-No matter where you placed or how long it took you, you are now an Ironman. You will always be an Ironman from now on. You are a member of a fraternity that, in the grand scheme of things, very, very few people can even consider eing a part of.
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During the early '80’s the event was considered so difficult an exercise physiologist at a California university said it was impossible to complete without permanent physical damage. (I read that somewhere).
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If you were a MOP’er, your heart probably beat between 108,000 and 120,000 times during Ironman. That is about how many times a sedentary person’s heart beats in a day and a half. So, you lived a day and a half’s worth of the best and worst life can throw at you in around 13 hours give or take.
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Even if you didn’t finish, you still had the courage to toe the line and put yourself out there. You had the guts to try.
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America has a higher percentage of obese adults and children than any other developed nation. You are doing something about that starting with the best place you can: Yourself.
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You had the balls, male or female, to conjure up a dream and pursue it. That is the basis of our country and our national character. In many places around the world, this is simply not allowed.
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It is likely that, if you pass from this world at an advanced age in a comfortable bed surrounded by loved ones (and I hope you do), Ironman will be one of the many significant experiences in your very full life that you reflect upon.
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Other stuff too.
Tom’s right. For all the years I spent in and around special warfare military types, I always got the most interest for the fact that I had done IMH. Even the SEALs esteem IM and triathlons in general very highly.
Hell, they put on a half-IM themselves every year (“Superfrog”). If you can walk around Coronado sporting that finisher’s t-shirt there’ll be free beers for you in a few local bars down in Imperial Beach 
Kahuna
-No matter where you placed or how long it took you, you are now an Ironman. You will always be an Ironman from now on. You are a member of a fraternity that, in the grand scheme of things, very, very few people can even consider eing a part of.
I heard a great speaker at church last sunday, and what he said can be applied to the “triathlon fraternity” also …
“Come join our group … so we can judge and label you like we judge and label our current members.”
Sometimes we forget that we have much more in common than we have different.
A quote I read the other day, “Our differences are not be used to separate us … but to remind us of how much we need each other”.
The quote below comes to mind, and got me through my first IM (and the registration for my second).
You are right indeed. When I was in the military, infantry guys held Aerospace engineers with some level of disdain. The fact that I could beat every infanteer and paratrooper in the Canadian Military in triathlon and had done Ironman gave me some level of credibility. It did not matter that the radar guiding the aircraft that they were just about to jump out of was functional. I’d get no respect for that (desiging radar systems was not a ‘real’ job), but being an Ironman was instant credibility :-). Go figure. Tom, thanks for shedding some light on this.
My favorite quote has always been “A true friend always stabs you in the front”. By Oscar Wilde, I think.
K.
<<< If you were a MOP’er, your heart probably beat between 108,000 and 120,000 times during Ironman. That is about how many times a sedentary person’s heart beats in a day and a half. So, you lived a day and a half’s worth of the best and worst life can throw at you in around 13 hours give or take.>>>
That means that in a day I don’t train a sedentary person has a better and more full experience - my resting heart rate is currently 46, their is 70. Therefore, in a 24 hours period my heart will beat 66,240 whilst their 108,000. Assuming no variation a sedentary person life in a lazy day is actually better.
P
Dang Pluto, we were on such a nice, warm little roll of self-congratualtory mutual back smacking and high fiving…
Why a brotha gotta wreck dat?
That’s an awesome quote! I’ll definitely be keeping it in mind during Kona.
Congrats to those of you who pursued your dreams, whether you finished the race or not. If you ask me, it’s an accomplishment either way.
Maybe it’s just me, but I have trouble being judged and labelled…
You are a smart-ass.
There. You are judged and labelled.
Nobody does … that’s the point. People see how triathletes act towards one another (judging/labelling, etc), and then won’t want to be a part of that group.
smart ass? nah… Until at least the end of the week I’m the best coach in the world 
You are also one skinny mofo
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Let me throw that in the other direction:
There is a belief within certain sects of Buddhism that you have a fixed number of heartbeats in your life. Through meditation, the heart rate is lowered, thus Zen masters are able to live to extremely old age.
Take the average triathlete. If he/she works out 1.5 hours per day at 140 bpm, and has a resting heart rate of 50(which is conservative), their heart beats 80,100 times per day.
Take the average American. If their heart rate is 70(which is very optimistic) their heart beats 100800 times per day.
Thus the triathlete will live 25% longer than the average person, despite having their heart rate almost tripled for 1.5 hours every day.
Which begs the question: Is triathlon the path to enlightenment?
Great Story. Have to remember that one.
Great stuff.
I like the line about making a committment to yourself and following through. You’ll never finish a race you don’t enter. Even if you didn’t finish, you beat everyone who never bothered to show up!!!
Life is not a spectator sport…
“Even the SEALs esteem IM and triathlons in general very highly”
I’m not going to dispute that, but have a different story. My brother is SF (don’t wanna give many details…but there’s a movie about one of his missions) He drove down to IMFL last year to watch me suffer (from being somewhere on/off most of the year). He thought it was pretty cool and he was happy for me. But, I got the impression he thought it was a bit silly as he’s from a different planet.
He doesn’t have an aidstation and crowd support. He doesn’t get a sag wagon when he wants to drop out. He doesn’t have a “start line” or a “finish line”…and there is no pre-race carbo load. He works coopertively with people he knows better than most people know themselves and will push himself harder than I will ever realize. They are very humble, very quiet…and most people could never pick them out of a crowd…as they like em thick w/endurance.
But, he didn’t complain. He was very supportive.
I found out (a week later) from his wife that he swam the swim course (twice) while they were pulling bouys (in his shorts, no googles…he had PRK) then ran the marathon course during our bike.
He doesn’t need to pay $425 for an ego boost. I do.
He doesn’t need to pay $425 for an ego boost. I do.
If I can figure out a doable way to hydrate myself during the “marathon” (perhaps a camelbak) and on the bike (multiple camelbaks/refills?), I would be willing to do an “Ironman” on my own, and pocket the money.
Well…that’s because he’s Army SF and all my experiences have been with either Marine units or Navy special warfare units. You know, those guys do that annual Ranger competition and whatnot. A truly insane weekend of self-abuse if you ask me
I didn’t say, however, that completing an IM automatically gets you long, hot showers with all of the Navy frogmen girlfriends (known as “Froghogs”) out there. Just that you do get a boost up in their eyes as compared to the average slimy polliwog who happens to just shamble his or her way through life :-))
K.
You can do it. Three months ago I did a “big day” long distance race simulation. I finish the swim next to our car that parked outside a local lake, took off the wetsuit and went, changed and went on the bike. My wife took all the wet stuff away and drove the car while I was riding. Later on, she handed me food and drinks in places on the route as we agreed. She used the car to get there before I approached. The running section was done in an off road path. She parked the car took her bike and rode to various places to hand me some Gatorade and bananas.
In between “aid stations” I was on my own, so that I have to be self-focused. I enjoyed that day more a few races I have done.
The next day I had to go with her shopping.