Intermountain Health Ironman 70.3 St. George North American Championship 2025 (7 May to 14 May 2025)

6 May 2025 

I was working all the way till 7pm. Good thing is I have kinda packed my stuff in the morning before I started working as I was working from home. We had simple fried rice for dinner and then we went back to senja. We finally finished all the packing at around 9pm and we could rest. 

Lexuan is still sick, so hope she does get better tomorrow. Somehow she always gets sick every time just before we fly. 

7 May 2025 

It’s a morning flight at 9.15am so we woke up at 5am. We planned to take cab at 6am to avoid the morning working crowd. 

And what’s so special about this flight? We are taking with papa Alan too! He’s on business trip and we are on the same flight! Haha. 

Grab premium is $89+ so we decided to take 2 cabs as per normal. Lexuan slept on the cab. I guess she is still feeling a little unwell. I am feeling sleepy but didn’t managed to sleep. 

We reached around 6.35am. We managed to avoid the office traffic so it’s a fast ride. Lexuan and I reached before Jianhui and I was shocked to see that there was a long 

queue. There were a group of kids in red shirt. Thanks to papa Alan, we managed to find a short queue and so we could check in quickly. Oh yes, we would be in the same flight as papa Alan as he would be going Las Vegas for conference. My sis is here to send us off! Yeah! 

Then we went to Kopitiam for breakfast. As I have been coming airport for lunch, this Kopitiam looks familiar. We had Kaya toast, croissant ham and cheese with eggs. I had 3 eggs as Jianhui only wanted to eat 1 egg. 

After breakfast, Jianhui went to change money. Then we walked to boarding gate B6 which was quite far. Time seems to pass so fast. By the time we cleared customs, there wasn’t any queue.

Boarding is a breeze too. Soon we took off at 9.25am sharp. I seem to lose the power of  falling asleep while taking off.

They served us light snacks (peanuts) with drink, followed by lunch at 11.30am. The food is not nice. Haha. The kid’s meal also nothing much to eat. 

I took a short nap. I don’t feel sleepy so I watched 2 episodes of running man. Then I watched Wild Robot which is very nice but it makes me cry. All these movies always make me cry on plane. Lexuan slept for about 2 hours plus. 

Lexuan has no appetite so I ordered cup

Noodles for her. So she at least ate a bit. She was still quite sick so she also ate fever medicine and yellow pill. They served Lexuan breakfast at SGT 5pm. 

Somehow we kept on encountering turbulence. This also means we cannot use the toilet. Maybe because Lexuan is sick, so she kept on wanting to go toilet. 

Our “breakfast” is served at SGT 6 pm - chicken rendang. Not very nice and salty. And so sad there is no ice cream. 

We tried to sleep for a while, but can’t really sleep since it is evening time. Lexuan was feeling uncomfortable the whole flight so she was complaining a lot. She definitely has phobia of taking such long flight. 

Just one hour before landing, the captain called for doctor or medical personnel. I guess there is someone on board feeling unwell. Hope the person is feeling okay. 

After 15 hours, we are finally landing San Francisco at US timing 9.15am (which is SGT 0015 midnight. There’s a queue at customs but still manageable. We are lucky to meet a friendly custom officer. 

We collected our luggage and then we are outside. We had to deposit our luggage again. Wonder if this is unique of US? We quickly took a photo and then went to queue for security. 

After clearing the security, we find a nice place to eat. We decided on Bourbon Pub. We ordered fish and chips and burger steak. Food was okay. 

By now we were kinda sleepy as it’s midnight in Singapore. I kept on yawning.

Once we boarded the plane, I fell asleep almost immediately. I took about an hour nap. It’s a short flight so soon we are about to land. The landscape from the plane is amazing. 

We finally touched down Las Vegas. As it is a small plane, we got our luggage pretty fast too! We can finally go to our hotel to rest! It had been a long day. 

We couldn’t find the airport shuttle so we decided to take cab to the airport hotel. It’s very near, about 7 mins drive and the cab fare is USD 25 including tips. 

