IRONMAN

Who would want to swim 2.4 miles, then hop on a bike for 112 miles, and then run a marathon which is 26.2 miles? Me!

Ever since I trained for and ran the New York City Marathon back in 2009, despite being a dry drunk at the time, I always wished I could do an Ironman. Unfortunately, my addiction kept me from even starting, let alone realizing that dream. I’m sober now, and since putting down the drink, I’ve been smashing dreams and goals! Now it’s time for this one.

This race is a metaphor for life. It’s a long journey with peaks and valleys, will test my mental and physical fortitude, requires discipline and perseverance, and hopefully the lessons I learn along the way in training will benefit me on race day. My goal is to complete it, and will do my absolute best to do so, but I want to enjoy it along the way as well. After all, it’s not where you finish, but the journey getting there that counts.

I have put together a small team of friends who have all dealt with or are currently dealing with adversity. Robyn is grieving from the loss of her husband, Tyler and Justin suffer from OCD and anxiety, George had a heart aneurysm almost cut his life short. We are all taking on this Ironman together, to support one another as we learn more about ourselves and each other and make it to that starting line in Mont-Tremblant, Canada on August 20, 2023. Our team’s name is Burn The Boats because there’s no going back, only forward.

Motivation got me to sign up for the race, but it’s discipline that gets me to the gym to train every day. This is a seven day per week commitment of training, recovering, nutrition, planning, sleeping, and learning. The discipline I’ve learned from my recovery and doing what I have to each day to stay sober has rolled over into other aspects of my life. Sobriety is a lifestyle. Training to be an Ironman is a lifestyle. This is how I want to live.