When James Resor first saw his name listed as one of the 24 lucky winners from June’s Big Island IRONMAN World Championships entry drawing, the first thing that came to his mind was, “It’s about time.” ADVERTISING When James Resor
When James Resor first saw his name listed as one of the 24 lucky winners from June’s Big Island IRONMAN World Championships entry drawing, the first thing that came to his mind was, “It’s about time.”
Resor joked that it was about time that his name was selected after two attempts to attain a coveted slot through the local drawing, but it was also about time that the Kailua-Kona resident fulfill a 10-year long dream to compete amidst the best of the best on a world stage like Kona.
In five weeks the 2016 Hawaii IRONMAN World Championships will commence, and Resor is finally on the start list.
Resor grew up surfing along the Space Coast of Florida and remembered watching space shuttles take off during his school recess breaks. He kept himself active during his high school and college years playing soccer and surfing but it wasn’t until 2005 that he was introduced to triathlon.
“I graduated college with a degree in marketing and started working in radio and TV advertising,” the 35-year old said. “But 2005 was the first time that I got into the sport. I met a guy who was into triathlon and a great mentor. I think for me, triathlon certainly gave me momentum to get into something different and to be competitive again. And getting into triathlon has always been about doing IRONMAN. I always knew that it would never feel complete until I checked that box.”
After getting his toes wet in the sport competing in several shorter sprint and Olympic distance triathlons, Resor said that his introduction to the 140.6-mile race was in 2009, at IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene in Idaho.
He remembered the hilly bike segment being the hardest due to training on Florida’s relatively pancake flat terrain, and having a harder time acclimating to the cooler temperatures that hovered around 60 degrees. But he got it done and felt thrilled to finally get that first IRONMAN race under his belt.
However, it wasn’t long after while working at Hearst Television that Resor decided that he needed a change of pace.
“I realized that I needed a break from life so I took a year off, sort of a sabbatical, and moved down to the Virgin Islands living in the Caribbean for a year,” he said. “I did nothing! I bought a mountain bike, I didn’t have a car, I was a total townie, drank a lot of rum and talked like a pirate.”
After a year of being on the island and not working, Resor said he was running out of money, out of shape, and knew that he had to do something different with his life. He then moved back to Florida and signed up for his second triathlon as motivation to get back into a healthier lifestyle.
“After doing IRONMAN Cozumel in November of 2011, I broke my right tibia playing soccer,” he said. “So there I was, sitting in my office not able to do anything when I lucked out when this job opening in Kona came up. I actually flew out here on crutches for my interview, got the job, and officially moved to Kona in March of 2012.”
Resor took on a position working as an account executive with Pacific Media Group and Kapa Hawaiian FM, but never dreamed that he would meet the love of his life during that year’s IRONMAN World Championship race.
“I met my wife the night before the IRONMAN World Championships,” Resor said. “Sarah came to watch the Kona IRONMAN while she was on a vacation. I had already moved here so I was like the cool local surfer showing her around. When we met, we immediately connected and hung out for the entire day and stayed for the midnight finish line. Kona’s midnight finish is the best anywhere! It was so emotional and it was the first time that we both watched the IRONMAN World Championships. But then the next day, she was off to Oahu.”
Sarah Resor added; “I told him that if I come back for one more day would you have time to hang out?”
“That’s when I knew she liked me,” Resor said with a wide smile. “So from there we continued to communicate everyday on Facebook and phone calls as Sarah lived in California.”
Now five years later and happily married for a year, the Resors are ready to purchase their first home, and are looking forward to the start line of October’s IRONMAN World Championships.
Resor said that this is the first time that he has a triathlon coach and generally does three-swims, three-bike rides, and three-runs per week, training by time instead of focusing on mileage. Resor added that he enjoys the personalized structured workouts and feels that training for IRONMAN has helped him progress into a healthier lifestyle and mindset.
Along with the rigors of training and full-time work, Resor keeps himself busy through his involvement with The Rotary Club of Kona, an organization committed to offering their services to the community and youth programs.
As past president for the 2015-16 year, a few community events that Resor said he was proud to be a part of was the planting of 100 trees along the new 1-mile jogging path on Ane Keohokalole Highway, building a new home for a family in need through Habitat for Humanity, and conducting Keiki Vision testing for all third graders in Kona.
Resor also mentors students through the Life Plan Youth Program at Kealakehe High School in which he adopts a class during their freshmen year, then helps them to prioritize their education and goals by building upon their strengths, values, resume, and learning life skills until their Senior year.
And more recently, Resor has begun mentorship of 25 adolescent aged boys, who are deemed as troubled kids, through the Boys to Men Program at Konawaena High School.
“Once you give service and help people it becomes pretty addicting,” Resor said of his passion and involvement with community service in Kona.
But with everything, there must be a balance and Resor credits his wife Sarah for being super supportive and always by his side.
“I always say that it’s never about the destination, it’s always about the journey,” he said. “That’s what this IRONMAN is all about. And it’s certainly a balance between work, training, and marriage. But we make sure that we have time for each other. The important thing is that we know that we’ll spend every morning and evening together.”
With the IRONMAN World Championships just five weeks away, Resor has already envisioned what crossing that finish line will mean to him.
“For me it’s a culmination of 10 years. It’s my 10th year in the sport and it took me 10 years to get here. It’s 10 years of changing my lifestyle from that 23-24-year old college kid wanting to drink and party. So finding triathlon was just a good way for me to change that lifestyle. Triathlon has brought me to Kona, it’s how I met my wife, and it’s how I live my life, and it’s given me my identity. With that being said though, I don’t consider myself a triathlete. I’ll always consider myself a surfer first!”