We are staying at Tru by Hilton Las Vegas airport. It has 2 beds, good enough for a short stay. But the heater of the shower doesn’t seem to work really well. Hope we get a better room on the day we are flying back as I don’t want to bathe in cold water early in the morning. 

It feels so shiok to lie on the bed after such a long day! I fell asleep for a while. 

Around US 7pm, I cooked Maggie Mee for Jianhui and Lexuan. This shall be our first dinner in US since there’s nothing much near airport hotel. Satisfying meal. 

We slept around 8pm+. 

8 May 2025 

I woke up around 4.30am and couldn’t really sleep. So I replied messages and started scrolling phone (this is bad…). 

Around 7am, we went for breakfast downstairs. Luckily the stay comes with breakfast, if not I don’t know what else we can eat. 

They have pancake making machine and it’s amazing! Just one wave and the machine will make the pancake! Love this! The scrambled egg is nice too! 

Then we went back to the room. We can still relax today and we managed to extend our room till 12pm.

This is the time for us to rest in the room while fighting jet lag as it is night time in Singapore now. Jianhui went to get the car around 9am and back at 10am. We all managed to take a short nap before checking out. 

We checked out at 12pm. Jianhui had a hard time packing the bike inside the car. Travelling with a bike means the car is very squeezy behind. 

Initially we wanted to go Target but it’s located within town area which makes it hard to park. So we decided to move on to the McDonald’s’ out of town. 

We on highway 15 and it’s basically barren the whole way to McDonald’s. After an hour, we reached mcdonald’s. Lexuan slept for a while before she start complaining about the bike being too close to her. 

We had McDonald’s for lunch and it costs USD25 - one Big Mac meal, one Ala carte fillet o fish, 1 happy meal + one frozen Coca Cola. Lexuan’s packet of fries is really small. It looks so cute. We also shopped at the Walmart nearby. 

Then we continued our journey. 40 mins to go! We are going to Best Western Coral hills at St George. Traffic is pretty smooth. 

This accommodation reminds me of our accommodation back in San Francisco - nothing fanciful but decent. And we got level 2? There is no lift which means we have to carry our luggage x 2 and bike box up the stairs. Poor Jianhui. 

And the time here is one hour ahead! So it’s 5pm now! So you know why? According to Google, Utah passed a law in 2020 that would keep the state on Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) all year round (meaning no daylight saving)! I didn’t know that until I realized my iPhone’s clock automatically adjusted to one hour faster. 

Luckily we still got time to go to race pack expo (it closes at 7pm). We walked over and it is so sunny. Lexuan and I did a signboard for Jianhui. We also bought some merchandise as usual. Then we walked back. 

It’s getting late so we decided to eat somewhere near. We ate Iceberg Drive In. The milk shake is amazing! Lexuan gave it 10/10. I would say it’s as good as Billy bombers milk shake. And it has a wide range of flavours too! The burger and sandwich is normal, a bit too salty. 

After dinner, it was almost 9pm. It’s time to rest for us. 

We slept around 10pm. 

I had a lot of weird dreams and kept on waking up. 

9 May 2025 

It’s Friday! We woke up around 6am. We relaxed while waiting for Lexuan to wake up.

When she is up, we went down for breakfast. 

Today we can make own waffles! It’s fun! Waffle with Nutella is the bomb. 

Then we went back to the room. Jianhui got busy getting ready to check in his stuff and bike. 

Lexuan and I went swimming at around 10am+. The weather is so hot! We had a fun time in the pool. We swarm till 11am and can see that I am slightly one tone darker. Jianhui is not back ayet. He showed me some of the photos he took at the swim start. The place looks beautiful. 

After he is back, then we went for lunch. Lexuan wanna go McDonald for her minecraft toy. Thank goodness we got a different one. 

Then we went to Pizza place. Luckily we ordered only 4 slices pizza and half plate spaghetti as Lexuan didn’t like the pizza. We ordered Margherita pizza but it has too much tomato sauce and tomato. The damage is US23. 

Then we went back to our room and it’s nap time! Haha. 

