By the way, the Superbowl would be the World Championship in Kona... a lofty target I'm sure I will only get to by winning a lottery spot.
Most of the time, I blow it off and don't worry about the stress of "should I" since most of the events sell out in 24 hours and I don't have the wherewithal to get plan before hand, discuss with my wife and sign up online they day registration opens. Can't sign up, no problem. I also read an article on Active.com asking some of the "should I" questions as well that made me think as well...
Problem was, I was poking around the IM website and saw that IM Louisville is still open. For how long, who knows. I'm not even sure it sold out last year. It's a tough course in the midst of some nasty heat on August 29th. I would suspect that's why it may not fill up. There's also the Utah race, but I read reports from the pros that the course was a b*tch and you're asking for trouble racing that event.
So, I just mentioned it to the wife with 80% joking and 20% serious. She was like "are you signed up for any Ironman races in 2012"? Um, no. Sure, go ahead... I was like, "who are you and where did my wife go"? Not in a mean way, but such a huge undertaking and she was more than happy to encourage me to sign up within 2 minutes of me bringing it up, until she asked, "wait, is that a half or full?". HA, busted.
But even after I told her it was a full, she wasn't totally turned off to the idea. But, she also knows the reality of life and the fact I am OC and way too practical to just sign up on a whim.
Obstacles
- Training time. It was tough with a 3 year old, 1 year old and a wife with medical issues to find the time and not feel guilty for what time I did train for 2 HIM's last year. I don't want to take away time from my wife and kids to train. I also would like to keep my job, so i can't just quit to train. I'm not a pro, sadly.
- Money. It's $600 just to sign up, not counting to and from Kentucky, lodging, food while I'm there... etc. It's not cheap.
- What do you do with the family? Take the kids and make the wife watch them for the entire pre and during race period? That's not fair. Leave the kids and just take the wife? That's more realistic, but the kids that suffer missing you while you train don't get to participate in the culmination of your training.
- The unexpected. Wee Man has had some resurfacing of some of his health issues. Nothing extreme, but we are looking into some possibilities for conditions he has that could have long term and costly ramifications. Ironman's can wait, his health cannot. Then, you add the wife and her foot into the picture. Who knows if that ankle will hold up with work and life. Lots of medical concerns running around our house.
I'm contemplating putting IM Louisville on MVT as a future event and hoping funding gets to a certain point before registration closes.
Something like $600 for registration, $300 for gas, $300 for 3 nights lodging and $200 for food, totalling $1400 at minimum. Fellow IM finishers, does that sound reasonable?
The MVT project has been going well. The Heartland 39.3 series is picking up partners, Ruckus came up quickly and I'm adding more events. I'd like to get a race kit made and work in all partners while writing content for them and helping get the word out about them.
It's a lofty goal. Any thoughts? Sadly, I believe in myself enough that I can complete and compete in a full 140.6. The reality is that we have had some tough financial times with medical situations. I'm not complaining, to an extent. We have jobs, we have health insurance and we live a nice life. What sucks is when you want to do a couple things outside of "normal" and you don't have the funds. Tough times call for creative measures!
What do you guys think out there? I've shared my Examiner writing. A lot of you have probably found me from EverymanTri.com. And some have probably just stumbled on to my site surfing the web from work when you should be working. =)
Nothing worse then putting it out there and having no interest. But, you can always say, "nothing ventured, nothing gained
6 comments:
I will, one day, work myself up to the 140.6 distance. $600 seems steep, and adding travel expenses doesn't help. If you aren't sold on an WTC branded race, I would check out other "more affordable" options. By doing so, it would make for a more "reasonable" race fee.
BUT an IRONMAN branded race is much more enticing...
True, other 140.6 miles races are less expensive, but can you justify getting the IM tat when not racing an IM branded race? would like to complete at least one WTC IM and then race whatever I feel like.
IM Louisville didn't sell out till February for 2011 so you have a little time.
Your cost estimates are about right, if you're going the "budget" route and won't get caught up in buying everything with a M-Dot on it at the expo :). I stayed at a hotel that had a full kitchen so I could bring/cook my own meals (another cost-savings approach, but really it was because I have dietary restrictions); It was only $90/night + taxes but by no means anything special (Towne Place Suites across the river in Jeffersonville). My only question was on the 3 nights... you have to check in by Friday afternoon so I suppose you could arrive on Friday and leave Monday morning. I found it more comfortable to arrive Thursday evening though - there is just so much to do and things take WAY longer than you think.
The other cost to possibly take into consideration is the increase in not only training nutrition (GUs or sports drink or whatever you use) but also normal groceries. Most people in IM training note an increased appetite and need for normal everyday nutrition (and laundry detergent). Enough to need to increase the grocery budget a bit :)
As for the family stuff I can't comment, but I hear of people who make it work, mostly by lots of early morning training.
Louisville is a great race - we lucked out on weather this year with highs in the mid-80s, but that was not the norm as you know.
Last thought is to consider a non-branded Iron event such as Redman - less cost in entry fee, less gas to get there, etc.
Let us know what you decide!
Lisa, thanks for the tips! Definitely an increase in food and detergent, but luckily my wife has taken to couponing so we have more food and detergent (plus deodorant, shampoo, shaving razors and hand soap) than we could ever use. She donates what we don't use each month.. but back to the point. I'm open to other 140.6 races, but there will always be the stigma when you tell someone you raced an Ironman and they go, "oh", when you tell them it wasn't an IM branded event. Not trying to be a snob, but want at least one IM brand event in the arsenal.
Those are tough thoughts to sort out. I can understand. I have similar issues regarding health concerns & training. Hope you find what works best for you & your family. Blessings to ya'll!
Yeah, every time a triathlete asked me where my half-ironman was I always preempted it with "it's not a WTC Ironman...". I think it's a bit disgusting that there is the stigma of it has to be WTC to count. Just because they trademarked it doesn't lessen it... well, I guess it does.. by a $300 - $400!
Why not just tattoo "140.6"!
I definitely would like to add an Ironman to my resume some day and I would also like to try the "Ironman" experience but I must say, I enjoyed the setup of Beach2Battleship so much that it is definitely on the list as a 140.6 event but it may be too long of a haul. The lower registration costs would easily be overtaken by travel costs.
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