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Sep
01
Deflated..??
I’ll blog about my race in a few days when I have a little more time to let it sink in and really realize what I accomplished. The race was tough but I have something else more important to tell you about. As most of you know I met a man named Jim Maclaren a couple months ago who is a quadriplegic due to a cycling accident during a triathlon, Jim had such an impact on me over the last two months that he changed my whole outlook on Ironman Canada. He made me realize that it wasn’t about my finishing time, qualifying for Kona, stressing out over diet and training volume but more about feeling the pain and enjoying it, smiling when everyone else is worried about who’s passing them, talking to the volunteers and fellow triathletes. I did all these things during my race and I enjoyed it immensely, one of the most enjoyable days of my life. Jim followed my progress throughout the day and sent me a message on Monday morning “Way to go Ironman, I’m proud of you” It made the ride home a lot easier knowing that Jim followed the race and in a way raced it with me.
I called Jim yesterday morning and it went to his voice mail, I left a message for him to call me back. I got an email from his friend Michael Flannery last night at 8 p.m.
Hi Michael:
Sorry that I did not send you something earlier but today was a very tough and hectic day for us. Jimmy Mac passed away sometime between last night and early this morning. As you know, Jim has been battling an infection the last few weeks and the antibiotics were simply no longer effective. While Jim was feeling under the weather his vital signs were all good and there was no indication that Jim would not make it thru this time as he had so many times over the last two years. Yesterday morning I sent Jim an e-mail inquiring about your race results on Sunday. This was the last e-mail I received from Jim and I thought you might be interested in hearing it since he talked about your great accomplishment, how proud he was of your achievements and that he looked forward to speaking with you soon. As you will hear, Jim remained full of life to the end and did not sound like a guy who was near the end of his life. His loss is tragic but he had endured more than most could imagine and we believe he is at peace now. I will keep you posted as to what will happen with the FOJM Trust. As of now, we are not accepting donations until further notice.
Peace,
Mike Flannery”"
To say I’m devastated is an understatement, I wish I could have talked to Jim about the race, told him how much fun I had, tell him when I was at my lowest a man with one leg ran by me and I smiled, thought of Jim and started running again. I only knew Jim for 2 months but he changed my life forever. What’s important to you? Is it work? Making a few extra bucks? Not for me, last night I crawled into bed and held my pregnant wife tighter than ever, there’s nothing more important to me. I am lucky, I have a great life and I plan on living it to the max. I’m sure Jim is running around right now challenging everyone to some sort of race, and the next Ironman I do when I feel that wind at my back, maybe just maybe it’s Jim helping me out a little. Cool breezes friend, see you at the finish line.
Today was the first full day in Penticton and the buzz in the town is amazing, people cycling everywhere, running stores busier than any other time of year and every Starbucks lined up to the max. I started my day with a quick and easy 45min swim in Lake Okanagan, the temperature is around 68 degrees fahrenheit and there was quite a few people swimming for 7 a.m. I felt pretty good for having spent 10 hours in a car yesterday, the only problem is I’ve lost to much weight and my wetsuit seems a little to big on me so I might have to make a last minute purchase. I don’t really want to be using untested gear but the thing is falling off me, I guess that’s what happens when you lose 15 lbs in the last few weeks, it’s a problem I’m glad to have. Jacqueline and I went for a grocery shop, spent the afternoon on the beach with friends and then just chilled for the rest of the day..pretty relaxing, but needed.
I’m more anxious than nervous but none the less I have waves of emotion come over me, how will I feel if I can’t finish? How hard is the run going to be? Have I trained enough? Will I get cramps? I’m sure I’ll be able to handle anything the race throws at me but I want to make sure I’m mentally prepared for any situation so I can react appropriately and continue on. I know with all the support I’m receiving I’ll be able to draw on that energy and use it to keep going, take the next step or tackle the next mountain. I know people like Jimmy Mac will be following me online and I’ll want to soldier on for them too.
Am I scared of Sunday? No. I’m genuinely excited to see if I got what it takes to finish an Ironman. I can’t wait to experience the feeling of crossing the finish line and hugging my family and friends, they’ve been such a huge support for me over the last 8 months. I asked a question on my Facebook page a few weeks ago ” what’s harder Ironman or having your first baby?” EVERYONE that answered said unquestionably your first baby, funny thing none of them had finished an Ironman..??? Till tomorrow.