About 5pm, we drove to the starting point for Lexuan 0.5 mile run! She was kinda unwilling to do this run but at least she agreed to do this since I could run with her. Glad that we did it together! She kept on complaining it’s far but she did it. So proud of my dear girl! The weather is hot! Can’t imagine the weather tomorrow! The medal is cute! She got strawberry + banana smoothie at the finishing line. She says our home made one is nicer. Haha. Maybe we should make smoothie as business. 

We drove back first to pee before driving out for dinner. We decided to eat ice berg again since we don’t know what else to eat. We ordered 3 kid’s milk shake today! We tried their ice berg burger and chicken tenders. Both so-so. Think we can only go there for milk shake. 

We went back room and I cooked Maggie mee for Lexuan. She didn’t eat much also. Probably still full from milk shake. 

We slept around 9pm+.

Jianhui didn’t sleep much as he was coughing. I woke up a couple of times as well but at least I don’t have a race. When I fell asleep at 3am, I dreamt a lot… dreamt of going lunch with colleagues, hotpot with wanlin and Limin, and dreamt of a lot of ghosts. 

10 May 2025

It’s race day! I woke up around 4am. Jianhui left the house earlier while Lexuan and I left around 5.30am. It’s colder early in the morning so we worn our jackets with long pants. We walked to Town Square Park to take shuttle bus. Very happy that Lexuan managed to wake up to support daddy. 

It was very organised like New York Marathon. We didn’t have to wait for long to get on the bus. We are taking the bus to the swim starting point - Sand Hollow State Park. It’s a beautiful place. We saw Jianhui immediately at the bus stop off place. Then we went to queue for toilet. 

After toilet, Jianhui started wearing his wet suit. And then he went to the starting point. We stayed around there to see the swim start. We can have a good view of the pros and sun rise. 

Jianhui started the race at around 7.29am. Then we moved on to transition area there to see the athletes coming out from swim to transition area. Jianhui was feeling unwell so I was really worried for him. I was so relieved to see him coming out from swim. 

Lexuan wanted lemonade (USD5) so I bought for her before walking to bike start there. We managed to catch Jianhui with Xiao P. All the best dear dear! 

Then Lexuan and I went to queue for shuttle bus. Luckily we didn’t have to wait for long and we are on our way back to Town Square Park. In 20mins time we are back, we quickly walked back to our hotel so that we can still eat breakfast. 

Happy to be finally back! With the sun out, it is super hot again. Think we can wear shorts later to support Jianhui. We made our own waffles and eat it with Nutella. I also had scrambled egg, cornflakes and of course my coffee. 

We relaxed in the room for a while before we went swimming. It’s so sunny but the pool water is quite cold. Glad that Lexuan had fun in the pool. 

Then I cooked Maggie mee for lexuan. We got to stop eating this from tomorrow onwards. 

Was really relieved to see Jianhui coming back to the room! He’s a champion! No matter what, we are proud of you! The weather is so brutal! 

Jianhui is really tired. He could just fall asleep after showering. 

Around 4pm, we went to ending point to collect his stuff. The weather is really hot. There are athletes still on the course.

They are totally so amazing! 

After he had collected Xiao P and his stuff, we drove to iceberg for milk shake again. 

Then we drove to Sakura Japanese Steakhouse for dinner! To our surprise, the car park is packed! Luckily we still managed to find a slot. And there were a lot of people on the queue. It is strictly walk in. 

We chose hibachi tables as Lexuan watched on YouTube how they will entertain the diners while cooking. We waited about 20 minutes then we got seated. 

We ordered beef, salmon and scallops. Beef is good. We also ordered their sushi and sashimi which is normal. The portion is a lot. No wonder we saw many people da bao the food. The damage is USD125 + USD20 as tips. It was a very filling meal. 

We went back to rest after dinner. 

Lexuan must be so tired. She fell asleep at around 8pm+. 

I slept around 9pm+ close to 10pm. 

11 May 2025 

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, mothers to be, aunts, ah yi and god mother, etc. 

We woke up at around 6am. I had quite a good sleep though I dreamt a lot. 

Then we went to eat our breakfast. I always had a really filling breakfast there. Love the male staff there who is so committed to work - will always top up the food and cleaning the table and chair. 

