John McKinley of Boise, ID
Training with Coach Mark Sortino
I live in Boise, ID where I work as a sales manager. I’m married with two young boys ages 1 and 3, plus a golden retriever. I grew up running track and cross country, and in my late 20’s, I dipped my toe in the triathlon world and loved it so much that I dedicated quite a few hours to it for 8 years. The last three years have consisted mostly of just running for me (with the addition of kids to my lifestyle). Running gave me a fresh perspective, and I had the chance to compete in the Boston Marathon in the meantime. This year marks the 10 year anniversary of my first Ironman and I wanted to revisit the distance. “Again To Carthage” -John L. Parker….so to speak.
IRONMAN Boulder is my A race for 2019, with the goal of simply expanding my mental and physical limits. I have no doubt Coach Mark Sortino will take pleasure in helping me find those thresholds! I’m probably capable of coaching myself at this point in triathlon but I understand the value of another perspective and being held accountable for workouts. I met Mark through his wife a few years ago and have done some fun workouts with him in the interim. When I decided I wanted a coach, Mark was my first call. This will be a fun challenge and I’m looking forward to working with Team MPI.
Ivan Millan-Pulecio of Southborough, MA
Training with Coach Gregg Edelstein
I am the Chef/Owner of Hearth Pizzeria Craft Kitchen. I was a swimmer in high school and I have been participating in endurance events (marathon, half marathons, half Ironman events) for about 9 years now. My main races for 2019 are the Patriot Half (East Freetown, MA) in June and IRONMAN Arizona in November.
I met Coach Gregg through a mutual friend and found we had a shared passion for the sport of triathlon. He was always a huge influence in my triathlon and marathon ventures. Now being able to partner up with him is just amazing. His knowledge and understanding of me and my training needs are instrumental for my success.
Bill Ogden of Ferndale, Michigan
Training with Coach Adam Sczech
I've been a practicing attorney for 20 years in Michigan, and self-employed since 2013. I'm also the owner of a Michigan non-profit company, Circle of Friends, that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2018, our team raised over $70,000.00 to fight MS and I raised over $20,000.00. I'm a member of the Infinite Multisport Triathlon Club, the largest tri club in Michigan based out of Metropolitan Detroit.
I just completed my second full year of triathlon. I began on a dare by a friend, and signed right up for a full (140.6) despite never having participated in any distance triathlon. Then I decided it’d be best to do a couple of halves based on the advice of just about everyone. In 2017, I finished my first full, IRONMAN Arizona, in just over 12 hours.
I was a multiple sport athlete at Detroit County Day High School (football, cross country, basketball, baseball) and played baseball at Michigan State University for 2 years.
In June, I’ll be doing back-to-back international IRONMAN events, IRONMAN Ireland (Cork) and then a week later, Ironman France (Nice). My goal is to go sub 11 hours at Ireland and have a solid finish at France (12:30ish). I'll be doing IRONMAN 70.3 St. George as a warm up for the June Ironman races. In August, I’ll be participating in the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 in Traverse City, Michigan. This will be my “A race” and I would be looking to go sub-5 hours and/or a top 10 age group finish.
Jeff Wallace of Boise, ID
Training with Coach Mark Sortino
I've lived in Boise for the past 25 enjoying all the outdoor activities that are available. For the first half of my life I lived on the ocean where I completed in small high-performance sailboats, both nationally and at an Olympic level. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very popular mountain bike/cyclocross area of the country, so I got involved in riding and racing bikes early.
The early 2000’s I did several solo and team 24 hour mtn bike races and really like that format of racing. The last five years I’ve been extremely dedicated to training and racing both 100 mile and solo 24 hour mtn bike races. Although I’ve had some good results in the last couple of years, I knew there was lots of room for improvement. Coach Mark has been working with a friend of mine here in Boise for a while now, and my friends results have been impressive. I reached out to Mark a couple months ago to begin working with him focusing on just the solo 24 hour races. My race schedule is pretty full now, and I can’t wait to begin my first race of the year.
