Meet our December Athlete Spotlight, Rodrigo del Castillo! Rodrigo started training with Paragon last year on our team rides and has been a consistent attendee at the group swim practices. He recently became a first-time IRONMAN Finisher at IRONMAN Cozumel on November 21st, completing the distance in 11 hrs 35 minutes!
Age: 37 Occupation: Real estate investor How long have you been swimming, cycling, running, and/or doing triathlons?
3 1/2 years of swimming and running, 4 1/2 years of riding bikes, and 4 1/2 years in triathlon (I started doing bike relays only).
What aspects of triathlon do you enjoy most? Riding my bike and challenging my body and my mind to go beyond their limits.
What has been your favorite training or racing event, and why? I enjoyed training for IMCOZ a lot and the race itself I thought I was going to suffer but I ended up enjoying it a lot! And it also challenged me mentally. After my crash, for a moment I thought it was over, but I wasn’t injured and bike was ok, so no quitting!
What is your favorite post-workout or race meal? Italian food!
What is one recent accomplishment you are proud of? 6 years ago I weighed 215 lbs and started doing exercise, especially biking, and some friends already did Ironman. I said I would never do that, and 6 years later, I just finished my first full IRONMAN. Despite having a broken fibula and surgery 8 months ago. It’s just passing ourselves beyond our limits and comfort zone on every aspect of life. What do you want to be when you grow up? A good role model to my kids and better at transitions hahahaha.
What is something no one knows about you? It freaks me out to swim in open water.
