Welcome to my website, I’m so glad you stopped by! Hopefully I will be able to inspire, or at least entertain you with tales of my adventures as a professional triathlete.

In case you were wondering, here’s a little bit about me and how I ended up here:

I was twelve years old when I decided I wanted to be an Ironman. I was sitting in my living room in my tiny hometown of Winfield, Kansas, when I saw the Kona broadcast on TV. I was fascinated by the challenge, and despite the pained faces of the competitors, vowed someday I would give it a shot. It wasn’t until much later that I bought my first bike and joined a triathlon team, but throughout the years, the goal of racing Ironman stayed in the back of my mind.

Fast forward 12 years, after spending most of my youth in the pool, and a 4 year stint as a collegiate rower at SMU, I was finally ready to take the leap into triathlon. In the spring of 2006, I bought my first road bike for $600 and joined a triathlon team in Dallas. I was instantly hooked. Just 3 months after my first triathlon, I (naively) signed up for Ironman Coeur D’Alene and in 2007 I became an Ironman. Later than year I married my now husband, Mark and we got ready for a move to California so Mark could attend a PhD program at Stanford University.

Once we were settled in California, I decided it was time to sign up for Ironman #2 and Arizona seemed like a great place to go. When I raced IMAZ in 2009 I shocked myself (and my family) with a 2 hour and 20 minute PR and my first Kona spot (by less than a second!) That’s the first time I realized I might have more potential as a triathlete than I had originally thought. The dream of racing as a professional was born.

After Arizona, I decided to get more serious about my training. I took on a second job teaching swimming lessons to buy my first TT bike, and joined Team Sheeper, (an amazing local triathlon team). Over the next 3 years, with a lot of help from coaches, teammates, friends, family, and sponsors, I progressed from an average age-grouper to the 2011 70.3 Amateur World Champion. After the win in Vegas, my coach and I decided it was time to get my pro card. Over the next decade I continued to develop as an athlete. I have had ups, downs, plateaus, and podiums. I am still chasing the elusive Ironman win, but I have had a blast along the way.

I currently live and working in Clive, Iowa. I have an amazing husband, Mark, and two little ones – Hanna (8), and Henry (5). I own Hardcoeur Coaching, a coaching company supporting athletes of all shapes, sizes, and ability levels chase their endurance sports dreams. I love training and racing and although I’m now in my 40’s, but I don’t have any plans of slowing down any time soon.