Family First

I’ve always been a head-down-get-the-shit-done kind of guy when work needs to happen. When deadlines loom, I’ll pull an all day or all night, or all day and night marathon to make sure everything is done on deadline. Working these intense sessions usually meant paying less attention to everything else in my life. That’s a lot harder to do when …

This Half Is So Easy

Here’s to hoping that race directing an Ironman 70.3 event is as “easy” as competing in a an Ironman 70.3 event. Photo credit: Dan Gross, IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur D’Alene.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene: Race Day

Call time for our staff on race day on Sunday was 4:00 am for a 6:00am race start. The entire crew worked their butts off straight until after 8:00 pm, and we had a great event. I walked over 31,000 steps (nearly 13 miles), loaded and unloaded trash from a 24′ box truck, pulled course signs, and so much more …

Ironman Coeur d’Alene day 3

Today at Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene was the day for final built-outs of the venue, finish line set up, swim course buoy placement, and one final staff meeting pre-race. The Ironkids Run also happened this morning. Tomorrow morning all staff will arrive on site no later than 4:00 am, with the race starting at 6:00 am.

Meetings

We’re barely 24 hours post-Glen Arbor Solstice and I’m already knee-deep in another round of Ironman 70.3 Traverse City meetings. Bike aid station 1 During this round of meetings, we’re finalizing aid station locations for the bike and run courses, resident notification pieces, traffic impact notices, and traffic control signage.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

Today in the life of this Ironman Race Director, I’m hashing out details for the signage plan for Ironman 70.3 Traverse City. Dozens of pre-event notification signs, race day signs, barricades, and hundreds (if not thousands) of cones. I’ve probably got too many screens going on here, but it’s great to have the touch interface of the Surface Go, and …

The Ironman Operations Trifecta

As the race director for Ironman 70.3 Traverse City I’m fortunate to have a strong leadership team around me. I’m not the only one leading up the planning for the race. There are three of us: a regional director, an operations director, and me, the race director. The regional director, Frank, is in charge of about a dozen Ironman and …

Dealing With Disappointment

I was scheduled to travel to Ironman 70.3 St. George in Utah this coming weekend to shadow the race director as part of my training for Ironman 70.3 Traverse City later this summer.  I was also planning to attend meetings in Traverse City for said race early next week.  It was going to be a seven or eight day trip, and …