What a day! Ironman North America, Janus, and the City of Madison put on an amazing race. I feel privileged and honored to be the Inaugural Ironman Wisconsin Champion!

Thank you to all the friends and family that helped me get to the podium.

The day started out with a beautiful sunrise over the lake as we entered the water.

Swimming to the start line and looking back at the Monona Terrace, a city center that looked like a huge football stadium. This four or five story terrace was packed with spectators getting ready to cheer on the start of what turned out to be a beautiful day in many ways. The swim felt smooth and relaxed as we swam two laps around the marked course. Out of the water in 49 minutes and feeling good except for the little lake water I choked on. Up the four story spiral helix ramp, round and round and round…..

And off on the bike. The course headed out of town into the country side. I wanted to start the bike off easy and make sure I had enough for a good run. At mile 15 I was told I had a great lead and was in a comfortable place. I focused on getting my calories down and waving to the farmers cheering me on. At around 35- 40 miles in the ride I heard Chris Legh was charging for me, and reeling me in. He got with in minute or so, and that is when I knew I needed to start being more focused and get my rhythm going. I ended up with an 8-9 minute lead getting off the bike. Back on the bike course we got to experience how I feel Ironman racing should be. In the town of Verona we rode through where 4-5 thousand people lined the streets and the cops couldn’t control them. They were so excited to watch and cheer everyone on going by. It was about a mile or two of a packed crowd on both sides creating a small 4-5 foot wide tunnel to ride through. It felt just like the Tour de France. Unbelievable.

So I started on the run and took the first 3 miles easy to get comfortable, relaxed and settle into a pace. We ran through the University of Wisconsin stadium and campus for 2 loops. Chris Legh was charging and trying to reel me in. I just tried to stay focused and relaxed and stick to the plan to negative split my run. Chris got within, from what I was told, 15 seconds or so. I though it was going to be a sprint for the finish, but as it turned out Chris pushed himself I think a little too hard and couldn’t finish it off.

Running up State St. to the capital building and down to the finish line was such a great place to be. The Lord blessed me with the ability to put it all together and He was with me all day. All the training and focus leading up to the race everything was coming together at this moment as I got to celebrate and thank the crowd as I ran into the finishing tape.

Thank you to Greg Welch for coaching me and really putting the time in to see that I was doing things right. Thank you to all my sponsors –TYR, GU, Time, Computrainer, Reynolds Forks, Profile, and Penta for all the support you have given me in getting here.

And next is Ironman Hawaii World Championships on October 19th.