

Despite all of his challenges, Bolen has still found the most joy in being able to raise and coach his two kids and follow their athletic journeys.

“There has been nothing greater than watching your kids come from no athletic background, and then starting something that you are passionate about, and seeing them both do really well at it,” Bolen said.

His fraternal twins, Cole and Cloe, both attribute their success to their dad, and they agree there’s something about him that sets him apart.

“It meant the world to me—not only having him as my dad, but then having him coach me, and just seeing the results come from it. It was a really special moment for both of us,” Cole said about his dad. “He was proud of me as a dad, but he was also proud of me as a coach.”

Cloe only had more of the same to say about her favorite coach, with emphasis on all the lessons she’s been able to take from him.

“Him being able to find the things that make him happy and make him enjoy every day, it’s not only important to him, but it’s also really important to me,” Cloe said about her dad. “The 5 a.m. practice that he loves to wake up and go to is one of the highlights of his day, and that’s not something a lot of people enjoy, but he just loves to go see those kids for an hour. It really makes you think about just all the things that you have.”

Bolen has done nothing but persevere, and his impact as a person, coach, and father could never be confined to a sport.