Then Lexuan and I wanted to go swimming but think they just cleaned it with chlorine so we had to u-turn back. We went back at 9.30am and it’s ready for use! We played for about half an hour before we went back to our room. 

After showering, we got ready for car trip to Snow Canyon State Park. This is the Ironman’s bike course. It costs us USD15 per car to drive in. There are many people cycling too. We took many nice photos and videos. It’s so hot though. Lexuan then told us she wanted to eat pizza. 

After driving through Snow Canyon State Park then we went to Pizza Hut as per Lexuan’s request. She loves pizza hut’s Hawaiian pizza. As the place doesn’t smell that good, we decided to Dabao back to room to eat. 

While waiting for our pizza, we went to Dollar tree to shop. Everything inside cost USD1.25! It’s pretty worth it. We bought the shoes charms too. Hope it fits our crocs! 

Then we went back to our room! Now that we know we have the ice machine downstairs, we are so excited to get soft drinks with lots of ice! And we brought our owala out. The ice didn’t melt much and the drink remains cold! Haha. 

Lexuan enjoyed the pizza a lot. She ate 2.5 pizza. We relaxed a while in the room before going out again. 

We drove to the nearby Red Hills Desert garden. Red Hills Desert Garden is Utah’s first desert conservation garden in St George. It does really feel like a desert with the hot weather and no water. From here we can have a panoramic view of the whole St George too. We also went to the St George Narrows which we saw some kids climbing up. I didn’t dare to try as I am worried I would be stuck up there. 

Then we drove to Quail Creek State park. It looks like Sand Hollow park though I think SHP looks nicer.

Finally, we’re going Walmart - Lexuan’s favourite place. She’s going to get her toy. We shopped for almost an hour there. The setting at Walmart looks so similar that we thought Jianhui brought us to the same Walmart haha. She’s bought “Guess who”, Walmart’s basket and Kuromi slime. 

Then we go Sand Hollow State park. We decided not to go in as it’s quite sandy. 

So we drove to Carl’s Jr for dinner. As we are not that hungry, we ordered one double cheeseburger meal and this already cost us USD14.

After this, we drove back. It has been a busy day for us today. Now we can finally rest. 

We drank our corona which is 500ml. Super big bottle. We didn’t manage to finish our beer and the chips. Lexuan was hungry so I cooked Maggie mee for her. True enough, she finished the noodles. 

Then we slept around 9pm. 

12 May 2025 

Happy Vesak’s Day! Love long weekend in Singapore as well as on holidays! This also means I don’t have many more work emails to clear since people in Singapore are not working too. 

We went for breakfast. We are so pampered with breakfast that we didn’t drink much of our own coffee. I had the usual self made waffle. 

Then after resting a while, we went swimming again! It’s totally our favourite swimming pool. It plays nice music and usually it’s only us. Lexuan and I had fun. Happy memories made here. 

After shower, we started packing our luggage. Lexuan did a bit of her Chinese homework. Then we checked out about 10.50am. Our damage at this hotel is USD1k for 4 nights. 

We dropped by Smith’s to get plain water and we are ready to drive back to Las Vegas.

I bought my cute Groot Ty beanie baby at Dino mart. It’s so cute. Hehe. Our first stopover is at McDonald’s for lunch. Lexuan is happy to get her minecraft toy. We got 2 Dennis though. After lunch, we went to Walmart which is nearby - the same one we went when we were driving to St. George. Lexuan bought her mochi toy. My shopping expenses this trip all clocked at Walmart or target for her toys. 

Then we continued 1hr 40 mins journey to Las Vegas. We drove past Valley of Fire too. It’s a boring ride and super windy. Jianhui needs to drive with both hands on the steering wheels. 

After what seems like a long time, we finally reached the famous Las Vegas signboard.

There were a lot of people there queuing to take photos. 

Then we went to our hotel - Tru by Hilton. Thankfully we can check in! So we could rest in the room. Was telling Jianhui next time we should just pack our luggage made for one night stay so that we don’t have to open and bring all luggage up. This time round we staying in level 5. 

