About A Year In Review
On December 30, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Motivation and Inspiration Beyond the Ironman Journey
If there was ever a good year, 2011 was the one!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a pretty good run and I have very little, if anything, to complain about. I have the most wonderful family a man could ever ask for; a lovely, beautiful, caring, adoring wife, two magnificent daughters that any father would be proud to have and what has to be the most amazing grandson ever. The good Lord definitely knows into whose life to drop these blessings.
I am not any different from anyone who wants to accomplish great things in life and is willing to work hard for them. I am focused, determined and most of the time on target.
As I entered 2011 I knew that one of the biggest items in my bucket list would, God willing, come true. That is to become an Ironman. I had signed up for Louisville which was to be held August 29th. The training had begun and baring a major catastrophe, it would be completed as planned. And that it did. That day, I did become an Ironman. (read the race recap here) But as we all well know this did not happen over night. This was a journey that took almost four years to complete.
What I did not know at the beginning of the year was that two more items, both large by any account, would also come true.
The one item that is fairly common amongst anyone who… Read the rest
About The Best Of 2011
On December 30, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Mauricio's Triathlon, Running, Fitness, Motivation & Inspiration Blog
This year I have taken to my blog a bit more consistently. This is post No. 51 for 2011. That’s almost one post per week. Not a power blogger by any stretch of the imagination but a steady blogger at that. I have seen the blog’s popularity, measured by “hits” per post steadily increase.
It is no surprise that the post that gathered the most traffic was the one entitled “About Becoming An Ironman“. It accumulated over 2,000 hits in just 48 hours. It was the most shared via twitter and liked on facebook of all posts.
This post takes the reader through my day at the 2011 Louisville Ironman. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, you can do so here.
The second most popular post and one that I feel strongly about is the post entitled “About Being Fit vs. Being Healthy“. I cannot measure its popularity in terms of “hits” because even though it was posted on September 29th, I still get comments via twitter and emails about it. Apparently this post made a few people think about their fitness and health.
A couple of other favorite posts of mine deal with the issue of the “Ironman Tattoo”. I brought the subject up in a post titled “About The Tattoo“, in which I used the subject to make a point… Read the rest
On December 8, 2011,
in Typically when one thinks of an infomercial they think of the Cham-Wow dude or Suzanne Somers rocking out her Thighmaster…
For triathletes, the infomercial takes on a different tone. Instead of some screaming dude hawking the latest and greatest can opener or cookware, triathlon’s version of an infomercial is the annual broadcast of the race in Kona.
And while Ironman and I have had a parting of ways (see here), I really enjoy the Kona show. Perhaps it’s the human drama that is an essential component of an iron distance race. Maybe it’s the stunning videography. It could be Al Trautwig’s compelling narration. Maybe it’s the seemless integration of RoadID commercials into the broadcast. Whatever it is, I typically enjoy the broadcast.
We all know the outcome of the race. That’s not why we watch the show, I don’t think. Many folks watch and dream. They picture the change that they can make in their life. They imagine themselves competing in triathlon, running an iron distance race….going the distance. For some, Saturday’s broadcast will be the virtual kick in the pants to get them off the couch. For others, the broadcast will reaffirm the lifestyle they have adopted. And yet, others will disregard the show completely as a result of the ownership of the Ironman brand.
My perspective is this….while I’ll likely never race an Ironman brand race again, I’m a fan of the TV show. I really believe that the… Read the rest
Dear Ironman,
You and I, we have a history.
I’ve sweated and swam, biked miles upon miles, and ran like Forrest Gump. All in an effort to overcome the races you’ve lain in front of me. Not just once, but several times.
Orlando. Panama City Beach. Louisville. They are familiar territory. A few good memories have come from my pursuits there. More of them have been ho-hum.
Once I was pleased to hear Mike Reilly proclaim that I was an “Ironman”.
But I’m over you.
It’s not you…..it’s all me.
I’m tired of swimming with two thousand friends. I don’t like drafting when I’m supposed to be racing. I don’t like feeling like a customer.
Triathlon isn’t about those things. At least for me, it’s not. Triathlon is about the challenge. Feeling like you belong at a race – regardless of whether you’re the first finisher or the last. I like spectacle and boisterous finish lines as much as the next guy, and while you’re good at that, others are equally good – if not better – at it than you are. I want to feel valued as an athlete. Part of the family. Cared about. Loved.
And you, well, you don’t do that anymore for me.
I’m just a tick mark on your headboard. Another zero on the balance sheet. Another person to sell logo’d merchandise to for too high a price.
We’re done. I know you’ll find others. People will constantly clamor for the “notoriety” that comes from… Read the rest
Crossing the finish line at the 2010 Rev3 Knoxville.
A few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive in the mail a copy of the new book, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & the Greatest Race Ever Run by Matt Fitzgerald.
The book is about arguably the best Ironman race in the history of Ironman – the 1989 race in Kona.
Before I get into actually reviewing the book, I think it’s fairly important to lay the landscape for you. Matt Fitzgerald is a pretty well-known triathlon journalist. It’s pretty clear from even a cursory review of the book that he performed a monumental amount of research – including personal interviews with both Scott and Allen, as well as numerous other parties. This is well evidenced by Fitzgerald’s inclusion of more than twenty pages of citations and references. All of that said, Allen and Scott clearly feel that Fitzgerald created a work of fiction, and have sued for defamation. Interestingly, not all reviewers agree that the book is a work of fiction.
