What I Have to Look Forward To
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
On the back of a book I stumbled accross, Becoming an Ironman -- accounts from regular Joes about their first Ironman experiences -- were the following quotes. I have mixed feeling about them, so I'll let them just speak for themselves.
"Ironman is similar to having your first baby -- being in labor that long and dealing with all the pain." ~ Susie Burgess
"I saw the marker for mile twenty five. What a beautiful sign. Nothing could stop me. If every muscle in my legs cramped I could still drag myself on my elbows for 1.2 miles." ~ Jane Fratesi
"All these people, with all these dreams, laying on the side of the road, moaning. I could feel their pain too and there was nothing I could do about it. I saw someone vomiting and thought, that could be me in half an hour, or five minutes." ~ Rick Olson
"I began to cry the last five hundred meters. The end was so overwhelming -- the feelings that have been numbed by training and racing catch up with you." ~ Katja Mayer
"One of the things an athlete must do before Ironman is to strengthen the body core. This won't take a membership to the gym. You can't get it in the weight room. I'm talking body core. You've got to get right with God because you're going to pray out there." ~ Elizabeth Johnson
"I was sure I was in Hell. All I needed was for someone to drip water drops on my head and shine a bright light in my eyes. It was no fun." ~ T.J. Murphy
"To tell the truth, it was not the exultant finish or peak experience I had hoped for. It felt more akin to being beaten and left for dead, but somehow having survived, and not knowing if it was for better or worse." ~ Dakin Ferris
"When I finished it became very clear to me, right away, that I needed to go back. There was more to explore." ~ Lyn Brooks
"At one point I could look -- as far as I could see -- not a soul, not a car, not a cyclist, not an aid station, not one damn sign of life and I turned around and looked back, and it was the same thing. I thought, 'How barren and desolate is this experience?'." ~ Scott Tinley
Posted by Erin 9:41 AM
I'm training for my first IM, which is also IM WI 2007. I hope to see you out there! Good luck with training!