S is a Woman of Iron
I have a story about a friend of mine. We’ll call her S.
She ran her first Half-Ironman just recently. For those of you who aren’t sure, a Half-Ironman consists of a 2 k swim, a 90 k bike followed by a half marathon (21.1 k run). It is called a half-ironman, but it requires all of the iron in a person. It is an incredibly difficult distance (I imagine, I’ve never attempted it but I have volunteered at a race and it LOOKS hard) with participants finishing anywhere between 3 hours and 8 hours. A half marathon alone takes me at least 2 hours and 11 minutes, and I have never run it after swimming 2 k and biking 90 k.
Anyway, S has been training very hard. She’d invested hours and hours of sweat and energy and time and will into this race (not to mention a fairly steep registration fee). So it was a terrible disappointment when, at the very end of the 90 k ride, she fell off the bike going at a fairly good speed (about 30kph) and broke her finger as well as dislocating it completely from the socket.
Other racers know that sometimes people need a little push, so as they passed the downed cyclist, they started yelling, “Get up! You can DO it! You’re only two kilometres from the transition point!”
So she did. S got up and got back on her bike and biked to the transition zone. She went straight to the medic who bandaged up her hand and said, “We need to get you to the doctor.” To which, S replied, “I have a race to finish.”
She then ran the last 21.1 kilometres to finish in a respectable 6 hours and change. A doctor was waiting for her at the finish line.
In the pictures of her lying in a hospital bed with her hand bandaged to the elbow, she is wearing all her racing gear and a pop and smiling proudly. Some people say “That’s what adrenaline can do”, but I don’t buy it. I’ve done half marathons and adrenaline doesn’t last 21 k or 2 hours plus.
No, I say, that is what DETERMINATION can do. That is what stubbornness can do. And that is what a teensy bit of crazy can do.
I have a story about a friend of mine. We’ll call her S.
She ran her first Half-Ironman just recently. For those of you who aren’t sure, a Half-Ironman consists of a 2 k swim, a 90 k bike followed by a half marathon (21.1 k run). It is called a half-ironman, but it requires all of the iron in a person. It is an incredibly difficult distance (I imagine, I’ve never attempted it but I have volunteered at a race and it LOOKS hard) with participants finishing anywhere between 3 hours and 8 hours. A half marathon alone takes me at least 2 hours and 11 minutes, and I have never run it after swimming 2 k and biking 90 k.
Anyway, S has been training very hard. She’d invested hours and hours of sweat and energy and time and will into this race (not to mention a fairly steep registration fee). So it was a terrible disappointment when, at the very end of the 90 k ride, she fell off the bike going at a fairly good speed (about 30kph) and broke her finger as well as dislocating it completely from the socket.
Other racers know that sometimes people need a little push, so as they passed the downed cyclist, they started yelling, “Get up! You can DO it! You’re only two kilometres from the transition point!”
So she did. S got up and got back on her bike and biked to the transition zone. She went straight to the medic who bandaged up her hand and said, “We need to get you to the doctor.” To which, S replied, “I have a race to finish.”
She then ran the last 21.1 kilometres to finish in a respectable 6 hours and change. A doctor was waiting for her at the finish line.
In the pictures of her lying in a hospital bed with her hand bandaged to the elbow, she is wearing all her racing gear and a pop and smiling proudly. Some people say “That’s what adrenaline can do”, but I don’t buy it. I’ve done half marathons and adrenaline doesn’t last 21 k or 2 hours plus.
No, I say, that is what DETERMINATION can do. That is what stubbornness can do. And that is what a teensy bit of crazy can do.
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