Reasons I Signed Up For Ironman WI 2007

In no particular order:

• The chance to be a part of something bigger than I am.
For those who have seen an Ironman in person, you know what I’m talking about - those people finishing at 10 pm full of heart and emotion. I want to be one of those people. I need a good adventure now and then.

• To see what will happen to my body.
I had a decent body this past spring with the most muscle tone that I’ve ever had. Once I started triathlon training, all that muscle was burned off with all of the aerobic activity I was doing. I told Sarah, but she said that she hadn’t noticed. Then a few days later, we were walking together and she had her hands around my arms. “They HAVE gotten smaller!” she exclaimed. Great. Triathlon training only adds to my chicken-legged-ness. Maybe IM training will make me 2 dimensional. Spectacular.

• (Semi) legitimate reason for shaving my entire body.
I don’t know if it will really make me any faster, but it just seems like the thing to do. Call it peer pressure, if you will. So watch for a super fun post (with pictures, of course) sometime in July. I can’t wait for that post. It’ll be good.

• The urge to not let Sarah 1-up me.
Well...she’s already 1-uped me, so I guess I just don’t want her to get too far ahead...

• My doctor told me to never stop doing triathlons.
When I had a general checkup this past summer, my doctor checked my heart rate and listened to my lungs for a second, and he asked “Are you a runner?!?” “I’ve started doing triathlons,” I replied. “Well don’t ever stop, OK?!?” OK doc. I’ll do one better and train for an IM next year.

• Hairless body in the summer of 07.
I guess I’m just curious...

• My car is easier to find with a big ole bike rack sticking out of the hitch.
Nuff said.

• For my eventual kids.
I want to show that anything worth doing is not easy, but can be done with a little elbow grease. I guess this would be for my kids, and for anyone else who needs a little inspiration. I’d love to be a source of inspiration.

• It will somehow help my photography.
I don’t know if I can fully explain it, but I somehow think training for and finishing an IM will make me mentally stronger, which will, in turn, make my photography career better. I know, in reality, the exact opposite might be true: I’ll be so busy training that I’ll run out of time to make photos. I don’t want to believe that though. Stupid? Maybe. But you can’t stop me.