I recently came across an article on ironman.com about Jim Maclaren, he’s an amazing man with an even more amazing story. Jim’s fallen on some hard times and as a fellow triathlete I felt impelled to reach out. I spoke with some of his friends and came to the conclusion I need to help raise funds for Jim’s trust to help him lead a better life, he deserves it. Next year Jim’s trust will be the sole beneficiary of my fundraising efforts. Eventually I was put in contact with the man himself and what an interesting dude, he spoke about triathlon with such knowledge and genuine interest of my races I knew I made the right choice, even though Jim can’t run races anymore I could feel the excitement of my upcoming first Ironman in his voice and when he told me his first Ironman was Ironman Canada I felt a little calm come over me. I’m nervous about the race with two good legs, imagine the trepidation with only one leg.
I know I’ll be at the edge on August 29th, but I also know Jim will be following me on the Internet. If I need a reminder of how lucky I am to be running a marathon in +30 c weather I’ll think of Jim, I’m sure he would give anything to be running next to me in utter pain. Take a few minutes, read Jim’s story and maybe go to the trust(www.friendsofjimmymac.com) and give a little to a man so deserving.
Jim with his ESPY
Who is Jim
MacLaren?
Jim’s story is so beyond any expectation of normal, that it instantly vaults to the level of fiction; but even as a piece of fiction, you wouldn’t believe it. No, Jim’s story is the stuff of myths. He is a man who has overcome more than most people can imagine. Not once, but twice. His body has been broken but his spirit remains intact, inspiring others to live their lives to the fullest.
Jim graduated from Yale in 1985. While at Yale he starred as a 300-pound defensive end on the football team while majoring in theater studies. He was an aspiring young actor living in New York City in 1985. He was out on his motorcycle one day, when he was broad-sided by a 40,000 pound bus. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and declared “dead on arrival”. This is where Jim’s story begins.
After 18 hours of surgery, doctors stabilized a comatose MacLaren, and they amputated his left leg below the knee. He awoke from his coma, rehabbed diligently, and raced head on into his new world. With a prosthetic leg he began competing in the grueling sport of Iron man Triathlons. Before long Jim became a media sensation in the sport of triathlons and the fastest one-legged endurance athlete on the planet, paving the way for a new generation of disabled athletes. He competed and set scores of records in some of the toughest races in the world, including the New York City Marathon and the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, and routinely finished ahead of 80% of the able-bodied athletes.
“I felt like I was back in it, back in life,” he says. “I didn’t compete against other people. I was competing against me. I never wanted to be taken for granted, as that guy with the fake leg. So I just kept pushing myself.”
The day before a triathlon in California Jim realized he was finally back at the top of his game. As Jim recalls from that day, “ I said something amazing is about to happen to me, I can just feel it. I felt like I was on the crest of this wave.” Eighteen hours later, on June 6, 1993, that wave came crashing down and his life took another cruel turn. He was in Mission Viejo, California, racing another triathlon. Two miles into the bike leg, on a closed course, a traffic marshal misjudged Jim’s speed approaching an intersection. The marshal directed a van to cross the street, and the van and Jim collided. Jim was hurled into a signpost, which broke his neck at the C5 vertebrae and paralyzed him.
After Jim’s second accident doctors told him he would never move again. But his doctors only considered the severity of his injuries, not the strength of his will. Slowly, Jim pulled himself back again, grappling with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After enduring thousands of hours of painful rehab he stunned and inspired all who knew him by reclaiming some motor function of his limbs. His doctors call him a living miracle.
Ups and Downs
To most people, suffering two devastating accidents would seem like the worst luck in the world, especially for someone so physically active. But for Jim, there are no excuses, and he has taught himself never to ask “Why?”. Faced with a choice to lose himself to his body or to learn to live beyond it, he fostered an inner force that enabled him to act in ways he couldn’t as an able-bodied athlete. “It took several years of self study, going deep, and then deeper again,” he says. “And, sometime in 2000-2001, I chose life.”
What he couldn’t know was that decision would affect the life of a boy who would one day change a nation. Thanks in part to the Challenged Athletes Foundation that was founded for Jim MacLaren, Jim’s inspiring story even reached the remote villages of West Africa, motivating a young one-legged Emmanuel OfosuYeboah to get a bicycle and ride across his native country of Ghana, opening new doors for the disabled in that part of the world. At the 2005 ESPY Awards both Jim and his African brother Emmanuel received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award that is given annually to a person or people who’s contributions transcend sports. Widespread media attention ensued, including televised appearances with Oprah Winfrey and Jim Rome.
