recent media coverage

Over the past month or so, Jocelyn, myself, and Ballou Skies have been featured quite a bit in local, and even national (October issue of Triathlete magazine), media. This media blitz was setup to help promote the charity and to coincide with our racing in Kona at the Ironman World Championships on October 9th. While both Jocelyn and I have found it a little novel and strange at times because we are both pretty humble, down to earth people, the response has been tremendous and I think this has only be viewed very positively amongst our friends, family, teammates, coworkers, and peers and fellow athletes. Most importantly, it has generated a lot of good publicity for BallouSkies. I suppose everything really got kicked off in the leadup to Kona on Pittsburgh's PCNC network's NightTalk on August 31st, but I don't have anything in terms of pictures or links to share in regard to that visit. Suffice it to say that that was an enjoyable visit and we had a good talk and a lot of fun with the host Ellis Cannon, and it definitely served as a warmup for the months to come!

One of the first pieces that we were featured in was an article written by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Karen Price. This writeup was in October 1st's newspaper and featured myself, Jocelyn, Beth Shutt, Chad Holderbaum, and Matt Mauclair. This was a cool experience for the five of us to get together with Karen and a photographer maybe a week prior at Schenley Park and to do an interview with her about our collective training experiences, road to Kona, and what we expected for our upcoming trip as five friends traveling to and racing together in Kona. This article can be found here.

The next "stop" on the world tour was an early morning call-in by Jocelyn and myself from Kona on 10/3 to KDKA radio's Black and Gold Sunday show, hosted by Rob Pratte. The podcast from the segment of that show can be found below, by clicking the play button on the embedded audio player.


Our next appearance came on a wonderfully produced video by our friend (and great friend of the charity) Ward Hobbs, that was a work in progress for many weeks as we tried to coordinate our schedules, plus with the interviewer and narrator, WPXI's Gordon Loesch. The video aired as part of WPXI's news broadcast I believe both on the night of 10/8 and then again the morning of the race, 10/9. This one probably generated the most excitement amongst our extended family and friends, whom weren't necessarily aware that this was going to be airing, but in some cases were surprised as they were going about their lives and just watching the news as always, and there it was! A link to the video can be found here.

The next bit of coverage was not really about Jocelyn and I, but we were mentioned, along with the rest of the "Pittsburgh Five", on the sidebar that ran adjacent to this article about another Pittsburgh area athlete and recounted our finishing statistics from the Big Dance in Kona. This article was published in October 29th's Pittsburgh Tribune Review and was written again by Karen Price.

The most recent bit of media attention came in a very nice article written by Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in the November 1st edition. This piece very nicely illustrated Jocelyn's efforts in Kona and the incredible adversity she overcame, all while finding perspective about why we both do this sport and how fortunate we are, and also to be able to support BallouSkies. This article can be found here.

The last (or at least for now!) stop on the media tour will be tonight, when Jocelyn and I will again be guests on PCNC's NightTalk at around 8:30. If you live in the Pittsburgh television market area, tune in to hear about our race in Hawaii, BallouSkies, and what is new with us! Thanks for reading and for tolerating my condensed version of the last couple months of excitement!

Cooking with the Cornmans!

Earlier tonight, Jocelyn and I joined Gretchen McKay of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for her backyard and home-based cooking show, Cooking with Gretchen, that is to run online in the next couple of weeks. Jocelyn and I were her guests for this piece highlighting healthy, summertime meals, and we got to show off our non-existent cooking skills while talking about Ballouskies and Kona.

Gretchen, Jocelyn, and myself cooked up some Summer Salmon Pasta and some Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs, while Gretchen's associate Steve Mellon filmed it all and provided some creative direction.

This is the beginning of something of a media blitz that Ty setup in advance of Kona, whereby Jocelyn and I will be out promoting Ballouskies and our efforts at the Ironman World Championships! Next stop, NightTalk!

Clinic presentation, Pittsburgh Marathon relay, and PCNC Night Talk appearance

Since I raced in New Orleans about three weeks ago, it has been all about recovery and getting back into the groove, while still trying to prepare for my next race, which is happening manana. Along the way, I have had some unique and novel experiences for me as I continue on my journey as a triathlete. On Sunday Apr 25th, I spoke at the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club's clinic at the Over The Bar Bicycle Cafe on the southside, and presented a talk geared towards beginner triathletes. The talk went very well and it wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as I was expecting, and I got a lot of good feedback and questions from the audience. Also presenting were Chad and Brodie, and it was very interesting to listen to them speak about their topics as well. Here I am, talking about forgoing socks for a sprint distance tri, or flying dismounts, or some other beginner friendly technique...


Then last weekend, I raced on a relay with some fellow runners from the Hounds at the Pittsburgh Marathon. Initial reports were that we had won the relay category in 2:33:40, although strangely some other team has magically appeared ahead of us just this week in an improbably fast time of 2:17:10. We'll be sure to look into that, but overall I was surprised at the legs that I had in my leg, a 5.9 miler, which I covered at about 32 minutes flat officially, which worked out to 5:25 pace. Had I been running either an open 5k or 10k, I would have had huge PRs! Here I am, suffering on the road with my HR through the roof somewhere in Homewood or East Liberty.
Here is our anchor leg, Mark, one week removed from running the Boston marathon, finishing strong for what should be the relay division win.

