Ever since Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced the battle for the ages in Oct of 1989 at the Ironman World Championship in Kona I have been fascinated with the sport of triathlon. Up to then Scott owned the Lava fields of Kona having previously won the championship six times. Up to that point Allen had one every major triathlon race in the world except Kona. These two men were beasts and I admired and envied their mental and physical stamina. How could anybody race 146 miles let alone do it in less then eight and a half hours? After swimming and cycling within meters of each other the entire race, Allen broke away 23.5 miles into the marathon on the last uphill on the course. Scott finished that day with a time that would have won every previous Ironman World Championship: 8:10:13. Allen was a minute faster at 8:09:15. I was in awe and vowed to someday race an Ironman.
The years ticked past and I enjoyed running for fitness and the occasional 5 or 10k race to get the competitive juices flowing every now and then, but my dream of being a triathlete and racing an Ironman was collecting dust.
In 2011at the age of 54 and suffering from my share of running injuries I decided I needed to balance out my love for human movement with swimming and biking. It just so happens my little town of Coldwater, Michigan is host to a “mini triathlon”: 300 yard swim, 10k bike and 5k run. I signed up and started training and raced my 1st triathlon that fall. I was hooked.