total insanity.....count me in

this weekend was ironman arizona and i had several friends (including my coach) racing in it. katie b, myself, ryan, and jo all trekked out to tempe to watch and for some of us, consider what our own experience of an ironman might be like.......

to start, the four of us adamently agreed that arizona will not be in the cards for any of us anytime ever! the reason being that we went out to preview the loop and were bored out of our sculls!! i even spaced out for a bit, ended up slowing to a retarded gonna fall off my bike speed, and almost lost the crew on a straight flat road! it was VERY difficult to make ourselves keep going the 25 out and 25 back as we were just over it! and just to make matters a tiny bit worse, it was rediculiously dry out there!! long story short, we all agreed should anyone stupidly decide it is a good idea to sign up, the others of the group get to punch that person silly!!

the swim started in the water and was a thing not to be missed. 2400 people all treading water then BAM gun goes off and they all begin swimming like a gigantic sea creature with 4800 arms and legs! this start (affectionately called the washing machine by most triathletes) is not something i'm looking forward to. there are two philosophies of this type of start and how best to deal with it......1. get to the front of the pack and sprint then keep a steady (speedy) pace to stay ahead of most of the pack and 2. start toward the back and eventually make your way to the middle/front of the pack. i am all about #2 as i do not want to get crawled on top of by hundreds of stronger swimmers! there's no need to put myself through that. regardless, the swim start was amazing to see and inspired some serious thought.

i felt for the competitors as they were looping and looping through the bike course as i knew what a long boring course they had ahead of them. it was interesting to see the degredation of attitudes of those racing as they rounded for the second loop vs the third loop. i attempted to put myself in their shoes and continued to think of denner's blog about his ironman and came to the realization that a lot of them fell into the classic blunder of playing to the crowd and/or their own egos in that they kept pumping out some serious speed when the crowd was near. you could tell those who pushed too hard vs those who were taking their pace and settling into it. i think mentally, it would have been difficult to have done the three loops as you could see some people's spirit fall a bit when so many were going into t2 while they were going out for loop 3.

the run was a show of pure will and determination. i don't recall seeing very many people smile, in good spirits, or showing much emotion past pain. for the most part, the competitors were focused on the task at hand (keep moving one foot in front of the other) and didn't really pause to pay attention to anyone or anything outside of their own two feet. we cheered for almost everyone and got a couple of thank yous and a lot gratification for the fact that someone unknown to them believed that they really could do it. i know know how much more i need to focus on my running and ensure that i will be ready for this last and mos difficult battle in the quest to hear the announcer say "danban, you ARE an Ironman!"

talked to coach after he finished (a rockstar finish of just over 10 hours) and he asked if i have the ironman fever. i thought about it for a sec and told him that i'm considering 2010 and that i know i want to build my base, speed, and tolerance for the next year before committing to something so monstrous. he thought that was a phenomenal idea! so 2010...... maybe new zealand..... we shall see.........!!

~danban