Between 2005 and 2007, Jim prospered as a motivational speaker. Through it all, Jim never lost his love of performing and story telling. His speeches were extraordinary. His wealth of knowledge born from his extensive education, combined with his natural grace, good humor and charm made him irresistible.
But even the most extraordinary people eventually have limitations, reach a breaking point and can use a hand up. In 2008, the economy tanked, and the large corporations that were typically interested in Jim’s services weren’t calling any more. Jim’s source of income faded quickly.
The combination of this and the cumulative effects of his accidents manifested in a variety of ailments, most notably frequent blood and bladder infections that are common to paraplegics with indwelling catheters, resulted in his most recent, and perhaps cruelest, transformation yet. Out of cash and out of touch with many, Jim ended up in what was essentially a state-run nursing home in New Mexico. Without the proper financial resources and without the proper support network, Jim’s condition rendered him nearly bedridden and in great need of help. In late 2009, with great concern for his well-being and ability to survive, Jim’s sister Jennifer began a campaign to get him moved from New Mexico to the eastern Pennsylvania area where she lives.
The campaign worked, and enough money was received to move Jim via medical transportation to a subsidized apartment near his sister and her family. This is where he lives now, in an inconspicuous apartment in a small town in Amish country, living on government assistance. Jim spends most days alone, visited by his sister and her family, and the occasional nurse or paid care provider.
Friends of Jimmy Mac (FOJM)
In early 2010 a group of Jim’s friends, former Yale football and lacrosse teammates from the ‘80’s, formed the “Friends of Jimmy Mac” (FOJM) to help their former teammate and record-holding tri-athlete.
The FOJM established a website to help Jim’s friends re-engage with him and to improve his outlook and well-being. Through the FOJM website, we are gathering a circle of friends who want to stay informed of Jim’s progress and communicate with Jim to keep him engaged and connected to the rest of the world (see www.friendsofjimmymac.com).
The FOJM also formed a “supplemental needs trust” as a vehicle for raising money that would be available to help supplement Jim’s immediate and long-term needs not covered by his limited, but important, government funding. This includes monthly recurring expenses for fairly basic items that would greatly benefit Jim and that are not currently paid for or adequately covered by government assistance.
The near term goal of the Trust is to raise at least $250,000 for the Trust, to cover anticipated recurring and one-time expenses for Jim over the next five years. This would allow for up to $36,000 per year in recurring expenses for basic items, including physical therapy that would greatly benefit Jim and that are not currently paid for by government assistance. In addition, this would allow up to $60,000 of funding for non-recurring one-time expenses that could be considered by the Trustees.
Since being established in April of 2010 the Trust has raised more than $42,000, which is well below our goal. Many of Jim’s health problems are linked to the fact he is bed-ridden, gets no physical therapy, and spend most of his days on his back in bed. His wheelchair is broken, his prosthetic leg no longer fits, he does not have a transfer system adequate for his size and needs, and he is limited to daily sponge baths because his current living quarters do not accommodate someone with his needs.
We need to help restore Jim’s fighting spirit as well as his health. By raising funds for the special needs trust, Jim can benefit from physical therapy, a functioning wheelchair, a new prosthetic leg, a power patient lift to assist in Jim’s transferability and a bathing system that lets Jim actually immerse himself in water. The physical benefits include improved circulation, better muscle tone and digestion, and potentially fewer infections, not to mention the improved well-being.
A friend once told Jim of a girl at a high school basketball game in rural Pennsylvania wearing a T-shirt that said: “What would Jim MacLaren do?” The answer is obvious. He’d choose to live life to the fullest, without excuses, without regret. “It’s a journey,” says Jim, acknowledging the universal truth of his life. “Rather than overcoming adversity, it’s a journey about living with adversity.”
While working as a motivational speaker, Jim refused to cast himself as a victim, garnered two masters’ degrees and has worked toward his Ph. D. in mythology and depth psychology. Jim understands the opportunity he’s been given to motivate others, and readily accepts that responsibility, offering his own experience as example.