While whether Fitzgerald defamed Scott and Allen is certainly up for debate, the fact of the matter is that this book is good.
Fitzgerald commences his story at 2:59pm on October 14, 1989…the moment in time where a race that had been a race of equals finally became separated.
Iron War is not just about the most epic Ironman showdown; we also get a glimpse into the protagonists’ history. We are exposed to Allen and Scott’s lives as children, their… Read the rest
We’ve been in the midst of this great American recession for going on five years now, and yet multisport events are seemingly on a growth curve resembling Apple’s sales figures following the release of a new iPhone.
It seems as if new races and race series are popping up everywhere.
WTC has expanded like two horny rabbits in the last three or four years. Rev3 Tri has gone from one race to nine. HITS is coming into the marketplace in 2012. The Challenge series has grown. WTC created the 5150 series (well…”created” is a term used lightly as this series was wrought from acquisition and partnership activity). Countless local races have sprouted all over the country.
Let’s face it, our sport offers a pretty unique value stream. Revenues are seemingly high. Attendance is generally trending up. Membership in USAT is on a growth track. Triathlon couldn’t be subjected to the perils of a downtrodden economy.
Or could it?
While lead news items typically include only announcements of new and exciting races and venues, what gets lost – and perhaps buried – is the fact that race cancellations are not unheard of. Certainly, WTC’s cancellation of the season-ending 5150 race in Clearwater, FL ranks as the biggest cancellation of the year, it’s just the veritable tip of the iceberg.
Many races get canceled. Often they are canceled for weather or permitting issues, but just as frequently they are canceled due to low turnout – as was the Clearwater 5150 race. Just this fall, races such… Read the rest
About Getting To Kona
On October 10, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Mauricio's Triathlon, Running, Fitness, Motivation & Inspiration Blog
A trip to Kona to participate in the Ironman World Championships is to a triathlete like a trip to Boston is to a runner. Trying to figure out how to qualify for a spot in Hawaii has proven to be as difficult as trying to figure out when it will be your turn to sign up for Boston, that is… after you qualify.
And this question comes up this time of year more often than any other. Most of us… well okay, a lot of us, spent the majority of last Saturday glued to the Internet watching the awesome performances by some equally awesome athletes and thinking while we were doing this: What if? What will it take? How can I get there?
It really is not as difficult as one may think. The qualifying part is, not the trying to figure out how. Let me explain.
Up until now there has been three ways to get to Kona. Actually four. One is to earn a spot at a qualifying event, two is by being selected in the Ironman Lottery Program and three by winning a slot in the Ironman Charitable eBay auction. The fourth and lesser know way is to be selected as a featured athlete. These are spots that NBC gets to feature athletes with special and extraordinary stories. “Up until now” I said, because the WTC has added a new way.
There are 200 spots in the lottery and this is… Read the rest
This time of year is always pretty predictable.
The stifling Florida temperature finally breaks, revealing a coolness that we’ve pined for months. The Jaguars falter, stumble, and crawl through the first quarter of the NFL season. Interbike causes aero weenies to drool like a teething 18-month old. And triathletes everywhere get all amped up over the big race in Hawaii. Just as retailers have started getting out their Christmas decorations, bloggers and folks who post on Slowtwitch and Beginner Triathlete are all amped up about this weekend’s race.
A quick glance across the interwebs today showed no less than half a dozen blog posts and several threads about the race. What bike will Crowie be on? Will Chrissie race? Who will be this year’s biggest sob story on the telecast? What will the most popular brand of body lube be? Perhaps a few of those aren’t really threads or posts, but one imagines that they could be.
I found myself getting caught up in the moment myself. Last week, I was planning out my next several blog posts. I’ve got several “Ten Questions With…” interviews in the hopper, including one with a particular triathlete who won last year’s race and could repeat this year. I’m working on a post about things that nag (while it might be fun to write about, that post will be less about spouses than recurring injuries). I decided that I’d take a stab at predicting who I thought would win the race in Kona.
I went so far as to collect data… Read the rest
About Ironman Pride
On September 21, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Mauricio's Triathlon, Running, Fitness, Motivation & Inspiration Blog
Three weeks and three days ago I completed one of the worlds most grueling events known to mankind: the “Ironman”. If you missed my race report you can find it here for this entry is not about the race, or the journey to get to the race, but about the pride of becoming an “Ironman”.
There are as many reasons why anyone would take on a challenge of this magnitude as there are people taking on this challenge, and it has been said that it’s one of the most difficult things to try to explain, specially to those who do not understand the idea of pushing oneself to unknown limits. I for one, gave up trying to explain. Here is how I chose to handled it.
Life has changed post Ironman. There’s a huge sense of pride in having accomplished something that someone like me could have never imagined possible when I started doing triathlons in 2008.
And expressing this pride has come in many different forms.
In addition to the usual and obligatory IM merchandise; visor, hat, shirts, tee shirts, Finisher’s Jacket, cycling jersey, coffee mug, car sticker, key chain, etc, etc, etc, I had a tattoo inked on my left calf.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
But this did not come without much thought and consideration. Most of it done pre-Ironman.
During the course of those eleven months spent getting physically and mentally ready, I researched the idea of the tattoo. Read countless accounts of why people… Read the rest
