O Canada!
TriBaby's First Ironman

In the course of a human life there are thousands of firsts. Our first steps, our first words, our first ice cream cone, etc. As we get older and establish patterns in our lives the firsts occur more infrequently, but that infrequency seems only to intensify the impact of each new experience.

I completed my first Ironman-distance triathlon on Sunday, August 24th, 1997 at Ironman Canada. I could simply sum it up as a great event and say that I far exceeded my expectations at this most daunting of endurance tests. I finished in just over thirteen hours (13:04:07) and enjoyed a remarkably uneventful day. Beyond that, what more is there to say?

Plenty!

Somebody told me before I left for Penticton in August that they expected me to return and pen "the Mother of All Race Reports." Well, I'm afraid that is exactly what I did. It took nearly three months to complete this report, churned out in installments posted to the rec.sport.triathlon newsgroup.

For good or bad, here are all ten parts. It's peppered with a lot of "inside" references to things that were going on in the newsgroup at the time, and references to specific people from the group, but otherwise is still fairly readable as a narrative of the first-time Ironman experience. Literature it's not, but I hope that it might contribute somehow to the sport of triathlon by encouraging or inspiring just one other person to consider and attempt the Ironman distance. It is well, well worth it. If nothing else, this story proves that literally ANYBODY who sets his or her mind to it can complete an Ironman. Think about it...

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!