“There are moments when I realize all over again what happened to me,” Jim says, “and it’s still unbelievable. I mean, come on! How much can one person endure? But I can’t stay in that place for long or I’ll lose my mind. Instead, I have to ask, what is wholeness, really? What is a full life? What are my actual obstacles? And whenever I find myself frustrated with my handicap or looking with envy at an able-bodied man, I ask myself this: If I could get up out of this wheelchair right now and walk across the room, would that really get me there? I mean, would that really get me to the place I most want to go with my life? Because let’s be honest here “the other side of this room is not my ultimate destination. My ultimate destination is self-knowledge and enlightenment. Do I have to get there on foot? Or can I find some other path?
Jacqueline and I went on a short vacation to Penticton last week so I could get some training in before the big race, not much of a vacation but we enjoyed it none the less. We got there on Wednesday and I rode the Ironman course and had a sudden realization of how tough this course is. To say it kicked my ass would be an understatement, Richter’s pass and Yellow lake aren’t small hills they’re mountains and long steep accents at that. I felt pretty good and I rode it in 6 hours at a pretty steady pace but for the first time I was happy with the effort.
The next day I woke up early and swam about 3k in Lake Okanagan followed by a 16k run, I was done for the day at 9:30 and Jacq and I enjoyed floating down the canal, taking Buster to the off leash beach and just enjoyed the hot weather and each other’s company. I was worried about the training volume but my body was holding up and I had more energy than expected.
Ironman Cycle round 2 didn’t go as well as the first, my friend Cam told me to ride the course backwards to get a better idea of when you’re climbing false flats and struggling through the race I’ll have a better idea of why I’m hurting so much, so ride it backward I did. Heading out of Penticton it’s about a 15k accent to the top of Yellow Lake, it felt like it would NEVER end. I was exhausted an hour in and I had five more to go?? The decent to Crawston is fast and long and I was there in a flash, caught my breath and my legs weren’t on fire anymore so I was feeling ready to take on the last 100km. Jacqueline was meeting me in Osoyoos for a coffee so I had to get moving and luckily the wind was at my back I was flying along at 45km an hour for what felt like forever when I got to the base of the climb up Richter’s backside….scary, here we go. Thus climb was long and hard and the temperature was around 30c, I just put my head down and before I knew it (about an hour later) I summited the top, yippee I can do this!! I reached speeds of 80km an hour on the way down and was in Osoyoos on time. Jacq and I had a quick drink and some fruit and I was back on my bike for the final 60km…this is where it got interesting.
It’s a small incline back to Penticton but the wind was strong and coming right at me..I was hurting bad at this point and didn’t know if I would be able to finish the last stretch…”Bear down”, “Don’t give in” all things I told myself and soon enough I reached O.K. Falls..20km to go. I started down Skaha Lake road I then it happened…BONKED!! I was dizzy, no more calories to eat, half a water bottle left and about 45min of cycling to go. I could no longer get down in the aero postion so I just rode as straight as I could trying..willing..struggling to push my tired legs on the pedals for as long as I could. Each pedal stroke felt like it would be my last but there was NO WAY I was pulling over, calling my wife to come pick me up..NO WAY. I could see the campsite in the distance and my GPS told me I had 2 km to go..I’m going to make it. I pulled up to the campsite tongue hanging out, barely able to get off my bike when I saw on the table…..PANCAKES!!!! My wife had made me pancakes for the end of my ride, I scrambled over to the table..no plates..who cares? Jacqueline was no where to be found, can I start without her? Yes. I grabbed a pancake in one hand, syrup in the other, I squeezed the syrup into my mouth and took a bite of the pancake, then another and another. Imagine what the other campers were thinking when they saw me in my full cycling gear eating pancakes like I hadn’t eaten in days. Jacqueline finally showed up and we enjoyed the last few pancakes together, with a knife and fork. I got all the syrup off my helmet and I realized that my wife is my hero, she saved my life with those pancakes ( that’s what I thought at the time).
At the end of the week I signed up for an Olympic Triathlon and I did great. I ran a 45min 10k at the end and that’s my fastest 10k ever so I was extremely satisfied with the week, tired but satisfied. People often ask me what’s the first indulgence I’m going to have after my race, I really don’t know but I’m leaning towards pancakes. I really don’t care as long as it’s with my wife.
I have a race on Sunday, the Calgary 70.3 I’ll let you know how it goes….
