WOW. 7 years of silence and here I am.
First, yes, I am an Ironman. In fact, I’ve completed that 140.6 plus mile monster now four times: 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023 with an Ironman 70.3 miler thrown in in 2022 in Maine “just for fun”. Only because they are so long ago (and geez, thanks for reading by the way!), here is a brief summary of Ironman Chattanooga (2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023).
2018: Swimming was definitely something I was concerned about. I had never swam in open water and was expected to swim 2.4 miles in the Tennessee River. I knew I could make the distance, but was nervous about not being able to see the bottom of the pool . . .umm because there was no pool. Fortunately or unfortunately I never had the chance in 2018. As I was driving to Chattanooga I received an email that due to debris and potential turbidity and unhealthy water due to storms in the areas which fed the river, the “Swim was Cancelled”. The threat of the swim being cancelled is somewhat of a joke in Chattanooga because apparently it happens often enough (it happened again in 2024, but I wasn’t there). That said, the people and hotels and YMCA of Chattanooga were awesome – opening up pools so people who wanted to get their 2.4 mile swim in could do so. For me, it was a stunning disappointment at first. That thing I trained for and longed for . . . To be called an IRONMAN, seemed less real since the swim in the river was cancelled (I did use the YMCA pool in Chattanooga). That said, the race director basically said “you can still call yourself an Ironman. . . We are the Ironman corporation and you can only race the race we give you”. It was true to a certain extent, but still a punch in the gut that my dream of being an Ironman would have to have an asterisk in it, at least in my own mind. Chattanooga is a bit of an oddity in the Ironman circuit. Ironman is typically 140.6 miles. Not in Chattanooga. They race 144.6 miles due to the bike course interfering with a local Church service. Now, even though they changed the bike course entirely (it used to wind through northern Georgia but now stays entirely in Tennessee), they still made the bike course 116 miles instead of the normal bike distance of 112. Suffice to say, my pool swim plus 116 on the bike plus the 26.2 mile marathon was an exhilarating experience. To cross the finish line and be called an Ironman was a life-changing experience.
2019: When my wife heard the swim in the river in 2018 was cancelled she knew that my dream of doing an Ironman would not be a “one off” and that I would insist on going back and doing it when I could swim 2.4 miles in the river before biking 116 and then doing the marathon. She was right. Ironman Chattanooga 2019 was literally the HOTTEST ever recorded Ironman race anywhere. I am slow . . . Super slow. Back of the pack slow. I remember casually cycling by a grown, incredibly fit man sitting on the side of the road head in his hands. 98 degree temperatures when you are biking 25 MPH can do that to you. I will never be a podium finisher. My goal though is to finish. I did. More than 25% of the field did not that day. It was brutal. When I went through the finish line it was as if (and I heard this from another racer, I didn’t make it up), I was given a business card to hand out that says I can do anything I can put my mind to. There was no asterisk this year. I finished the whole 144.6 mile Ironman course. I felt it. I can see the pictures and still be stunned. I was an Ironman for real. And that was going to be it . . . Not one more.
2021: WAIT! I thought you said not one more! I lied. It’s an addiction. I really didn’t think I would do Ironman again after 2019. I had, after all, met my goal. I felt like a fake after 2018 when you had to swim in the pool. 2019 was brutal, and I really didn’t think I would go again. Yet here I was, “one more time” at Ironman. I’m glad I did. As the day went on on (it takes me around 15 hours and 30 minutes to finish an Ironman), I was hunched over. My wife met me a few times during the marathon portion and ran/walked with me for part of the day. By the time I finished though, I could not even stand up straight. My back was killing me. One nice thing was that my parents actually came to Ironman 2021 with me. I remember my father telling me “it gets pretty lonely about mile 18” of a marathon (he was a runner having done a number of races in his 30’s and 40’s). It oddly enough never got lonely at Ironman. The camaraderie for those of us toward the “back of the pack” was one of constant encouragement aimed at each other. We were all just searching for that feeling of accomplishment.
2023: This one was probably the last full Ironman for me. I don’t absolutely rule out another one, but again, there in Chattanooga, I found the finish line. After 144.6 miles (thanks to Chattanooga’s generous “extra 4 miles”) I crossed the finish line. I was celebrating the 10th anniversary of my decision to get healthy. As usual, my wife was with me and met me several times during the marathon portion of the race. It was enormously helpful.
And if you want some inspiration . . . I mean REAL inspiration, let me tell you about one guy I raced with. His name was Charlie. He out-swam me like he was a fish. He was much faster on the bike. But on mile 8 of the run I caught him and never took my foot off the gas. Before you say “Langdon, you da man, you beat him.” Charlie was (at the time of our race) 76. Oh yeah . . . And he was blind. So next time you are wondering if you can do a 5K . . .think of Charlie Plaskon.
So yes . . . I am an Ironman. But Charlie is an AMAZING Ironman, which beats regular old Ironman every single day!
But why write now, after 7 years? Three things. First, several months ago someone contacted me on this blog and asked me if I DID complete Ironman. I was honored that anyone could still find the blog. I replied that I did and shared a couple of quick thoughts. Second, I’ve had some professional and personal challenges and decided to go back to my blog to give me a reason to update what’s happening with my exercise routine. Third, for the 5 or 6 of you who read this and don’t know me, I didn’t want you to think I gave up, even though my silence gave you every reason to think otherwise.
I plan on updating this blog regularly again. I will also share (retroactively) a few more insights from the past 7 years, including: Running my 50th marathon a month before I turned 50; Ironman 70.3 in Maine and some personal challenges and working to overcome them.
Thank you for reading.
Morbidly Obese to MARATHON Runner 