Hallie Denstorff

Hello, my name is Hallie, from as far back as I can remember I have always enjoyed working out, swimming, and walking. I ran/walked in your usual 5Ks here and there and a couple of half marathons. Then in 2007, my sister and I decided to give triathlons a shot. We signed up about 2 weeks before the YMCA sprint triathlon. We honestly had no idea what we were doing. I remember pulling up at Bluegrass and watching people unload their bikes and all their gear. Jenna and I looked at each other and thought what have we gotten ourselves into? Who would have known that on that day my life would totally change? Over the past several years I have competed in several sprint triathlons in Evansville, Owensboro, Vincennes, and Nashville. About two years, I decided to move on to something a little more challenging. I was told that Chicago’s Olympic triathlon was awesome, so I signed up. That summer I competed in my first Olympic triathlon. The race was in August so I trained all summer. I ended up finishing the race 48 minutes faster than my original goal time. Not only did I do the whole race, I beat my goal and was in no pain. Because I had so much fun competing in sprint triathlons I decided to double my distance and try a Olympic triathlon; and since that went so well I decided to double my distance again, and signed up for a half ironman. That winter the tri team got all of the area ironman competitors together to host a clinic and talk about their experiences. It was after talking to them that I knew I could do the half ironman that I signed up for. I trained for 7 months leading up to my half ironman in Racine, WI in July. The morning of the race I told myself that I didn’t care what my time was I just wanted to finish, but I did have a goal time in mind. I ended up beating my goal time by an hour. I was so proud of myself for improving my time and running the whole half marathon. I was in no pain during the race or after. I never thought in a million years that I would have completed a half ironman. After all the training and time it took to prepare I had accomplished my goal. At the end of the August, I traveled over to Louisville to watch the full Ironman competition. I kayaked out on the river to watch the swim, drove to La Grange, and biked the run course. It only took 20 minutes of watching the race that I knew I would sign up for the full. On the way home, I called my sister and told her what I was planning to do. She surprisingly told me that not only would she support me but, that she wanted to do it with me!! So now my sister and I get to spend the next year training together and accomplishing our goal together. It is still crazy to me that in 2007 I could barely run a mile and now I am going to be participating in one of the most demanding races out there. Hallie Denstorff

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