Go Big, or Go Home

The Ironman is coming.

I can't stop it.

Can't put it off in any way.

On July 20th, 2008, about 2000 very fit people will jump in Mirror Lake in Lake Placid NY to set off on a day of excruciating fun. And I'm one of them.

Since signing up in August, I've been downplaying the whole thing. Anyone who asks me about it is hit with my standard "I've never wanted to do one of these...I'm not looking forward to this...Ironman is a ridiculous race...I'm only doing this because my friends sucked me into it" answer. It's easy to act like I don't want to do the Ironman because that way the pressure is off me.

But it's not true.

As I've discovered in the past three weeks, I'm really excited, honoured and privileged to have the chance to take part in this huge challenge.

Tony O'Keefe changed my attitude. Tony has done dozens of Ironmans, as well as the Race Across America (LA - NY on a bicycle), and a few Double Ironmans. Tony loves to challenge himself, and isn't shy about telling the world. He came to talk to a group I belong to, and as he spoke, I realised that I wasn't being respectful to all the driven, highly-motivated people who put so much of themselves into a competition like Ironman. Sure, most know they won't win. That's not why they're there. Every reason for entering is different in some way...and yet, as Tony pointed out, they're all exactly the same too: we all WANT to do it.

We want to do it so badly, that we endure ridiculous training regimens. We negotiate time from our families and work places.

We do this because nothing makes you feel more alive than rising to a challenge that seemed so unbeatable when you first heard of it, that you knew you could never even think of taking it on.

I had an uncle who visited more cities than I could ever hope to. He went to places any one of us would be thrilled to experience. He travelled the world...to take pictures through a bus window, and complain about the poor television in his room, and the lousy meals the group was given. He totally wasted his chance to live a bit bigger.

I don't want my Ironman legacy to be that I'd watched the NBC special from the privacy of my comfy couch, drinking a cold beer.

I need to get in there and find out what it's really all about.

I'm gonna be an Ironman!