Background

 

Why am I doing an Ironman? I have to say that most of the credit has to go to Ian Buchanan, a friend and colleague of sorts from Deleuze research (in the same sense that Nat Fyfe is a colleague of sorts because we can both kick a football). You can see him on the left there, and yes, he's also a Jedi. Ian first raised the suggestion that it might be something to try during a conference in 2010. I immediately said 'no way' and listed a whole series of reasons why I wouldn't do it.... primarily my inability to swim more than fifty metres without hyperventilating and then also this line of reasoning: 'my heart is only going to beat so many times in this life... why do I want to increase my heart rate while also increasing my suffering???'. But he had planted the idea and it started to grow on me. 

 

By the time I saw Ian again in 2012 he had already completed his first IM and was lining up some more. He was hugely enthusiastic about the health benefits, the meditation of training and the sense of accomplishment. Inspired I came home and started running around 5km a week and even signed up for the 12km City to Surf. 

 

That's where the photo above came from - the grimmace is caused by an inflamed IT band which became severe about half way through the race. It meant I couldn't really put weight on my knee and because I continued to run on it, I ended up on crutches for 3 days after the event. An auspicious start to my IM journey to say the least.

 

Following physio and the dawning realisation that an IM was going to be difficult but practically impossible for me to do I became even more hungry to do one. I started running more often, started swimming at the beach and in March 2013 I did my first 'sprint' distance triathlon and followed that up with a half IronMan in Mandurah in November 2013. I was keen to follow that up with a full IM this year but in April this year my wife Kate and I welcomed our delightful daughter into the world. Kate was not too keen on the idea of me spending 20+ hours a week training and basically nixed the idea.

 

Around 6 months ago Ian told me he'd been given an entry for Bussleton for his birthday and I decided to start 'sneaky training' just in case I could do it with him - a little run here, a little swim there the occasional extra half an hour on the ride home from work. As the IM has grown closer I became a little more brazen with my training ('oh no - I'm happy to run home from here')  and was thrilled to see entries still available towards the end of September (this is very unusual as entries for the event typically sell out very quickly - the availability of tickets this year may have something to do with bad press surrounding the shark problems the area has been facing). With the staunch support of my Mother-in-Law, who actually pre-empted my confidence by booking accomodation in Busselton for me before I'd even decided I could enter, well I entered the race. 

 

The past month or so has seen me training like never before - most weekends has meant a 4km swim, a 20km run and a 4-6 hour ride over the weekend, and then training when I can during the week. As I've been in my meditative trance on my bike, or counting out the laps (80 laps is a lot of counting) I've reflected on the thought this is an incredibly self indulgent way to struggle. Don't get me wong - it doesn't hurt anyone and it's good for me physically and mentally - but it IS hard and it doesn't really help anyone else and I'd like to change that.. you know get some 'pay forward' for my suffering. So, please, if the story is at all inspirational to you, do donate something to a charity. 

 

I had to do it for a cancer charity because cancer has touched the lives of so many people I care about, particularly this year but to be honest in most years and probably in many years to come... but I felt bad about neglecting the developing world so there's also an option to give to the clean water charity which helps install clean drinking water solutions in communities in developing countries. These donations are matched dollar for dollar by corporate partners so a little money goes a long way.

 

I'll certainly keep you updated with how the race goes on December 7th. 

 

Thanks for your support.