For the May 1st St. George Ironman triathlon Joey and I went to support my sister-in-law who was competing. The Ironman includes a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and running a marathon, 26.2 miles. It was very impressive to watch. It is amazing to see such a large group of people pushing the limits of the human body.
It was really fun to be a spectator. We were in downtown St. George near the finish line when the first woman completed the race. It was exciting. I was so happy for her!
I looked up the record completion time was set in 1996 by Luc Van Lierde, from Belgium, who completed in 8 hrs 4 mins 8 sec. Can you imagine???
I also found interesting information about the history of the race. It all started at the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. A group of athletes were discussing who is the better athlete runners, swimmers, or bicyclists. Eventually they decided the best test would be for a person to complete the already existing competitions for all three sports. It was decided who ever finished first would be called the Ironman.
The first Ironman race was February 18, 1978. Fifteen men started the race early in the morning, only 12 finished. The first to complete the race was Tom Warren in 11 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds. Lyn Lemaire came in sixth overall and became the first "Ironwoman".
Publicity of the race came in 1982 when a woman pulled to the front of the race only to collapse yards away from the finish line. She was passed up by other racers, but crawled to completion. The event was televised and brough huge attention to the event.
The dark side to the race is the people who don't finish. The ones who end up with exhaustion, shock, hypothermia, dehydration and so forth. The race is designed to be intense. It is designed to really test people, and for some people to fail. The World Championship is in Hawaii, the location of its origins. The swim is in the off shore choppy waters and buoyant wet suits are not allowed. Bikers are faced with strong winds, and runners with extreme heat. Competing in these races is not casual, and not everyone who starts completes. I think that is the most inspiring thing. That these athletes are pushing their bodies to their utmost limits. They are not content with sitting idly. There is risk involved, it is something you can just decide to do. These athletes spend large amounts of their time training. True there is some prize money involved for the winner, but that cannot account for thousands of people competing. Basicly I am inspired by the athleticism required.
I have always enjoyed running, but I never have focused too much attention on it. I do a lot of other things like hiking, mountaineering, rock climbing, snowshoeing, etc. The problem is that I have never really focused on any one activity, so I don't feel like I am very good at any of them. (Although I am very proud of my mountaineering accomplishments, I have climbed Mt. St. Helens, although we got turned around by weather, but I have summited Middle and South Sister Mountains.) True it is good to be well rounded but I have decided to focus on running this season. My plan is to get in good running shape and run a June 5th 5k here in Corvallis, the July 10th 10k at Smith Rock, and a September 18th 12k here in Corvallis as well. I want to focus on my own limits and push them. I don't want to be too ambitious, because I want goals I can accomplish without injury, I could run a 5k/10k right now if I wanted. But the point that I'm focusing on is to be able to do it well, with focused training. Next year I plan on running at least a half marathon with my sisters. Anyone interested is welcome to join me for these events. The Smith Rock event also has a 5K and half marathon.
I look forward to this summer!
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