"You are an Ironman"

INCIDENT:
This morning 2086 people started a 140.6 mile journey that would take them across a lake, over desert land, and along waterways. The fact that almost 60% of these people had made this journey in the past is pretty amazing. Among them 7 men and women who were over 70 years old. Another amazing factoid is that a little over 40% of those people would be making this journey for the first time. Most having trained rigorously for a year.

MORAL:
What makes one start such an epic journey? What drives one to attain an almost super human goal? Aside from determination, fitness, and dedication, what it takes is heart.

The strength of the human spirit was evident this morning and I was really lucky to witness it first hand at Ironman Arizona. There were participants that looked like your typical athletes - thin, low body fat, long legs, etc. And then there were others that had I seen them on any other day I would have not even imagined that they could be an Ironman. But by the end of the day many proved that they were...

When you cross the finish line, they call out your name and say "You are an Ironman!" It is a phrase that is not treated lightly. It is a phrase some people wait 17 hours to hear. To be an Ironman means to have accomplished a goal not many will or can accomplish. It means that you managed to find some sort of balance between life and the ambition to finish. It means that you stuck to the training with a decisive will even when you did not think you could push yourself any further.

To be an Ironman means risking failure and finding that you hold the courage, strength, and faith to succeed.

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot