Ironman Augusta 70.3 - 67 Days to go

Great day... Started off w/ a 23 km bike ride in the early morning mist. It was cool, quiet, and pretty as the sun began to rise. This afternoon, I went for a swim and did 1900M, which is the 1.2 Mile distance of the Ironman Augusta 70.3. I did it in 45:23, which translates to a 1000M time of 23:54. My time is consistently improving bit by bit.

I've been thinking a bit about my first triathlon and thought I'd share some about that. I was 21 years old and the year was 1984. At my Mom's encouragement, I had gotten into bicycling and was spending a lot of time at OutSpokin' Bicycle Shop in Columbia, SC. OutSpokin' is a great shop and would sponsor some cool riders to come into town. Anyway, John Howard was visiting and the 1984 Summer Olympics were on. I have some faint memories of us watching some of the Olympics with him and he had a funny look on his face during the televised cycling. He'd competed in the Olympics in 1968, 1972, 1976, and had made the 1980 team which didn't get to compete due to the boycott of the Moscow games. He had won the Hawaii Ironman in 1981 and would go on to set a world speed record of 152 MPH on a bike in 1985.

Anyway, that weekend a group of us were going to do a sprint triathlon. It was the "Lake City Tobacco Festival Triathlon"! Isn't that classic? We went down the day before the race, carbo loaded with spagetti, and attended the pre-race meeting. Isn't that funny they had a pre-race meeting for a sprint? Remember, these triathlon things were pretty new, especially in the countryside of South Carolina. John Howard decided to do it for fun but not compete for the prizes.

Saturday morning, I was in the next to last heat to hit the pool. I came out last in my heat and headed out to my bike. It was an old Raleigh racing frame from the late sixties that I had configured with parts from the used parts bin at OutSpokin'. I was quickly passed by the last heat racers and started my run as the last competitor running the course. As a safety measure, the race organizers had an ambulance following the field and it was right on my heels. Several times I wanted to stop during the run and walk for a minute but I was sure that the ambulance guys would make me hop in... so I kept running. As I saw the crowds and the finish line a few hundred yards ahead, a funny thought crossed my mind and I picked up a couple of tobacco leaves from the side of the road where they had fallen off the tobacco trucks. I raised them high as I crossed the finish line of the Lake City Tobacco Festival Triathlon and the crowd cheered me like I'd won. John Howard was there. He had finished first but didn't let it count. He and the official winner greeted me and if I remember right there was some cold Coors beer for us all.

Over the years I moved away from fitness and gained pounds. By 44 years old, I had ballooned to 359 pounds. When I started losing the weight, my first goal was to run a triathlon again. Eight months later I weighed 244 pounds and organized a sprint triathlon in Chiang Rai, Thailand, where I was living. There were eleven of us racing and I came in 6th... It's my best finish yet!

On September 27th, at 46 years old, I'll jump in the water with 3200+ other competitors to run the Ironman Augusta 70.3. I'll celebrate the weight lost and the fitness gained. I'll celebrate health and triathlon. I'll celebrate life.

It's great to be back in the game!