Then we drove out for dinner. We chose Sushi Love so that Lexuan has something to eat. We ordered udon, Tamago sushi which she loves it. For us, we ordered egg roll (we thought this is steamed egg roll we ate in Japan) which is actually fried spring roll. The sashimi deluxe and rainbow golden roll is normal. 

Then we drove to crumbl cookies as per Lexuan’s request. She watched so much YouTube videos until she knows a lot of shops based in Us. The cookies is expensive. It costs USd9 for 3 cookies. 

Then we went to Five Below. It’s her happy land as there are so many things that she wanted to buy. The damage is USD31.43. Everything USD 5 and above also can buy until USD31.43. 

Then we went to pump petrol before Jianhui sent us back to the hotel. He went to return the call. 

It’s going to be a long day tomorrow as we will be flying back US 6.40am (SGT 9.40pm 13 May 2025).

We slept around 9pm+. Jianhui was coughing quite a lot. 

I woke up a few times and dreamt a lot. 

13 May 2025

We woke up at 3am. We quickly showered then we are ready to take the shuttle bus at 4am. 

It’s windy out there. I had to help to hold the door while the girl driver and Jianhui load the luggage. 

It’s a short ride to the airport and the airport is relatively empty. Checking in is a breeze too. Seems like we don’t have to collect baggage at SF airport and can fly back to Singapore. 

We are kinda early so we relaxed at the chair near Gate E6. The shops are not opened yet so I can’t do shopping too. 

When the shop Evolve is open, I went shopped. Managed to buy some chocolates and magnets. This cost me USD80+. It’s quite crazy right? The chocolate cost USD15, plus the magnets about USD8. 

We boarded the plane at 6.10am. This is a short flight to San Francisco. Lexuan slept for a whole while taking off. I didn’t manage to sleep. They served us coffee and it’s quite gao. When my strategy is, to follow Singapore timing and to sleep though since it is night time in Singapore now. Went for toilet once and soon we touched down at 8am. 

We had to walk one big round to Gate G from Gate B. While walking there, we stopped by to eat Tempura udon as per Lexuan’s request. Good that she ate something now as she usually doesn’t eat much flight meal. I also bought chocolates and peez candies for the cute designs. 

We finally reached Gate G4 at around 9.15am. Then we sat there for a long time. Around 10.45am, Jianhui went to change our air tickets. We taking premium economy back home! So at least the seat is more comfortable for this 16hrs flight. 

We started boarding around 11am. We are sitting in the middle, when I am more used to sit in the corner. I took a short nap while taking off. 

They served us lunch at around 1.30pm. The pork ribs not bad but not the chicken and fried rice. Lexuan managed to eat a bit of pork ribs. Kinda sad that we don’t have ice cream to eat. 

I watched the Chinese movie Crisis Negotiators, not too bad. It helps me to kill time till 2.30pm. I slept for a while before watching a bo Liao Chinese movie. Lexuan managed to sleep for 2 hours. 

I watched SG TV show camping around the world covering Darren and Evelyn, Qi Yu Wu + Joanne, Chen Jing Lun & his mummy. Quite a nice and touching show. 

They served us dinner at around 7pm which is around SGT 10am on 14 May. After dinner, we all slept. I managed to sleep about 2-3 hours. 

I woke up around 2am (SGT 5pm) and now we are about 2 hours to touch down! Yeah! I continued to watch the camping show on Lee Teng and his wife. 

Finally we touched down! What a long flight. Long day. 

We quickly got our luggage and went wang to have a quick dinner. Jianhui ordered laksa and Maggie mee. 

Then we took the limousine back! Quite comfortable and SGD60. It’s quite worth it. 

So glad to be finally back home! We took some stuff back and then we went back Teck Whye.

It was a good short trip! It would be even better if US isn’t that far. 

Hope that we can sleep well later. I am so not looking forward to be back at work tomorrow. 

It was a great trip and thanks Jianhui for planning everything. I have always wanted to go St George since i have watched Clifford Lee’s video many many years ago. Glad that we made it there and back home now.

Looking forward to our next adventure!