Waking Up In Vegas

This is me in my first Ironman – round abouts mile 8 of the “run.”  Run is a very loose interpretation of what I did that day.  It was mostly a walk, with a few shuffles thrown in for good measure.

In all five of my Ironman races (and I’m sure the two this year will be no exception) – I’ve had a moment that looking back you could consider the moment I woke up in vegas, and realized I had lost everything the night before.  In all cases I made a concious decision about how to handle the situation.  At IMWI 2005, when I got a cramp in my chin at mile 4 of the run – I cried.  At Kona in 2007 at mile 10 when my legs did not want to run up Palini hill – I gave up.  At IMWI 2009, when my quads cramped and locked up my second time up Observatory Hill – I just kept running.

What was different between those races?  It’s human nature to try and identify a single factor that causes a decision to go one way or another – unfortunately life isn’t that simple.  Critical decisions (and even simple everyday ones) are influenced by a long chain of events that have occured, and numerous factors.  Over the next two weeks or so I hope to write about what the events and factors that I feel play a critical part in successfully overcoming the point(s) where you have a great Ironman (or any race) and a Ironman that leaves you buried alive in a cornfield in Indiana.

Stay tuned over the next couple of days for a series of posts!