About My Upcoming Ironman Race
Aug 23rd, 2007 by craigdos
Dear friends and family,
As most of you know, last October I went a bit out of my mind and signed up for the first Ironman Louisville, which will take place this coming Sunday, August 26th. It’s the first time Ironman has come to my hometown of Louisville, and I’m very happy to be a part of it. This event is special for me because it’s the first time I’ll be challenged just to reach the finish line. I’ve entered endurance events before (marathons and recently a half-ironman), but I find this one particularly hard to grasp, which is both exciting and scary.
Over the last 10 months, training for this event has dominated the majority of my mental and physical effort, and now that the date is finally here I’m a combination of nervous, scared and excited. I pleased with the work I’ve done to reach the starting line, and happy that I’ve already accomplished my first goal in doing this, which was to arrive at the starting line healthy and prepared.
A quick synopsis of the race, for those unfamiliar. The Ironman triathlon is a pure endurance event consisting of 2.4 miles (3.9km) swimming, 112 miles (180km) biking, and 26.2 miles (42.2km) running (a marathon). As in all triathlons, the event is continuous, with transition stations oriented in between the legs of the event to allow athletes to change gear. The race is often the most grueling event in the life of an endurance athlete, and takes the full day to complete (between 10-17 hours).
On Sunday, the event will start at 7am EST, and while time goals are secondary, I would be ecstatic to finish before sunset at 8:20pm. I’ll be wearing bib # 537 and the orange race suit in the picture here (from my half-ironman race at Lake Stevens). If you happen to be in Louisville, I’d be delighted to see you along the course. It should be a spectacle to watch. Let me know ahead of time if you’ll be along the course, and I’ll look out for you.
For those who would like to track me online, there will be live athlete tracking on the Ironman website. This page: http://www.ironman.com/ironmanl
Thanks so much for all the support.
Craig