I second that. You make it 140.6, you are an ironman. I think that because we are so used to the idea of the training and racing it takes to get up to that level, we forget that the average person could not finish any single leg, let alone all three. Hell, a great percentage of accomplished athletes can’t complete a single leg.
This is an interesting thread. Speaking only for myself-
Finishing Ironman, in and of itself, does not necessarily impress me in all cases. It is an accomplishment to be sure, and there is no minimizing the athletic significance of it.
Every Ironman experience is different. I am much more impressed with Judy Molnar’s finish than I am with someone who has less to overcome and for whom it is a good bit easier.
However, is it something to thump your chest and strut around about? Yeah, it is- a little. But it doesn’t make you “bad” or “cool”.
What does impress me is how someone handles their athletic successes and failures. Being an Ironman doesn’t make you any better or worse of a person- it just makes you an Ironman finisher, which in the athletic/endurance sports arena is something pretty special, but in the grand scheme of things is only good party conversation.
I’m more impressed with a person’s character than with a medal they wear around their neck after a race.
What a “real” ironman is dependant not on what others think but what YOU think. If you feel you’re a “Real” ironman after one, then you are, if it takes 15 then so be it. Maybe it’ll take you to break a certain time or qualify for HI to feel like a “real” ironman.
Personally, meaning for me, I’m not sure what “Real” Ironman even means to me. I’ve done the distance, probably will do it again. Yet it doesn’t define me like other aspects of my life. I’m a father, a husband and I make cartoons on the computer…not sure I’ll ever be an “Ironman”.
One. It does not matter what your time is. The guys that finish in less than 9-hours are unimaginably fast, and those that finish in 17-hours go through an incredibly long day.
I’ve finished five Ironman races but I don’t call or consider myself an “Ironman”. I am a triathlete. OK, maybe I call myself an “Ironman” at the finish line and for the rest of the evening. But the next day I wake up a sore triathlete
I think there are certain things a person does in life that changes their identity forever, having kids, joining the military, surviving a disease, etc. Finishing an Ironman qualifies as one of those events. I’m not hung up about time or placing or how many finishes you have, once you cross the finish line you are an Ironman for life.
Or to use my grandfather’s analogy, " Son, you can build bridges your whole life and never be called a bridge builder, but give just one blowjob and you’ll be a c*cksucker till the day you die".
Let’s get philosophical… to be “real” at all, you have to get beyond what other people think at all.
I know a dude who was a runner, but people talked about marathons. When he did a marathon, people talked ultramarathons. When he did an ultra, people talked about triathlons. When he did triathlons, people talked about Ironman. When he did an Ironman, people talked about THE Hawaii Ironman. Last I heard, he was doing double-Ironman races.
He’s a great guy and a very accomplished athlete, but the point is, he always seemed to be driven by what others thought about him and his accomplishments.
If you go the distance once, you are an Ironman. It’s more of a lifestyle than a race, anyway. Do what you love to do, do it to the best of your abilities, have fun, and you are truly blessed!
Some people are reduced to a walk - through no lack of training - but other factors on race day that cannot be predicted.
Nutrition plan failing
Hydration plan failing
Injury/illness sustained during the race
Accident during the race.
Just plain struggling to get one foot in front of the other but striving to cross the line.
This makes these people no less of an Ironman - because they may be forced to walk. Time to gut check - do what it takes - sure - they didn’t have the day they wanted - and they didn’t place in their AG or take home any cash - but how many people do?
I suppose you consider those people that come in after the cut off but still cross the line as not being Ironmen?
I think it was John Collins - the father of the Ironman - who said:
But in that original race, I thought it was only the winner who was called the “Ironman”.
In my opinion the kind of person who would tell someone they are not an Ironman because they have “only” done one IM is the type of person who only does things to try to make people think he/she is cool.
I consider my wife an Ironman after her first tri at Wildflower. She finished the race after:
-getting a bee sting in her boob and leaving the stinger in the whole race
-locking up and skiding sideways when a car whiped in front of her and hit the brakes
-crashed her bike when she threw a chain going uphill. She got her foot caught in the peddle and rolled down a ravine. Road in 11 miles with her bars, derailer and seat bent and high gears only.
-had to walk most of the run due to major thigh cramps. almost had to crawl the last .5 due to toe cramps.
I saw her cross the finish crying covered in dirt, foxtails, scrapes, bruises.
Why she didn’t quit I have no idea. Iron tough lady.
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FOR ME (you have to careful around here) it doesn’t matter how many you do. I would be satisfied if I performed to the best of my ability, without walking (it is after all a marathon). For me, finishing just under 17 hours after walking the marathon because I did not train properly, would be a failure and if I did that 15 times, I would fail fifteen times.
I feel somewhat the same way, which is why I don’t yet consider myself an “IronMan” even though my friends are astounded that I can even complete something like that. My races are cursed…no doubt about it. Always about 2 weeks before a race I manage to injure myself in some stupid way (twisting my knee while raking leaves, etc) or I manage to cramp some bizarre never-before-used muscle in my right leg (GFT '03) and end up doing the walk-run to a 5:00 “marathon.” When I finish sub-11 or place better than the 30th percentile where I sit now, then I might consider myself an IronMan. Realistically if any of the last 4 races went even remotely similar to training I would already be there, which gives me the feeling of a serious lack of accomplishment.
:
I think it was John Collins - the father of the Ironman - who said:
But in that original race, I thought it was only the winner who was called the "Ironman
Yes, I believe John Collins is quoted as something like “the one who crosses the finish line first can call himself The Ironman”.
So, unless you’ve won an Ironman overall, you’re not an “Ironman”.
I have never considered Ironman a term to describe a person. I have always and still do think of it as a “distance.”
When describing someone, I would say “he did an Ironman.” Honestly, I would smirk if I heard anyone call someone an Ironman in real life, and would laugh at someone who called themself that.
I don’t call someone who completes a marathon, a “Marathon man”.
