My Man of Iron
By Isabel Lyman

KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII--“I was wondering how my body was going to do it from the ten-mile mark of the run onward. But during the last quarter mile of the marathon the crowd was loud and supportive. I never had so many people cheer for me.” So stated my 45-year-old husband, Wid, in the land of manta rays and muumuus, after facing the super-sized challenge of the Ironman competition.

 

This world championship for triathletes requires participants to swim 2.4 miles in the choppy Pacific Ocean, then bike 112 miles across windy lava fields, and then run 26.2 miles in the heat and humidity. The race must be finished within 17 hours.

 

Wid was joined in his quest by 1,540 athletes between the ages of 19 and 80 from around the world and 49 states. Ironman officials report that more than 100,000 gallons of fluid replacement and 600 bottles of sunscreen were used up during the grueling race. More than 7,000 enthusiastic volunteers lining the 140.6-mile race course did the dispensing and cheering.

 

Wid finished in just under 15 hours. As he jubiliantly crossed the finish line in downtown Kona, I hung a lei of tropical flowers around his neck, and our 17- year-old son, who was working security for the event, embraced him with a bear hug. My hubby was now an official man of iron.

 

The course proved to be as intimidating as advertised. “Every stage was harder than I thought it was going to be.” But somehow he successfully completed this race which provides the very definition of “survival of the fittest.”

 

Over 20,000 triathletes vied to participate in the Hawaii Ironman this year. Most competitors qualified by placing in one of the 23 Ironman races held throughout the world as a run-up. A lucky 150 gained entrance via a lottery that gives amateur athletes an opportunity to participate with the pros. Wid won one of the lottery slots, then had to complete a half-ironman race to validate his entry.

 

Kent Laird, a 29-year-old Webmaster from Beaverton, Oregon, also won a lottery slot. I asked him, a former college runner and father of two young children, why he voluntarily submitted himself to this madness. Laird’s explanation seemed to be the universal one: “I’ve wanted to do the Ironman since I was 13 or 14, after seeing it on television a long time ago. This is ‘the event.’ I am drawn to things that test your body and mind, and let you see what you can do on a given day.”

 

Don’t try this at home, kids. My athletic husband prepared for Kona for four years. Several months before the Ironman, he increased the duration and intensity of his workouts. He swam eight miles, biked 250 miles, and ran 30 to 35 miles each week. It was even tougher mentally than physically. Wid often got through the long hours of training by praying and listening to taped Christian music. Call it the power of ironprayer.

 

While he did most of his training in Massachusetts, where we live, Wid spent a month in Oklahoma City to acclimate to the hot and windy conditions that prevail there as in Hawaii.Not until race week, however, did he actually swim in the ocean.

 

“It was hard to stay on course because of the currents, and other swimmers kept getting in my way,” he says of the long dip. The choppy seas caused several triathletes to drop out with seasickness. But winds, ocean, and even triathletes who stopped along the bike course to retch didn’t stop Wid. And he finished the race with renewed respect for the professional triathletes like 2002 Ironman champion Tim DeBoom of the United States, who completed the race in 08:29:56.

 

Wid has no plans to return to Kona next year. He came, he raced, he conquered. It’s time now to be a little more laid back, to “Live Aloha,” as they say in Hawaii. Mahalo, thank you, says his wife.

 

Isabel Lyman suggests www.ironmanlive.com for more information about the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.