Swim. Bike. Run.

4 days. Wow I can't believe that my time here has gone so fast. It seems like yesterday I had just arrived and now it is almost time to pack up and leave.

It's gut check time. Time to prepare my mind and my body for the upcoming Saturday. Time to put all those long, hard training sessions to good use. To test out this old body and see what kind of engine is under the hood.

This race symbolizes more than a few wins this season. More than having a good swim or a decent bike. It symbolizes all the training sessions that happened before 5am. The training sessions that couldn't be completed due to physical fatigue or mental brokenness. The training sessions that were hard and the sessions that were fun and light. The training sessions that broke me and the ones that made me stronger. This race will not define the person that I am or the person that I am to become. This race will be like any other race that I have done before. Same pattern, just as significant as the one that came before it. The only thing that is different with this race is the name that it possesses.

This is still a race of three disciplines, swim. bike. run. Although there might be a few big names among the list of participants. This is still a race that will be won in the field of battle, not by a list of statistics.

The essence of this sport is individual but yet still encompasses such a sense of camaraderie. I race for the people back home who are cheering me on. I race for my family, the ones who so badly want to be there but can't. I race for my Utah friends and family, the ones who have graciously accepted me into their lives. I race for all the people who believed in me. I race for the people who will be among the crowd. And I race for myself. To each day show myself what I am capable of and how happy the sport of triathlon has made me.

I race because I love the challenge. The insurmountable obstacles that are thrown in your way. I race to prove to myself than I am stronger than the day before. I race for fun, I race for excitement and most of all for happiness.