If you aren’t living on the edge, you are taking up too much space
Why train so hard? Why give up alcohol for six months? Why take on something that even I thought was impossible only a year ago? The answer is actually quite simple, to feel alive. I never imagined when I decided to take this on that it would change my life, and I mean physically, emotionally, spiritually and even mentally. The day before me always seems so much clearer, I move with a purpose and I have meaning to every action I do. When I finish a tough workout, or face the challenge of no alcohol (like I did this weekend at my Rugby club’s 50th anniversary..torture) and I make it through, I feel like a champ. I don’t know if the race was the start of all this but I know it’s not the finish, my life just got started again. Ironman Canada is the catalyst that got this ball of life rollin’, I absolutely 100% believe my life is extremely more positive than it was before all this and it’s hard to find me without a smile on my face most of the time now a days.
The edge of life is a scary place, you know when you walk up to a sheer rock face and you’re scared to look over? But when you do you feel a sudden rush of adrenelin and have a second or two of feeling exilirated? Sure you could always stay 10 feet back and never experience that feeling but being safe isn’t fun..at least not for me. Why not get closer to that edge? Scared? So am I. I’m scared of not finishing, I’m scared of letting my friends and family down, I’m scared of crashing or cramps, quite frankly the whole thing scares the crap out of me. But should I stand 10 feet back and not get close to the edge? I love the edge. Why skate through your life 10 feet back? You want to try sky diving? Jump. You want to run with the bulls? Sprint. You want to be the best you can be? Strive. You want to run a marathon? Train. You want to climb Mt. Everest? Believe. Who told you you can’t do what you want? WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THEM??!!! The answer is inside you, if you want it make it real. Come spend some time on the edge, who knows you might never go back….????
I competed in the Great White North 1/2 Ironman on Sunday and although I missed my goal time by 56 seconds I did have a great race considering some of the complications I had. Triathletes always talk about the perfect race, well I had the exact opposite whatever that is.I felt great in the morning when I woke up and I wasn’t that nervous of what was to come, I’d survived it before and I expected to again. The gun went off for the swim start and I was making progress through the field when I got stuck behind a slower group of swimmers and couldn’t seem to make my way through for about 500 meters. When I finished my first 1k lap my watch said 18min, what the hell 18min!!?? I’d better get my ass in gear because a 36min swim is unnacceptable so I knew I had to increase my tempo, focus on my breathing and make some waves. I ran along the beach and re entered wide left for a better angle to the buoy and got some space and started to pick up speed. I maintained a good pace exited the water and was at 32 min, a second lap of 14min was right where I wanted to be but I needed to make up the 4min I’d already lost.
I got out on the bike course and my legs felt great, I was making great progress through the field and reached the 45k turnaround at around 1:15, right on pace. I was heading back to Stony Plain when I was going over some small rollers and I felt a small tinge in my quad, I knew I’d been eating and drinking enough so i just ignored it, unfortunately it didn’t go away. I was having a great cycle and got back to T-2 at 2:24, a great cycle for me. I went to get off my bike and my legs siezed up, and I mean total siezure. I could barely make my way to rack my bike but eventually got there and had to sit down to even attempt to put my shoes on. Cramps are maybe one of the most painful things in the world and mine were intense, I wrestled my shoes on, got my visor on and stood up…6min in transition…bad.
I started the run strong due to the fact that I had a lot of friends and family cheering me on and wanted it to seem like I was okay, I wasn’t. As soon as I turned the corner and out of view, I had to stop and try to shake out my legs they were still cramping. I slammed my clenched fist into my quads and they were starting to let up..I wasn’t moving. Start walking I told myself and I was taking small steps and eventually was able to jog again, the first 2k took me 18 min, great on pace for a 3 hour 1/2 marathon. Time to get going I picked up the speed and my legs were co-operating for the time being but I needed to not focus on them and just try to make progress, 2 hours to go, let’s go. I made up some places and was feeling better and I was holding a 5min km pace, I was happy with that seeing as it felt like someone was stabbing my legs with ice picks with every step. My family met me at the 1/2 way turnaround and it was exactly what I needed, their cheers gave me the strength to soldier on and make it to the finish, I turned the corner and the clock said 5:00.30 I knew I wouldn’t reach my goal but I was satisfied with my effort and courage to get through it. I ran a 1:54 1/2 marathon and accepted it as a success.
