Iron respect...

It was another fun night last night at Jamie and Barb's place. We sat outside under the cabana watching the fights on TV.

We warmed up watching UFC 15 from 1997 and then watched a live UFC event, all while draining Jamie's Kegerator.

What a difference from UFC 1997 to present. Old school guys were by enlarge "brawlers", and new school guys are "finely tuned athletic machines". Although, watching Tank Abbott is the best.

I loved Tanks post fight interview, "Tuesday I got off the bar stool and took this fight with no notice or training, I just love to fight" Then he said, "I've won some and other's I'd like a do over and if I trained I would have won this fight". Classic Tank.

John Barclay came by and graced us with his presence. It was great to see John again and it sounds like he's getting back on the Ironman track. His plan is to do Syracuse with us in September. John even had a hangover today, it's about time he drank enough to "join the club". He emailed me and asked if I had one, which I didn't. Pussy.

It's also nice to see Jamie getting back on the Ironman track. He had a 10 year run of training hard and then injury, medical and motivational issues got him off the training rails. He's done a lot of Ironman races and now wants to have a respectable showing at the Syracuse 70.3. There's nothing like racing a half to put fearful motivation into you.

I found out that Davis "DID" qualify at Ironman Calgary 70.3 for the Clearwater World Championships. I can hardly wait for the race report. He came in second in the 18-24 age group. It almost makes Uncle Bryan want to try and qualify to join him. But I won't do it for two reasons.

The first is the money, or lack of it. After doing China, Utah, Lake Placid and now Kona and then NYC marathon in November, and having to buy Alice a new car, I'm sure I'm going to be broke. I may even need to get a paper route to supplement my income.

Even if I had the money, the second reason, is if I was lucky enough to qualify in Syracuse, I rather pass it up and let some other guy have an experience of a lifetime. I had mine last year. I consider it "paying forward", others thankfully, have done it for me.

More good news is that Epic Bill Bradley completed the 292 mile Double Badwater. He's only one of 24 people on the planet to have done it. It took him 7 days, 22 hours and 49 seconds. Frankly, I think he could have shaved 10 seconds off his time, but didn't "Suck it Up". Oh well, I guess there's always next time Bill.

Part of the run is through death valley and the heat was 135 F and he then had to summit Mount Whitney, the highest summit in Continental U.S at 14, 505 feet. I can't yet fathom what motivates him or how he physically does it.

Bills next adventure is swimming the English Channel on September 28th. I planned on joining him as part of his support crew, but had to bail to be in Kona on Oct 4th. It's unfortunate, I was really looking forward to the experience of helping Bill and meeting all my U.K. twitter buddies.

I got a tweet from my good friend @ree_ti_ree, he told me my IMLP marathon time was only 7 minutes shy of the qualifying for the Boston Marathon in my age group. I checked out the site and he was right.

For a 45 year old, I need to run a 3:30 or less. I had always thought it was 3:20 or less. I wonder if anyone has qualified for Boston via an Ironman marathon? That would be funny, and maybe sign to lower the Boston qualifying times.

My goal at the beginning of the year was to qualify for Boston at this years New York City Marathon. Although many have told me it could be tough, with 43,000 plus people running it, it has lots of congestion. I'm glad I now have a 10 minute buffer I didn't think I had.

Reid's definitely looking forward the NYC marathon, which is unusual. He hates going to races, but he won't pass up going to NYC. He went last year with my parents, and loved it.

My recovery from IMLP is going well. I got an email from Mark Allen today. He told me to take it easy for the next three weeks and that "I deserve a break". I laughed. I guess I do, but as sick as this sounds, I'm looking forward to getting back at it. I need to get away from my "Crack-erator".

Other than the scabs on my ankles, I came away from IMLP unscathed. I got the scabs from my racing chip neoprene anklet bracelet, it was chaffing. On the run I was in such pain, I had to stop, take it off one leg and put it on the other. By the end of the race, the other ankle was chaffed.

The only thing I did differently for this race was I put glide on my ankles before the swim to help me get my wetsuit off quicker. Next time I wearing slightly higher ankle socks. Please don't suggest compression socks, you'll never catch me dead in public in those. Sorry Carlos, but they look good on you.

Since it's a National holiday here in Canada, and with no training today, I have nothing but time on my hands, that's why this post is a little longer than normal. For some time, I've wanted to write about what I'm going to write about next.

I'd like to think I was insightful enough to think of this on my own, but I wasn't. It was something I gleaned from a conversation with my U.K buddy Martin Paul at Ironman St. George. He was introduced to me by my twitter buddy Jevon.

After the race, we hooked up for lunch and a couple beers. I asked him, "What got you into Ironman's". He's done like 8 or more, I forget the exact number and he has no plans to stop. After Martin does an Ironman, he has the race tattooed on his calf. He's already working on his second calf. Aside from being a PFG, he had one of the most unique answers I've ever heard.

Below is how I interpreted it and may have even added or taken away from it. I may not even have understood his answer correctly, but I thought what I thought he said was good.

He explained that we are the "lost generation", we've never had any real challenges or suffering. In the past our grandparents and great grandparents had wars, famine, pandemics and all sorts of challenges. Even before that, they were settlers and hard working modern civilization infrastructure builders.

Today's modern western culture really hasn't experienced any hardships of the magnitude our forefathers had. As kids, we had a sense of natural respect for those that preserved through incredible hardship. Who doesn't have respect for someone like a World War II Veteran?

Ironman, to him, was a way of showing his daughter that her Dad was a man who was strong and to be respected. For generations that follow, instead of her saying "my Dad fought for our Country", she could at least be able to say, "my Dad was an Ironman".

I'd even add to that. I'd say that being an Ironman sets an example to your children. It shows that it is in them to accomplish incredible things. Heck, "if Dad could do it, and I come from the same stock, why can't I". It shows Dad wasn't just the guy who brought home a check, washed the car and watered the garden. Dad was a warrior within.

I had never thought of being an Ironman in that context. I found it profound. I thought it was worth sharing and it's something that I've never forgotten. It's just one more benefit of being an Ironman. I raise my glass to you Martin.

Post Race Taper Day - No training.

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