In 2012, Jason Millsaps stood at the edge of a swimming pool facing a reality he couldn’t ignore.
He had decided he wanted to try a triathlon. He wasn’t an athlete. He had never trained seriously for anything athletic in his adult life. He was simply a man in his thirties looking for a new challenge.
Then he got in the water.
The first swim lasted just 37 yards.
“I made it 37 yards before I had to stop, grab the lane rope, and pull myself to the edge,” Millsaps recalls.
Out of breath and exhausted, he clung to the side of the pool. Looking back, he says he joked that he didn’t know what was harder—walking clothes before or after swimming clothes. But beneath the humor was a defining moment.
“I realized I had a simple choice: quit, or come back tomorrow and try for 38.”
The next day, he came back.
That decision became the starting point of a journey that would eventually take him to triathlon’s biggest stage.
Today, Millsaps has completed 16 IRONMAN races and qualified for the IRONMAN World Championship twice, racing in Kona in 2024 and Nice in 2025. He now serves as a USAT Level 1 Coach, TrainingPeaks Level 2 Coach, and 80/20 Certified Coach.
His story is the subject of his book, From 37 Yards to Kona: Worst Swim of My Life Led to Triathlon’s Biggest Stage.
While the book chronicles races and finish lines, Millsaps says its message reaches far beyond sports.
“Starting is not about being good,” he writes. “It is about being willing to be bad at something long enough to get better.”
For Millsaps, the lessons learned through triathlon apply to every area of life. Progress doesn’t begin when someone is talented. It begins when someone is willing to start.
“Character is the part nobody sees,” he writes. “I think of it like the keel on a sailboat, the hidden weight underneath that keeps everything upright when the storm hits.”
For him, those storms came in many forms. The experiences taught him that true strength is often built out of sight, long before anyone notices the results.
Another lesson came from the nature of triathlon itself.
“You are only as strong as your weakest area,” Millsaps writes. “Triathlon teaches you that fast. You can be strong on the bike and still drown in the swim, and the same is true in life across faith, family, fitness, work, and finances.”
It is a lesson that became clear from the very beginning, when swimming was his weakest area and 37 yards felt like an impossible distance.
Looking back now, Millsaps doesn’t see those first 37 yards as a failure.
“Thirty-seven yards was not a failure. It was a starting point.”
That perspective sits at the heart of his story. The distance between the edge of that pool and the IRONMAN World Championship wasn’t covered in a single leap.
Screenshot
It was covered one day, one workout, one decision at a time. He says, “It is part sports story and part faith story.
And it all began with a man who couldn’t swim 37 yards without stopping—and who chose to come back and try for 38.
From 37 Yards to Kona: Worst Swim of My Life Led to Triathlon’s Biggest Stage is available in print, Kindle, and audiobook formats. Millsaps also narrates the audiobook himself. The book can be found on Amazon: https://a.co/d/88TfwXT
Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook and Instagram. Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our Free Newsletter. Comments may be sent to news@knoxtntoday.com.
