Becoming an Ironman part 2

The Ironman seed had been planted....

My second year of Multisport events included my first duathlon, second sprint triathlon and my first two Olympic distance tri's. Most significantly it also included my first 70.3 mile triathlon. I was back to the Square Lake Park triathlon to do this one. By this time I had my road bike, my 1984 Trek 520 (which is the same bike I did the Ironman on!) I was so so nervous about doing a triathlon of that distance! I just couldn't imagine being able to run a half marathon after biking 56 miles and swimming 1.2 miles! In fact I had never even run 13.1 miles before this tri! (Yes I trained on my own!) 6 hours and 20 minutes after I started the swim I crossed the finish line! I had done it!

It is very safe to say that at this point in time the Ironman seed had fully taken root as I was preparing for my first full marathon. I choose the Las Vegas Marathon as my first because it was in December and I decided it would be great to have another big event to look forward to once the summer and tri season ended! While I owned what I now refer to as my marathon bible (Jeff Galloways book "Marathon!), I hadn't followed the training plan at all and instead just ran a lot! I did survive that marathon and finished in 4:43:30! Once I passed my 13.1, that was the furthest I had ever ran at one time in my life! ( Long run....what's that???) When I finished that marathon I began thinking more and more about doing the Ironman.

Six months later I would do my second marathon here in Minneapolis. I followed the training program in the book "Marathon" this time and finished that marathon in 3:54:47! I had improved significantly in those six months raining my belief in myself that I might be able to do the full Ironman! A week after my second marathon is where the dream of doing an Ironman started to come true! (This was also the start of my third summer of triathlons!)

I was volunteering at a Duathlon, which I almost didn't get to because I got so lost trying to find the Dam in Coon Rapids, but I didn't give up and I got there! I was wearing my Minneapolis Marathon finishers jacket and was still pretty excited about having done it so well! I spotted some other people in their finishers jackets and went to congratulate them and such. This is when I met a man named Jeff Peason. I was going on an on about marathons and du's and tri's. He told me that he had done the Ironman and I nearly fell to the ground to worship him! :) Somehow I kept my composure...he went on to tell me about a friend who was there volunteering with him and that she was wanting to do an Ironman tri as well. That is when I met Christina Meier! Within minutes of meeting each other we were friends having already shared our dreams of being called an "Ironman" with each other. It was pretty much right then and there that we promised each other that we would both do it in Madison WI on September 12 2010. My fate was set! The journey towards becoming an Ironman finisher had officially begun.