Just about 9 years ago I started working for slowtwitch.com and it has been a fantastic and memorable ride, but eventually even the best things come to an end.

It all started with a phone call from Dan Empfield who was looking for someone to help him out. He wasn't specifically offering me a job at the time, but he hoped I would know someone who fit the bill. It sounded like a great opportunity so I quickly offered to take on the job myself, and before too long I posted a variety of stories, including this one with Timo Bracht in 2007. Over time the interviews evolved, but the passion was always on full throttle. It was pretty much a dream job and it still is, but my life and my priorities have changed. Interestingly enough, I was told many years ago that kids would eventually change my world, and that has come true.

I will still cover Challenge Roth this summer and the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona this coming October for slowtwitch.com, but as of today I am stepping away from the day-to-day operations as the Editor-In-Chief and social media dude in order to spend more time with my family.

With and for slowtwitch.com I traveled all over the world, learned a lot, and met many amazing fast professionals, smart and hard working industry folks and passionate age groupers. When my mother passed away about a year ago, several World Champions reached out to me to offer their condolences and heartfelt thoughts. The same thing happened when I got married, when my kids were born, and during various other important big steps in my life. This is something that makes triathlon special as a sport. I can't really speak for journalists in other sports, but somehow I can't see LeBron James or Cam Newton sending text messages to an ESPN journalist to congratulate him or her on the birth of a child, or express sadness about the death in his or her family. But I don't know that for sure. I just know that triathlon is awesome and unique.

But if it is all so great, why leave? Triathlon is very time consuming, both to train for and to cover as a journalist. After spending a few hours on a Saturday morning covering various races, it seems unfair then say to my wife, "I know you just spent time with the kids all morning while I hacked away on the computer, but would you mind watching them for a few more hours so I can go bike riding?"

My wife has a very demanding full time career, and while she is happy to spend time with our kids, she would also be happy to see me. The same is true for me, I do want to spend more time with her and my twin boys during the weekends. They are currently 4-years old and if I don't watch out they will be 18 and gone before I know it.

Also we are really in a tough tax bracket because of my wife's job, and after you add the cost of babysitting into that equation, it leaves very little left over from my salary. We knew that all along, but with more and more races happening all the time the weekends were just getting crazy.

Some of the online complaining and vitriol has also made it easier for me to make this decision.

But mostly the memories of these last 9 years are wonderful and will always stay fondly with me, and that is why I am leaving this position with a heavy heart. I also know that the 3.0 version of slowtwitch will be launched soon, and I will be sorry to miss that. From what I have seen so far it looks very exciting and promising.

So what is next other than family time? I will have time to focus on art, architecture and interior design, and hopefully train a little more. After all, I have a big race coming up in July in Switzerland.