Becoming an Ironman: First Encounters with the Ultimate Endurance Event - Softcover

“I wasn’t scared. It wasn’t impending doom that kept me awake. It was more child-like excitement. The impatience of eager anticipation for Christmas morning.” --Kevin Jermyn

“I saw the marker for mile twenty-five. What a beautiful sign. Nothing could stop me. If every muscle in my legs cramped I could still drag myself on my elbows for 1.2 miles.” --Jane Fratesi

“All these people, with all these dreams, laying on the side of the road moaning. I could feel their pain too and there was nothing I could do about it. I saw someone vomiting and thought that could be me in a half hour, or five minutes.” --Rick Olson

“I began to cry the last five hundred meters. The end was so overwhelming -- the feelings that have been numbed by training and racing catch up to you.” --Katja Mayer

“My mother’s biggest fear when I told her we were doing the Ironman was that I’d go to the bathroom on myself on national television.” --Karen Smyers

“One of the things an athlete must do before attempting an ironman is to strengthen the body core. This won’t take a membership to a gym. You can’t get it in the weight room. I’m talking body core. You’ve got to get right with God because you’re going to pray out there.” --Elizabeth Johnson

“I was sure I was in Hell. All I needed was someone to drip water drops on my head and shine a bright light in my eyes. It was no fun.” --T. J. Murphy

“To tell the truth, it was not the exultant finish or peak experience I expected. It felt more akin to being beaten and left for dead, but somehow having survived, and not knowing if it was for better or for worse.” --Dakin Ferris

“At one point I could look -- as far as I could see -- not a soul, not a car, not a cyclist, not an aid station, not one damn sign of life and I turned around and looked back, and it was the same thing. I thought, “How barren and desolate is this experience?” --Scott Tinley

“When I finished it became very clear to me, right away, that I needed to go back. There was more to explore.” --Lyn Brooks