"A journey of 140.6 miles begins with a single step."
Race reports from the years before the companies. Re-skinned, preserved, and still in John's voice.
- April 2019
Ironman 70.3They Put the Ocean Back in Oceanside
Ironman 70.3
The organizers put the ocean back in Oceanside with a beach start — and a well-documented fear of open water meant I had no business on that start line. Here's how it went anyway.
- May 2018
TriathlonBermuda-ful Bermuda!
Triathlon
WTS Bermuda — the inaugural World Triathlon Series race on the island, my first race of the season, and my first-ever sprint tri. A race about rediscovering why I do this at all.
- September 2017
Ironman 70.3Ironman 70.3 Worlds
Ironman 70.3
I toed the start line for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga. It did not go well. The honest story of a year fighting open-water panic — and the people who carried me through it.
- March 2017
TriathlonYou Should See My Finish Video
Triathlon
Ironman Arizona, two weeks after the NYC Marathon. A 40-minute PR, a finish-chute I genuinely don't remember, and a new personal record I'm not proud of: peeing on myself 16 times.
- July 2016
Triathlon#RaceTheLegend
Triathlon
Challenge Roth, Germany. My goal, after Jan Frodeno entered and a bike crash cost me 5.5 weeks of training: beat the legend's transition times. The day I finally felt like a real Ironman.
- June 2016
Ironman 70.3The Eagle Has Landed
Ironman 70.3
Ironman 70.3 Eagleman — seven weeks after a bike crash and one of the worst concussions my neurologist had ever seen. A prep race for Roth, and proof the swim fear hadn't won.
- June 2015
Ironman 70.3Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant
Ironman 70.3
The race where I let go of fear and raced the way I used to — embracing the pain instead of guarding against it. A 1:23 PR over the same course a year earlier.
- June 2015
TriathlonRelentless
Triathlon
Challenge (née Rev3) Quassy in one word: relentless. A brutally honest course, one of the best swims of my life, an almost-pro transition — and a hamstring that had other plans.
- May 2015
RunningSurviving the Bear
Running
The North Face Bear Mountain half — a brutal trail race I went into ambivalent and came out of having relearned two things: that a bad training block isn't who you are, and that I could push through pain again.