Last night I had my television debut, appearing on WPXI's Night Talk on the PCNC channel with Ryan and Kim, to talk about Ballou Skies, the peanut butter sales, and all things related to the the charity and the tri-team. Here are the three of us with the host Mike Romigh towards the start of the segment.
Ryan spoke very knowledgeably and with a great sense of pride about the charity, what they are doing at Ohio State with the research, and generally about all of the big picture stuff.
I spoke about what it means to me to race under the Ballou Skies banner, and what it takes to keep going in a tough race. Thoughts always come back to the sacrifices made, the charity and Ryan, and how fortunate am I to be out there, using my body and triathlon as a platform to raise awareness for Ballou Skies and DMD.
Kim spoke about our marketing efforts, about the website, blogs, Facebook cause, etc., and also echoed what it takes to get to and race in some of these events.

It was an amazing experience and hopefully some of you out there in the Pittsburgh television market got a chance to see some if it during that dismal third period of the Pen's game.

Today is a busy day and then we are off to beautiful Lake Anna Virginia for the Kinetic Half, starting tomorrow morning at 7AM. Race report and updates to follow shortly!

Ballou Skies video feature

Last Thursday (4/15), Jocelyn, myself, Kim, Steve, and the Ballou family met in a local park to get some video footage for Ballou Skies video feature that would run online at WPXI and in a condensed version during local television broadcasts. The resulting video and a related article can be found here. Check out the BallouSkies website, get involved online through Facebook, buy some peanut butter here or in your local Giant Eagle if you're a Western Pennsylvanian, and help us in the fight against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy! 100% of the proceeds of the sale of the peanut butter go to the charity and the vital research that is being done at the Ohio State University Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute, as well as direct donations made to the charity. Help us in our race to extend lives and find a cure!

DETAILS magazine triathlon quote

A couple months back, I was interviewed by a writer for Details magazine for an upcoming piece on triathlon. I wasn't sure at the time what form this article would take, and to what degree my contribution would be included, but last Friday I got the answer when the March issue was released. I had a nice quote towards the end of the article that I don't think make me look like too much of a fool, although I'm probably biased. The piece is entitled How the Triathlon Became the New Status Symbol and was written by Simon Dumenco. Behold, some scanned magazine pages from the mag -

Here is what the article looks like in print.


If you want to check out the whole article, it can be found here. Or, support the magazine and go pick up a copy at your closest newsstand or bookstore!

media coverage - links

PG North/West: Leetsdale man will compete for a cause in Hawaii
Thursday, October 08, 2009

Sewickley Car Store and The Ironman

Sewickley native ready to race for the title of Ironman this fall

maiden blog post

Well after maybe a year and a half of being signed up for blogger and never posting anything, I have finally decided to make my initial, maiden blog post, prior to my maiden voyage to Hawaii for the Ford Ironman World Championship. I had previously considered posting some race reports and getting this thing off of the ground, but they never seemed significant enough to venture into this unknown world, of which I was uncertain whether I was either creative or interesting enough to inhabit. I am sure the creativity question will bear itself out in time; however I hope this big upcoming adventure in Hawaii may be sufficient for satisfying others’ interest.

The race now is 6 days out, and itself is just part of a much more profound trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The entourage and I leave at 6am Wednesday morning for about 17.5 hours of travel before arriving in Kona Wednesday afternoon. My bike is already on its way, having been sent out on Friday and is now at a FedEx location in Memphis awaiting its flight over to HI tomorrow morning.

I think everything really started to sink in a little bit more once the bike was packed up in the bike box to start the journey. I haven’t really packed anything else, but how hard could it be? I’m only going to Hawaii, and the way I see it I’ll only need my racing gear, one pair of shorts and shirt, flipflops, and board shorts!

In reality it will be much more complicated than that, but I’ll spare you the gruesome and meticulous details. There will be plenty of time and future blog posts for that! Though as I previously alluded, I am still trying to come to terms with this trip and the magnitude of it, but with each passing day it is becoming more real and the excitement is building as well. I actually did a live radio interview with KDKA’s Rob Pratte this morning, detailing my training, the upcoming race, and my involvement with a great charity, Ballou Skies. While I must say that I was fairly nervous doing this, it wasn’t quite as nerve-wracking as I expected and actually pretty fun. Maybe this experience will help to prepare me for the circus that I have heard is Ironman week in Kona. Time will tell!

In any case, I will be posting along the way from Kona in the lead-up and following the big dance. I would like to thank my wonderful girlfriend Jocelyn, my family and friends, all of my training partners, and sponsors for helping me to get to where I am now, the doorstep of the biggest triathlon in the world. I couldn’t have done it without you and am forever thankful and grateful for your love, friendship, and support. However the best is still to come, and race-day and the biggest weekend of my life is less than a week away!