AN EXCERPT FROM AN EARLIER WORK

When a competitor undertakes running a marathon, every step s/he takes beyond the thirteenth mile burns body fat and muscle tissue. Somewhere between the twentieth and twenty-third mile, the competitor’s physical reserves are exhausted, no matter how hard s/he trains for this grueling physical test of endurance. All that one is left with are the competitor’s mental capabilities and his/her determination for the last, exhausting three to six miles of the run.

When a competitor competes in an Ironman distance triathlon, the marathon is the last thing the competitor does, after swimming two-point-four miles in the open water, then cycling 112 miles over hot, hilly terrain. The challenge is to do the whole event in less than 17 hours.

My goal, after starting my training at the age of 35, is to go that distance.

My name is Jedidiah Harper, and what follows is my chronicle of events leading up to my attempt to do my first full Ironman distance triathlon. (This account is loosely based on a journal that I kept that chronicled my training in hopes of completing this, the most grueling of events; the ultimate test of endurance, mental toughness, and strategizing. The chronicle of events is true; only the names have been changed.)

from: BEYOND THE THIRTEENTH MILE; THE IRONMAN CHRONICLES by: D.C.Scott