Did Ironman! Something Special?
Sitting around having some pizza at Jesse Oaks, Marc Grove made the comment, “I am confident that any of us right now could go out and finish an Ironman.” Of course, he was sitting with 4 Ironman finishers (including himself), one other triathlete and another person training for his first Ironman.
The statement begs the question though, what makes an Ironman a special achievement? All of us that have done one would like to think it was some huge accomplishment and makes us special. In fact, some of us get tattoos to show the world our accomplishment. I love giving my friends a hard time about the tattoo. My theory has always been you don’t get the tattoo unless you qualified for and finished Kona.
Is it the physical fitness that it takes? I am not sure about that. I have seen some pretty average to fat people coming across the line at an Ironman. In fact, I am willing to bet that a signficant amount of IM finishers could actually be considered overweight. Also, I have always contended that you can take your cyclist that rides 50-60 miles on a Saturday or the marathoner and turn him or her into an Ironman finisher in 26 weeks. So, what makes it special?
Is it the dedication necessary to do the training? Not really. It isn’t surprising that most of the Ironman finishers I know are middle-aged, professionals. After all, it fits right into their personality type. Most IM finishers I know are college-educated professionals. Ironman isn’t the first time in their life they have set a long-term goal and achieved it. In fact, it is probably one of many “projects” they have finished in a life time.
These people set the 4-5 year goal of getting a college degree and they did it. Some passed CPA’s, bar exams, medical boards or are engineers involved in long-term projects or reseach. In fact, I would argue that doing an Ironman takes less dedication than getting a college degree. In fact, I think you would have more IM finishers if finishing a single IM would help people make, on average, $20,000 a year more.
So, what makes it special? I mean not everyone has done one, yet most people have the “ability” to do one.
I could only narrow it down to one thing… inspiration. Einstein once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” I never liked that quote. Why? It doesn’t take into account the fact that the 1 percent of inspiration is much harder to come by than the 99 percent perspiration. In fact, if you can get that 1 percent of inspiration, the 99 percent comes easily as you see the “goal” or “vision” at the end.
In fact, I will state that the one thing that stopped me from finishing my 3rd IM was lack of inspiration. I had done the training, I just didn’t have the inspriation I needed to finish.
So, don’t worry IMers… you are special for your achievement. Many have the ability to do it. Many have the dedication necessary to focus on a goal like Ironman. Few people in a lifetime will have the inspiration it took to come across the finish line. That is what makes your accomplishment special.