So what do I take from this? The negative of not reaching my goal? Or the positive of facing adversity, plowing through and still almost reaching my goal? I think the latter. Take a couple minutes off my swim, 4min off my T-2 transition and 8-10 min off my run who knows where I would have ended up. I’m looking forward to my next race on August 1st and hopefully I can get down under 5 hours, thanks to everyone who came out and cheered me on, it gives me more energy than you’ll ever know.
So I have a few days until my next race and I feel fairly calm leading up to it, I’m actually a little excited for Sunday to come. I feel I got humbled a little in San Francisco and started to doubt if I could finish an Ironman, Sunday will be a real test of where I am in training and what I have to focus on in the last 6 weeks of training. Alcatraz was a hard race and it killed me, mentally and physically, to say the least it knocked me down. I don’t know if most people knew how discouraged I was after the race and I wasn’t happy with where I was. I had only one option in my mind, GET BACK UP!!! I went to the pool the next morning, sore from the race and promised myself to stop making excuses, to train my ass off, focus on my diet and make every day count, I believe I have. The last 2 months I’ve got my weight down to 201 lbs (the last time I weighed that was in high school), killed my workouts and made sure to try to stay as positive as possible. I had a couple of small running races thrown in and I performed above expectation so I feel good about where I am now. I think the old Michael Brown may have packed up camp and headed for the hills with another excuse of why I didn’t follow through on what I started.
The greatest athletes of all time have got knocked down (Muhammed Ali lost and regained his heavyweight belt 3 times) and come back stronger than ever, maybe that’s why we look at them as the greatest..?? GET BACK UP!!! There are many athletes we’ve forgotten about because at the first sign of adversity they’ve called it quits. What’s knocked you down recently? Is it something you can get back up from? OF COURSE IT IS!!!! There are people with no legs who run marathons, I saw a video of a guy swimming with no arms and legs last week, just a fin on his stump..crazy. GET BACK UP!!! Lance was told he had a 20% chance of surviving his cancer, he only won 7 Tours. GET BACK UP!!!! You can stay down if you want but that’s not what champions do and don’t we all want to be champions to our families, friends and most importantly to ourselves. Get back up because eventually we all get knocked down, but I know one thing for sure, you aren’t keeping me down for long.
Maurice Cheeks was the head coach of an NBA team when Natalie had won a contest to sing the national anthem at one of his teams games, the worst thing that could happen did happen, she forgot the words..WHAT NOW!!?? Without hesitation Maurice walked over and helped her finish the song to a loud cheer from the crowd. This could have been a train wreck, what if no one went to her aid? She would have been out there by herself with no one to save her, sometimes we need a little help.
I’m in the thick part of the steak right now and I’m struggling a little bit. I’m struggling with training, I’m struggling with finding the time and the words to blog, I seem to be tired and a little edgy lately and I’m not particularly liking it..I’m sure my wife isn’t either. I was told that when I started this that crossing the finish line would make all the sacrifice worth it, right now I’m not to sure. I needed some picking up the last few days and it came from a surprising source, a good friend of mine Joe Johnston came in the bar last night and asked me why I haven’t been blogging lately and I told him it was because I hadn’t received very many donations lately and I was feeling a little discouraged by it. Joe told me he was all about my blog and was missing reading my entries, he reminded me of this video and I watched it last night and it made me realize we all need a little help sometimes and it’s okay to stumble, but to climb over that wall and power through the adversity.
As I cycled home last night I thought about the negative energy I was creating by feeling a little taken for granted by writing this blog and not generating the donations I had hoped for..not right. I should be happy that people look forward to something I’m doing and that should be enough of a reward for me……it is.
I woke up this morning and I felt like a truck had ridden over me but I got up, ran to the track and decided to push myself and I had a great workout. I had a shower and I felt like a new man. I needed Joe to remind me that what I am doing is important not just to me but people I don’t even know about yet. Is there something that you are struggling with right now? If there is why not take the easy way out and make and excuse and quit?? Because that’s the easy way out!!!!!! Push through and your struggles today will be funny tomorrow, it’s not that bad.
Joe, thanks for the motivation to keep me going on track, not just in training but more importantly on my blog. I needed someone to be my Maurice Cheeks and help me through my anthem, you were it…thanks.
