JONNNNNYYYYYOOOOOOO!!!!!

I'm back from my trip to IMAZ! I had a fabulous time watching the the most dedicated group of people I have ever met have the races of their lives. And... I took a ton of pictures. So every day this week I'm going to dedicate a blog to one of pstriathlon's athletes who kicked ass. Today's athlete is Jonathan Caron

Jonny is not only a very fast pro triathlete, he's also one of the most likable people you could ever meet. He's funny as hell, extremely humble, and is always willing to take time to help people out. He's been in love with this sport for over 10 years and his hard work and dedication are really starting to pay off! Jonathan had an absolutely stellar race, finishing 6th overall with a time of 8:50- a 12 minute PB in extremely windy conditions with a PB run. Here is my spectators race report of Jonny's race

*Note* I know not all of the pictures are showing up on all your computers. I have no friggin idea why! If anyone has any ideas PLEASE email me!

:-)

The day before the race we all went out to a Mongolian BBQ for a large lunch. Coach Paulo thought it would be a good time to do some chiropractic adjustments to Jonny's neck



Race Morning: I used my super duper sneaky digital 18x zoom to capture this special pre-race coaching meeting


Almost ready to race. Just packing away his bag for after the race


Jonathan is an extremely strong swimmer, despite not having started the sport until relatively late. This is a good hint to his dedication. Here he is having a moment before the swim start (recognize the wetsuit? I have the same one, but mine has pink on it!)

Here was when I first spotted Jonathan coming out of the water in 7th place with a swim time of 49:15. As I saw him run by, with a look of extreme concentration and intensity, I just knew it was going to be a very good day :-)

T1 time 2:05 SMOKING FAST



The first time we saw Jonny on the bike course he was right on the tail of Michael Lovato.

Coming back down a couple minutes later in his signature pink PlanetX bike...



Loop 2 of the bike course Jonny is still looking very strong. He rode very smart on Sunday. Went out conservatively, negative split the bike (despite the roaring wind that picked up) and saved his legs for the run. Very, very smart riding

Bike time 4:55.04 (22.77 mph average) Place- still 7th
T2 time 1:21 How does he do that?????



And here he is on the run. Still completely focused. This was a very exciting run. By the beginning of the third loop Jonny was in 8th place with 2 pros fading in front of him. We screamed and yelled to keep it up! He was looking like he was hurting a bit, but very mentally strong. The loop is about 5 miles in one direction and 4 in the other, so you see them twice. Paulo said that it would be a divine message if Jonny was in front of the other 2 guys by the next time we saw him. We waited.... and waited. It felt like forever. But then we saw him- Jonny was leading the other 2 and looking great! Paulo was SOOOO excited he could hardly contain himself! We ran down to the path to cheer him on, then Paulo was gone on a mad dash to the finish line to meet him.

And here he is finishing the race, knowing that he is about to crush his PB and finish in the money at an Ironman

Run stats: 3:03.11 (6:59 pace) WOW!


All alone in the finisher's shoot. What a moment!
Final time 8:50.56


A quick chat with Mimi and Desert Dude (his very good friends and homestays) before heading to the med tent for his IVs and food tent for pizza






Congratulations on an absolutely wonderful race, Jonathan! You earned it.

Next stop for Jonny is IM Canada. Stay tuned, I think he's going to take some people by surprise

:-)

I'll be doing my reports in race finish order, so tomorrow we get to see the race of Danny who finished in 10:02 and nabbed a Kona slot. I told you these people are amazing! Wait until you meet Miranda...