My awesome brother-in-law (err, as I type that I realized that there’s more than one person who can be described that way, luckily for me) one of my awesome brother-in-laws wrote about my Ironman finish and it’s great because it echoes what I’ve been saying all along since I started doing triathlons.

He finished the course in just less than 16 hours. And it inspires me much more so than the guy that finished the course in 8.5 hours. That guy? Professional athlete. Can’t relate. However, I am inspired by Fuzzy because Fuzzy’s just a guy. Because I’M just a guy. It impresses me to no end at what he has done, because he’s not some superman- he’s my sweet, shy, super-nice, super-cool brother-in-law. You know, a normal person.

(Go read, as they say, the whole thing.)

I was a sickly child, much fonder of staying inside and reading than joining the neighborhood kids for kickball. And yet somewhere in middle age I found myself running and then doing triathlons and then just… kept going. I’d complete a race and think, “great, that’s done. Is there another race I can do? Maybe a longer one?” And now I’ve done a freakin’ Ironman. It’s a lesson I even need to remind myself to apply to other things in my life. To just… keep going.

(P.S. I’m really grateful that for triathlons, an Ironman is kind of it. There’s no such thing as an Ultra-Ironman.*)

* If you know of an Ultra-Ironman, do not tell me about it.