Brad Lauritsen

I am 45 years old and was actually born in St. Louis but was raised in Omaha, and I’m a Cornhusker. I love my job as a Forensic Engineer and have been doing that for about 15 years. I have always been into fitness and strength training, and I enjoyed cycling and swimming for exercise, but I was never much of a runner. I have always been into group sports, most recently Ultimate Frisbee which I played in college and in leagues until a couple years ago. Before 2022 I never had any thoughts about any type of individual endurance sport activity.

I moved from Omaha to St. Louis almost three years ago after I got married. We chose to live at Whispering Hills partially because of the indoor pool. My wife is a former collegiate swimmer and a Masters swimmer. Once we started swimming together, I realized I didn’t really know how to swim at all! She really coached me up and motivated me to start thinking about doing something outside my comfort zone, so I started looking into triathlon. I didn’t know there was a sprint distance and I thought I could try that first. I did a ton of research on training and gear and I figured a support system would be good too, so I joined the tri club in late 2021, when meetings were still virtual. My first sprint triathlon was the 2022 St. Louis Triathlon. I didn’t know what to expect but it was a lot of fun and I ended up getting 2nd in my age group. I’ve done three sprint triathlons and finished 2nd in my age group each time.