So I decided to go to Jasper on my days off and test out our new tent trailer and also my new legs by cycling the long climb to Marmot Basin ski resort, the tent trailer worked magnificently..my legs not so much. The climb is one of the hardest things I’ve done to date but I definitely have to work on my climbing a bunch. It starts out with a gradual incline for around 4km then it really ramps up for the last 14km, I didn’t know if I could do it but I thought I didn’t have anything to lose so what the heck. When you get to the turn off for Marmot there’s a sign that says “warning steep inclines for the next 14km, chains mandatory in the winter”, luckily it wasn’t winter so I took a deep breath and off I went. It doesn’t start off easy right away I was out of my saddle trying to get a rhythm that I could maintain and finally found one and settled back into my seat. About 2kn in I was wondering where everybody was..?? There was seriously NO ONE else on the road, no cars, no trucks, no cyclists NO ONE. I started to wonder if it was safe for me to be up there by myself and with all the bear warning signs around my mind started to figure out how I would use my bike to defend myself in case of an attack?? It’s a little erie up there there’s no sounds except for my panting, the odd animal sound or the tree tops swaying in the wind. I was struggling but I was keeping it together and before I knew it 7km down 7km to go, I can do this. I saw something moving up ahead and it was around 12 big horn sheep just hanging out and eating some grass, I slowed for a second but motored past them and they paid no attention to me as I passed. It gets really steep for the next 3km, I focused on my heart rate and battled through no worse for wear.
I knew I only had 4 km to go and I wanted to finish strong, I got out of my small chain ring and told myself to stay in the big ring until the top no matter how much suffering it would put me through.I was in a groove, head down pedaling my bike like I stole it when I looked up there was a momma brown bear and her 2 cubs about 40ft in front of me grazing in the ditch, she went up on her hind quarters and just stared at me. She was probably thinking ” what is this idiot doing?” the cubs were moving towards me and she went down on all fours and that’s when I decided getting to the top wasn’t that important after all. My mission was stopped about 2 km from the top and I turned around and enjoyed the long ride down at about 65km an hour. I returned the next day with a bell on my bike and made it all the way up..52min, I guess I can accomplish anything.
The last few days have been really good ones for me and I’ve really enjoyed my training. Some weeks were a struggle to just get going and as I feel my fitness increase I really have been having more fun out on the roads and in the pool, especially the last week. I feel I got past a huge hurdle by completing the 1/2 marathon and then not really having any ill effects from the race. It made me think back to last year when I would go for runs and barely be able to make it to a half hour, I’m really happy with myself that I stuck it out and now all my training seems a lot easier. I really enjoy being out on my bike with the wind at my back, clipping along at 40kms an hour, feeling like nothing could stop me..which brings me to my point. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing as long as you’re doing something, is tennis your game? Go play it. Is running your thing? Go do it. Is long boarding what you love? Then love doing it. If all you can get in is walking your dog well then make sure you do it, your dog will love you for it. Think what it is you love doing and make it happen…HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!
I’ll blog about my race in a few days when I have a little more time to let it sink in and really realize what I accomplished. The race was tough but I have something else more important to tell you about. As most of you know I met a man named Jim Maclaren a couple months ago who is a quadriplegic due to a cycling accident during a triathlon, Jim had such an impact on me over the last two months that he changed my whole outlook on Ironman Canada. He made me realize that it wasn’t about my finishing time, qualifying for Kona, stressing out over diet and training volume but more about feeling the pain and enjoying it, smiling when everyone else is worried about who’s passing them, talking to the volunteers and fellow triathletes. I did all these things during my race and I enjoyed it immensely, one of the most enjoyable days of my life. Jim followed my progress throughout the day and sent me a message on Monday morning “Way to go Ironman, I’m proud of you” It made the ride home a lot easier knowing that Jim followed the race and in a way raced it with me.
I recently came across an article on ironman.com about Jim Maclaren, he’s an amazing man with an even more amazing story. Jim’s fallen on some hard times and as a fellow triathlete I felt impelled to reach out. I spoke with some of his friends and came to the conclusion I need to help raise funds for Jim’s trust to help him lead a better life, he deserves it. Next year Jim’s trust will be the sole beneficiary of my fundraising efforts. Eventually I was put in contact with the man himself and what an interesting dude, he spoke about triathlon with such knowledge and genuine interest of my races I knew I made the right choice, even though Jim can’t run races anymore I could feel the excitement of my upcoming first Ironman in his voice and when he told me his first Ironman was Ironman Canada I felt a little calm come over me. I’m nervous about the race with two good legs, imagine the trepidation with only one leg.
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