Double Ironman Triathlon
(Sept. 16/17, 2000)
“Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever.” These words sound good and I’ve used it as
my “motto” for many years to get me through some very long and difficult
races. The last two years competing in
the Double Ironman Triathlon, this motto has really taken on a new meaning for
me. When Don Mann and his Odyssey Team
resurrected the Double Ironman back to life in 1998 and moved it from
Huntsville, Alabama to Virginia Beach, Virginia, I was thrilled to be able to
compete again in this “Mother of Ironman’s.”
Since 1985 when the first ever Double Ironman was held in Huntsville,
I’ve competed against many world class triathletes and met some very wonderful
people in this sport and I was looking forward to being back in the arena.
However,
Hurricane Bonnie made life miserable for everyone when it hit the day before
the Double Iron was schedule in Virginia Beach in 1998. Don Mann, being the true SEAL “said the race
will go on” and off we went. The heat
and humidity was very typical of Huntsville on Labor Day and I knew this one
wasn’t going to be easy. “Slow down and
pace yourself,” is what got me through that race. I finished in 35:45 and achieved my 10th finish under
very miserable conditions. Also, I was
the only person in the world to ever finish 10 Double Ironman Triathlons and
now held the World Record! Not bad for
a 52 year old man who never competed in organized sports or had any athletic
talent.
I don’t like
making excuses, but finishing over 32 hours is “brutal” because you’re out in
the sun again on the second day and believe me, pain and misery are with you
every step of the way. Being the
optimistic person I am, I always approach these Double Ironman with total
respect, but always hope the “Iron Gods” will nod in my favor, because my
training for these are nothing compared to my competitors. I signed back up for the 1999 Double, which
was moved to Colonial Beach, Virginia and the swim would now be in the
beautiful Potomac River. Due to
thousands of jelly fish and a pretty stiff current going back up the river, I
had my worse 4.8 mile swim ever! That,
plus another hot and humid conditions, doomed me for another “survivor shuffle”
to the finish line in 35:35. I finished
my 11th Double very humbled and told everyone that I was retiring
from the Double.
But, life has
a way of balancing things out and Don Mann said the Double swim in 2000 will be
in a pool. My prayers were
answered! Jim Redmond loaned me his
Ironman Stealth suit (long sleeve), but I got to hot training in the YMCA pool
and borrowed Scott Wolf’s Ironman suit (short sleeve) for the swim, which
worked out great. The other thing that
the Odyssey management did to improve the Double was to move it into September
for possible cooler weather. Again, my
prayers were answered! My beautiful and
proficient Crew Chief, Debbie, lined up a high caliber crew to assist me for my
12th Double. Mark Sloman,
Paul Triska and Tracey White came to bike and run with me during my 281 mile
journey in the Double Ironman. The
Spanish saying, “Seimpre Hay Esperanza” (there is always hope!) is what I was
thinking when I signed up again for the Double hoping that I could (just maybe)
break 30 hours this year. This year
there were a bunch of Europeans signed up and the competition was fast. The 4.8 mile swim went as planned (2 hours
faster than ’99) and the 224 mile bicycle ride (3 hours faster than ’99) went
great since I only trained 1 day a week all summer. I started running at 1:00 AM and my good friend, Al Montgomery,
from Columbia, S.C. set the pace while the rest of the crew took a 3-4 hour
nap. My first marathon wasn’t what I
was hoping for, but I held on until my crew woke up to relive Al and push me
through my second marathon, which I knocked off 1 hour on my total run time
from last year.
Bottom line, I
finished six hours faster this year in 29:18 and was the second American
overall. I finished 8th out
of 18 starters and was my best finish since 1994. So many factors contributed to this, but one of the most
important is the crew. This was a sweet
victory after the last two years of suffering over 35 hours. Four days after the Double as I write this,
I feel pretty good overall and now hoping to keep up with Debbie in the
Virginia 10-Miler in two days.
Ironically, a fellow Marine gave me a USMC water bottle during the
Double with this stamped on the outside, “Pain Is Weakness Leaving The
Body.” I still have the World Record at
#12 and now I have a new saying! Thanks
everyone who helped make this possible.
Semper Fidelis.