Last Wednesday I arrived in Tempe, Arizona to attempt my 5th Ironman. I registered for the race, put my bike together and took it for a test spin, and walked the length of the swim course. On Thursday I went for a swim in Tempe Town Lake and then hit the expo. Early that afternoon I received a call from my wife telling me that a “hockey puck” sized tumor had been discovered in my 75 year young Father’s lung. Talk about shocked!! My Dad is a non-smoker and has always led an active lifestyle. Even in his seventies he bikes 2000 miles in the summer and X-C skis in the winter. It took me a nanosecond to decide to drop out of the race and fly home to be with my family by Dad’s bedside. I’m sure that he didn’t want me to make such a fuss over him and would have wanted me to compete, but the race didn’t seem important to me anymore. There will be other Ironmans, but I only have one Dad. It made me wonder though … what would other people have done???
I would have done whatever my gut told me to do. You did what your gut told you to do. You did the right thing.
You made the right call.
i would have gone home too. even if no one wanted me to, I wouldn’t have even been able to focus on the race…
personally, i feel you did the right thing. there is always another race, only one dad. your going home brought alot of comfort and spoke volumes about your real life priorities.
Skipped the race and attended to family matters.
There will always be Ironmans to do.
You did exactly as I would have done, family comes before racing.
You did the right thing… my prayers are with you and your family.
Jay
IMHO you’ve got your priorities straight. Right decision.
All my prayers are with you and your family.
You choose the right path for you.
Good luck to your Dad.
You did the right thing. It was only a race. Life and family are so much more important. I hope all goes well.
Andy
Without a shadow of a doubt you made the right decision.
I wish your father well.
I would have gone home, too, but not without trying to guilt IMAZ out of some swag.
“Look, I just got the call. It would mean a lot if I could bring the old man an IMAZ T-shirt.”
I am praying for a swift recovery.
Sorry to hear about your Dad. I think a person should do whatever they feel personally convicted to do in a circumstance like that. So if you felt a conviction to be by his side during that difficult time, then you made the right call.
But you asked “what would other people have done?”
So I have to be honest: I would have done the race and then attended to my father. If he was only given a few weeks to live, I might have done otherwise. But since it was just a preliminary diagnosis, I figure worst case, I’d still have many months to be by his side, so what’s 24 hours? But I also know that he would have done the same, without a doubt, and I would have supported him in that decision and I know that he would have supported me in my decision. Call me a cold-hearted bastard, but I have to be honest about what I would have done…
“What would you have done?” In all honesty, that is something that can’t be answered ‘hypothetically,’ because it just can’t. There is no right or wrong in this though, you would’ve been doing the right thing no matter what. Race or go home, you would’ve been doing the right thing.
I can say though, the only time I felt ‘sick’ (other then at the hospital during treatment) was when others changed their schedule to support me or come see me. But then I realized they were doing this more for themselves, than for me. It was at the point where people I cared about needed me to comfort them, not the other way around. This is, I’m sure, the way it is with you and your dad. At least I hope it is.
Hopefully your dad has a positive attitude, and hopefully he yelled at you for leaving the race! But only to get a point across to you that he’ll be ok.
I wish your father well…
In my case, my dad would have kicked my ass if I would have dropped out.
I would have left, there is always another race - you will never have another father
(in my life however I would have raced, I hate my father - did not even go to his funeral)
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Yooper57, you made the right call. As Lisa Bentley said, Ironman is the celebration of a long journey. You already completed the journey. The celebration can wait. You only have one dad. My prayers go out to him !
In my case, my dad would have kicked my ass if I would have dropped out.<<
Ha! Me too. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been told until 2 days later…after the race.
Good wishes to Yooper’s father.
clm
As others have said - you have to do what in your gut you feel is the right thing to do. These type of sensitive and intimate family situations are not solved by running polls.
Fleck