Taking the Plunge: Ironman Canada 2013

There are few things in life that truly test the limit of human ability, but more importantly, human will.  I have no desire to, for example, climb Mount Everest, or to run across the Sahara desert.  For those people who do such things, most people say, WHY? Why would you put yourself through such torture, train for years on end, pay thousands of dollars, just to risk death? Good point.

Ironman is my Everest. It's that thing that you always thought was so crazy that only people who were a bit insane (that's actually true) but absolutely and totally fit in every way could do. In fact, running a marathon used to be my Everest.  I did that last year, and I felt like I had crossed it off my bucket list.  My dad had been a marathoner, so there was always a part of me that wanted to do it.  I did not feel the need to make marathoning my "thing"-- to do them over and over again, or to go on to Ultramarathons. I started doing triathlons instead, and  I knew from the beginning that they were, indeed, my "thing."  I felt like I fit in from the get-go, and I loved the training; constantly pushing your body in different ways through three different sports. I did my first Olympic triathlon in March, and I was hooked.

I have always been a go-getter as well as a very impatient person, so I always want to do the hardest thing possible and in the shortest amount of time. Despite some advice to the contrary (and some encouragement from others), I signed up for my first half Ironman (see my previous post). I did it, and I loved it. And in true triathlete style, afterward I said... what's next?

The obvious progression is to go for a full Ironman, but I was still not really sure if I wanted to make the leap. I knew I would probably attempt it at some point- maybe in a few years, but I was not sure I was ready. In the end, it was the constant encouragement (or, shall we say, nagging) from my tri friends that told me I could do it. So, I took the plunge, and I registered for Ironman Canada 2013, in Whistler B.C. Here we go!!