OK, I thought I would take an item that I posted on the other thread about the South African couple helping one another and publicly admit to my sin of outside assistance.
In 1999, I did my 7th Ironman and first Ironman Lake Placid. Completing loop 1 of the run, I turned right onto Mirror Lake drive, and suddenly my mother jumps out of the crowd. All 5"0' tall and 100 lbs and starts running beside me. The crowd roars. I felt I was running pretty good and was glad to have her company. Then thought of getting DQ'd popped into my head. Suddenly, I hear another roar from the crowd. Hellriegel is closing on me. Yikes, I tell me mother to step off the road. Hellriegel finishes in 8:36. I do loop 2 in exactly 2 hours and finish in 10:36.
My mom is not a runner. She runs once a year. Anywhere between 100m and 1000m on Mirror Lake Drive in Lake Placid. She's done it the past 5 Ironman LP's. Should I be DQ'd ? I don't know. I don't care. I did the whole distance using my own energy. Having her there stride for stride for a very short time in a 10+ hour day is truly priceless. Would I trade her not cheering me for a lifetime unachieved goal of going to KONA. No way !
But the best was from Ironman LP 2002. I was running at at 3:47 pace, so reasonably respectable for the LP course. On Mirror Lake drive, she pops out the crowd. I'm going through a bad patch and she's cheering me on. I try to surge to drop this 60 year old woman, in jeans, street shoes and carrying an umbrella. Yep, I'm a finely tuned Ironman athlete with 5% body fat and enough miles in my running shoes to have run around the earth a few times in my life. I CAN'T DROP THIS WOMAN. After around 500m, it was getting a bit embarrassing, so I stopped, gave her a hug, and told her to leave lest I get DQ'd.
I'm a poser. I can't even drop my 60+ year old mom :-)
In 1999, I did my 7th Ironman and first Ironman Lake Placid. Completing loop 1 of the run, I turned right onto Mirror Lake drive, and suddenly my mother jumps out of the crowd. All 5"0' tall and 100 lbs and starts running beside me. The crowd roars. I felt I was running pretty good and was glad to have her company. Then thought of getting DQ'd popped into my head. Suddenly, I hear another roar from the crowd. Hellriegel is closing on me. Yikes, I tell me mother to step off the road. Hellriegel finishes in 8:36. I do loop 2 in exactly 2 hours and finish in 10:36.
My mom is not a runner. She runs once a year. Anywhere between 100m and 1000m on Mirror Lake Drive in Lake Placid. She's done it the past 5 Ironman LP's. Should I be DQ'd ? I don't know. I don't care. I did the whole distance using my own energy. Having her there stride for stride for a very short time in a 10+ hour day is truly priceless. Would I trade her not cheering me for a lifetime unachieved goal of going to KONA. No way !
But the best was from Ironman LP 2002. I was running at at 3:47 pace, so reasonably respectable for the LP course. On Mirror Lake drive, she pops out the crowd. I'm going through a bad patch and she's cheering me on. I try to surge to drop this 60 year old woman, in jeans, street shoes and carrying an umbrella. Yep, I'm a finely tuned Ironman athlete with 5% body fat and enough miles in my running shoes to have run around the earth a few times in my life. I CAN'T DROP THIS WOMAN. After around 500m, it was getting a bit embarrassing, so I stopped, gave her a hug, and told her to leave lest I get DQ'd.
I'm a poser. I can't even drop my 60+ year old mom :-)