Guess who I met...

..On the plane to my first Ironman.

Mr. Ironman himself.

John Wragg. Quite possibly the world's most prolific IM athlete...from Canada no less!

Normal looking guy actually, bit of a hip problem, knew right away he was an IM athlete, thanks to the bike box, even at a groggy 6:00 am yu can figure this out.

We ended up sitting together before the flight, and turns out he was one of my Juice Plus+ customers a few years back, under coach Steve Bentley.

So of course I had to ask....

"Is this your first Arizona Ironman?"

"No, I've done this a few times."

'Oh, how many altogether?"

"105 so far..."

(This is where I dropped my coffee).

yikes....

Of course, when he found out I was a virgin, he kinda took me under his wing....

That's an average of 4.5 per year since 1986, the year of his first IM....

So, Arizona is #106, and then two weeks later in Australia, #107....

As we wound our way thru the Phoenix Airport, to grab our luggage, I noticed that John was limping along the corridor. I thought maybe he slept awkward on the plane, or had a muscle cramp.

"You okay there John?"

"Yeah, hip surgery this summer, haven't been able to run, just swim and bike".

"And so you're going to still race Sunday"....

"Yes, but I will walk the marathon".

"When will you stop racing"..I now had to ask, like I was afraid of the answer...

"When I don't finish before the cut-off at midnite" was the reply...

yikes.

Now I really feel behind this group....

(:

Go John Go!

PD

peter@mynextrace.com 

Ironman update - another one!

I believe this is the 3rd one...

It's such a long freaking preparation, you could write a novel during the build-up!

I just booked my flight and hotel, which is one step closer to the finish line...now I have the following "to do" still before getting away, it's like a marathon just getting ready for this damm thing:

- Pick-up some fast Zipp wheels so I can stay a little closer to the fast people on bikes worth more than my 4-year old minivan

- Clean my bike and then pack it for the plane ride..

- Figure out my nutritional needs and load my sherpa to carry all this stuff

- Get all these achy, sore, tight muscles loose and limber in the next 9 days

- Get one more swim in seeing as I have not been in the water (except the shower) for 6 weeks...):

- Find a dog-sitter for the mascot..

- Prepare some meetings for while I am in Phoenix, Juice Plus+ and MyNextRace.com of course...have lap-top, will travel...

- Pack all my needs, light enough now or else the airlines will charge me a small fortune for excess baggage...

- Start a daily prayer ritual so I survive the swim and escape the water in one piece!

- Write my will just in case...

(:

Onwards Arizona!

PD

peter@mynextrace.com