With out question...more than okay!

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I'm a simple guy. Run the race = Cross the Finish line. Don't run the race = Don't cross the line.

For me the precident has been set already - Remember the guy that pulled/rode/pushed his adult son through the whole race? You want your kids w/ you crossing the finish line, you should be held to the same standard.

But that is just me.

---

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club
Industry Brat.

Naaa...I have a shirt I wear to get coffee on Sundays - right as the dogmatic churchies are getting there...has....



"I Sin

You Sin

We all Sin

So shut the fcuk up!"

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Huh? LOL, maybe you should have a few more cocktails - you're not even making sense. Unless you're deliberately contradicting yourself - on the one hand it's SUCH A BIG DEAL for people to cross with their kids/families/dogs/strollers/etc., it's the high point of their lives, etc.

On the other hand, what's the big deal if people trying to cross the finish line get caught behind those people with their kids/strollers/babies hoisted into the air/etc and don't even get to run across because of it. The finisher's photo of you with your kids is the MOST IMPORTANT THING in your possession.....but who cares if someone else has their finisher's photo ruined because he/she can only be seen behind a baby's head and limbs. The finish line entourage hasn't led to a death yet - so who cares, right?

Seems a bit.......self-absorbed.

---

--------------------

http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

Only because of the inconsiderate disrespectful jackasses that insist on doing it.

I don't care what sacrifices your family has made (I'm not even really sure they do -- likely it's that YOU are sacrificing for your kids for the rest of your life putting them through school, making their lunches, blah, blah, blah, and also setting quite a nice role model for them by doing something that requires so much commitment...). By the thinking some apply to this, I shoulda walked through my graduations with parents by my side.

No one has the right to bring anything down the chute, period. I'm a pretty nice guy to just about everyone, but if someone clogged it up in front of me and I had any kind of a PR or time that was important to me that I wanted in a photo, I would lower a shoulder and drop you (not the kid) like a tackling dummy! If you were carrying the kid, I'd deftly catch the flying infant and hand it off to a stranger as a gift.

---

**************
Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

I am sorry that my mental powers are proving beyond your abilities ;-P

I will go back to absorbing myself

---

----------------------------------------------------
Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

good thing I race du's :-)

---

----------------------------------------------------
Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

OK the dudes with the beer was a little overboard

I'll give you guys that

---

----------------------------------------------------
Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

Aztec,

I am not condoning it. I don't agree with it either, but it's one of these things that seems to have gotton slightly out of control, but to turn back now would cause more than a few people to get their shorts in a real knot.

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Should they prohibit flags and big dudes too, 'cause they're screwing up the pictures of the people behind them!

I certainly don't doubt that. And I'd like to see those knots, and how those people try to justify it.

---

**************
Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

Actually, the flags ARE annoying! I say that's receiving outside assistance unless you hauled it the whole way. :-)

---

**************
Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

I love it....some spectator right before the line is leaning forward, giving a big thumbs up and a goofy grin as people finish. He'll be in a bunch of race photos!

More good stuff...someone with a big flag just threw it on the ground after they crossed. At the same time, a mom finishing with her family basically pushed them away as she tried to stay upright.

I'd buy a DVD of this stuff...

[reply]OK the dudes with the beer was a little overboard

I'll give you guys that[/reply]

Heh heh, do it, come over to the dark side...you know you want to... ;-) If we've already found something we can agree on with such a volatile topic, can holding hands and singing Kumbaya be far behind?

---

--------------------

http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

[reply]
I'd buy a DVD of this stuff...[/reply]

Hmm....I'm thinking this is a great money-making idea. IM Finish Line Bloopers? I'd buy it too - this stuff is just cracking me up right now. Some guy just proposed to his racing girlfriend......come on, bring on the midgets! Umm, I mean "little people."

---

--------------------

http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

I heard that the finish chute at Chip's RockMan Tri is going to be family, pet and stroller friendly. That's fine and dandy, but I need to know...is it wide enough for my grandmothers motorized wheelchair?

Mike R just yelled at at some guy to "come on, come on, come on - there ARE other finishers behind you! You even had your own CAMERA CREW!!!!"...wow...things have gone WAY too far.



Good on Mike for telling them to get out of the way.

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Mike just got the shits with a bunch of japanese who stopped half way UP the ramp impeding some poor guy behind them

Yeah, he just yelled at a bunch of 7 Koreans with signs that were standing on the line. "Move, move, move - there are finishers behind you."

I don't care what sacrifices your family has made (I'm not even really sure they do -- likely it's that YOU are sacrificing for your kids for the rest of your life putting them through school, making their lunches, blah, blah, blah, and also setting quite a nice role model for them by doing something that requires so much commitment...).

Well, here is the grim reality that we often avoid talking about.

Given the choice of ...

[1] spending more quality time with daddy during the evening and weekend hours, or helping out around the house, improving the environment/climate for our family.

... or ...

[2] running with me through the finish line for 30 seconds.

I'm going to get brave and go out on a limb and say most young children and/or spouses are going to choose #1.

I think you have it right ... it's not the family sacrifices for the athlete in the race, most times it would be the athlete sacrificing the family for the race. Let's be honest about the situation. While, it may appear that the "30 seconds" of race fiish euphoria makes up for the hundreds of hours of being "chosen over" or "second best" ... it likely doesn't.

I think we could also readily admit that celebrating with our family after the finish line, complete with family photo with the finisher's medal would be JUST as rewarding and gratifying for us and our family.

----------------------------------------------

In a more important issue (MO), it would seem that the finish photo is the most important part of the race to some. It almost seems if they don't have a photo to commemorate the event, it doesn't count. If the finish line was like the original IM race (A light bulb hanging across the street), with no announcer, no finish chute lined with cheering fans, would these folks STILL want to do the race/event? IMO, the accomplishment is the trianing, the celebration is the race.

---

=======================
-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Yes, it will handle as many as you need.

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Because as much sacrifice and training I would have to put to finish, the same amount of time my family would have to put up with all my training, etc.

Would you feel the same if your wife spent 400 hours a year scrapbooking, and then allowed you and your kids to stand next to her as she unvieled her project in front of other scrapbookers? Would that moment be worth all of *your* sacrifice throughout the year?

I think this is a serious issue that we need to examine. IMO, too often this issue is the elephant in the room that we willingly ignore.

---

=======================
-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

[reply]...is it wide enough for my grandmothers motorized wheelchair?[/reply]

LOL - THAT was funny.

How about the announcer having to ASK the huge Japanese family carrying their signs to move out of the way for the finisher behind them? For those of you who are FOR bringing your family across the finish line with you, THAT's the crap that the rest of us are talking about.

And before that the guy trying to finish in under 12-hours being held up by the family in front of him. He pushed the racers arm out of the way to squeeze between the family members so he could cross the finish line with seconds to spare.

And everyone is missing the fact that this is bigger than Ironman - this is the way society is heading with everything - nobody cares about anyone else, and they only think of their own interests. Sad.

---

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"And everyone is missing the fact that this is bigger than Ironman - this is the way society is heading with everything - nobody cares about anyone else, and they only think of their own interests"

It's one of these slippery slope issues. No one knows where to draw the line. We are onto the slippery slope. Common sense get's tossed out the window as does respect for others. Indeed, sad.

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog