St George.

It could’ve been worse! During the days leading up to the race it was WINDY and I mean 45 mph + cross winds and 30 mph plus headwinds. We ended up with about 7-10 mph headwinds on the long windy canyon section. I rode this section at about 220-230 watts averaging anywhere from 14-17mph. Lucky we were able to do this section twice! The ride finished with a nice long descent were I was able to let my stomach settle and rest the legs for what would proven to be a very tough marathon course.
The run was awesome from the super hilly course to the views at the top of the climb it was truly spectacular. It was so hard that it separated the people who knew how to correctly pace and fuel a hard bike and even harder run very quickly, typically most people can fake it for the first 7-10 miles. Jesse and I started the run together and we immediately started catching people who were already in a heap of trouble and we hadn’t hit the hard part yet. I won’t describe the course to much here, check out the profile and the top run times and you’ll see it was no joke. I felt really good until mile 15, at that point I went into a pretty bad place for about 3 miles, I tore into my last gel at mile 18 (Double Latte–50 mg of caffeine) 5 mins later I was in a better place still not great but I was getting it done. Mille 20-22 are mostly uphill, I knew once I was up and over the last climb the course was mostly downhill to the finish…..The last 4.2 miles were all about keeping the best run form and highest cadence I could all the way to the finish.
I ended up 1st in my age group and 4th amateur overall.

Once again it was a great day for all Qt2ers. It just goes to show that a ton of hard work and patience over the long term brings extraordinary results.

A big thank you goes out to Jesse for helping me get to the start line of my 4th IM in 1 piece and with a new level of fitness.
Obviously, none of this would have been possible without the support of my wife, Courtney.

Sorry for the short race report, I have a VERY long “Honey Do” list and 6 days to get it all done before the Kona build begins!.