A Minnesota Triathlete’s Journal
About
- Born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories of Canada and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario to U.S parents Gary and Bev Sartain
- Began competitive cycling at the age of 15 when friend James Rodger ‘road’ over on his new road bike and got me hooked
- Moved to the Twin Cities in 1993 and began cycling at a much larger scale; nationally and internationally for the next 10 years
- Met Jennie Olsen on September 5th, 1996 and married her 2 years later!
- I worked as a high school Nordic Ski coach for 7 years initially for District 196 and later for Central High School in St. Paul; I still help out when I can!
- Began working at Saint Paul College in 2002 as the Massage Therapy Program Director; I now serve as both the Massage and Personal Training Programs Director
- Triathlon pulled me in via Jon Jensen’s (Jonny-J) and Lauren Fithian’s influences; I traveled with Lauren to the Ultraman in Hawaii many times and train with Jonny-J. Seeing how much fun they were having and the fact that I did not have the time to dedicate to traveling to bike races were determining factors in giving ‘tris’ a ‘tri’ in 2005.
- My family is amazing and serves as much of my motivation in life. Of course there is my number 1 fan and wife Jennie, my parents Bev and Gary, my brother Nate and his wife Laura, my parent in-laws Bonnie and John Olsen, my sister in-law Tina and kiwi hubby Andrew. I have numerous friends who also motivate me. There are too many to list, but you know who you are!
- I have two beautiful ‘kids’. They are very furry and make great training partners especially off-road single track biking; you can check out pictures of Kodiak and Madison in the photos section.
- I greatly enjoy quality beer, perhaps too much so, but I am half Canadian, eh!
- I am passionate about everything I do; teaching, mentoring, coaching, socializing. I have had many opportunities to travel all over the world and see how great I have it. These experiences inspire me daily to play as hard as I can, live as hard as I can, and quit complaining about the stupid stuff. I am always learning from everyone I meet and truly believe that everyone has something to share.
