♥ Rudy! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Thanks Jessi Stensland for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert.

In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stensland's active.com video features from Kona with bonus info from Stensland. She'll answer what it's like to be on site covering THE IRONMAN, what stories touched her most, what race day is like and more!

Rudy Garcia-Tolson
Two weeks before competing in the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships double-above-the-knee amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson got an infection in one of his stumps. He took the prescribed antibiotics and stayed off his feet--no running until race day for this 21-year-old triathlete. So Garcia-Tolson absorbed his latest challenge and continued prepping for 140.6 miles of Big Island decisions.

On the Thursday before race day Active.com reporter Jessi Stensland caught up with Garcia-Tolson to chat about his Kona experience and the BIG race! "I've always been a Rudy fan," says Stensland.

Click on Jessi's active.com Ironblog interview with Garcia-Tolson below:


video link

And watch NBC's Ford Ironman World Championships feature Dec. 19th from 4:30-6 EST. Preview here!

Questions for You:
- What's your top logistical challenge as a triathlete?
- Rudy calls swimming his passion, what is your favorite tri discipline?

On Topic:
Challenged Athletes Foundation: Rudy's story
Athlete: Lee Gruenfeld profiles the amazing Rudy Garcia-Tolson "the Torpedo."
Ossur: make Rudy's prosthetics
Scott Rigsby: first double below-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman on prosthetic legs. Read more about Rigsby here.
Sarah Reinertsen: first single above-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman (DNF in 2004, came back to finish strong and to win hearts in 2005).
Cheers also go to: Bob Babbit, Cherie Gruenfeld, Paul Huddle, PowerBar, David Bailey and Terry Martin for supporting Garcia-Tolson!

In this series:
Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer 's report from MovementU! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic, evah!" My hubby & I are super excited for MovementU's Madison-area class in 2010! Details to come!

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman islands.