I am 40 years old and grew up in the Lakes Region area. I have been married for 18 years to my lovely wife, Stacey, and have three wonderful children. My daughter, Kelsey, is 17, my son, Cameron, is 11 and my daughter, Erin (Ema,) just turned 10. Without the support of my family I would not be able to push myself like I do. This is my first year with GSTC and I became interested in triathlons toward the end of 2008 when a friend of mine (and fellow GSTC teammate, Mark Nash) got me to sign up for the 2009 Timberman Sprint. He also got me to join GSTC and sign up for the Black Fly Tri in Waterville Valley.
My first triathlon was the Black Fly Tri on July 11 of this year and I did better than I expected. Needless to say, after that I was HOOKED and couldn’t wait for the Timberman. About a week after the Black Fly a friend of mine who was signed up for the Timberman Half-Ironman said that he hadn’t been able to train enough and we ultimately switched spots. He took my Sprint slot and I now was going to tackle the 70.3 with less then a month to train. I had been doing a lot of long swims, bikes and runs anyway and had a good bunch of people helping me train over that last month. I finished my first 70.3 Ironman yesterday (Timberman) and am truly humbled by the experience. I had a great race going until about mile 7 of the run. That’s where lack of training for such a long event caught up with me. I still was able to finish in just over 6 hours and it was worth jumping into the 70.3 so soon. Now I know that next year I can train enough to be ready for my next 70.3.
I really have enjoyed being part of GSTC and will continue to do so. I have made great new friends this year and each one of them has helped me in some way to prepare for this accomplishment. I will end by saying you can really do anything you put your mind to but you need the support of family and friends to get you through your training.
