Why We Have Not Been Doing Projects or Proof That My Husband Is INSANE!

Those of you who know my husband understand that he is crazy; those of you who do not know him are probably shaking your heads that I would title my post this way. I have a feeling that you will understand by the end.

You see, my husband is a triathlete. A triathlete is traditionally a person that competes in triathlons, races composed of swimming, biking and running. However, I think that Douglas intends it to mean that he will “tri” any kind of competition, the harder the better. This weekend I saw a t-shirt that read, “Insanity is what the undisciplined call dedication.” It is a thin line, in my opinion.

In total, he has done seven Ironman triathlons. A full Ironman competition starts with a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and finishes with a marathon, which is a 26.2 mile run. However, those are not enough of a challenge for him any more, so in April he did a 100K race. One hundred kilometers are sixty two miles. I refuse to run sixty two feet, so it is beyond me that anyone would choose to do something like that. Remember what I said about crazy?

Since he loves to enter ridiculously difficult competitions, I knew that our summer would be busy. I was still hopeful that we would get some projects around his race schedule and my trip to Costa Rica. Little did I know the insanity that he had prepared for this summer.

It started easily the day after graduation when he participated in the Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon on June 09. He finished second in his age group and fifth overall in that race.

Later that month, he participated in the Riverhead Rocks Triathlon, which is an Olympic-distance triathlon. He finished fifth in his age group and twenty-second overall that day.

The day after I got back from Costa Rica, we left for Ocean City, Maryland, where Douglas did a nine-mile swim. It was the inaugural event for Swim Ocean City, an organization that raises money for traumatic brain injury research. I was shocked when Douglas told me that he wanted to do this race because he hates to swim. However, I know that he respects Corey Davis, the founder of the race, a great deal. Here they are before the start.

This race proved to the Douglas’ greatest challenge to date. I was not sure that he was going to make it. Twenty six people started the nine-mile swim, and only nineteen finished. Douglas was the nineteenth, and he did not look good when he came out of the water. I was concerned that he was going to need to go to the ER. Turns out that he had similar thoughts. When he recovered he told me that finishing the race was one of the hardest things that he ever did.

“What was harder?”

Long Pause

“I don’t know.”

I was extremely proud of Douglas for completing that swim despite flirting with hypothermia. However, I was concerned about how it would affect the Ironman competition that he was scheduled to race the next weekend. Seriously, who does a nine-mile swim the weekend before Ironman? As it turns out, that was the only thing that I did not have to worry about. Three days after returning from Ocean City, we got back in the car to travel to Lake Placid, NY. Douglas was hoping to finally break the eleven-hour mark for the race, and he was feeling good that this was the year. His fastest time was an 11:20, and his slowest was a 12:29.

His struggles started on the swim. His goggles kept filling up, and everything was blurry. Exiting the water, he felt that he had not done well, but in reality he was only twenty four seconds slower than his personal record.

The bike started out well. Douglas was feeling strong and passing people quickly. Then, he got a flat tire. He fixed it and carried on. Ten miles from the finish he had another flat. After fixing that one, he was completely discouraged, but he battled on, only to have another flat with five miles to go. He had to climb the most difficult hills of a challenging course with a flat tire, since he had only brought materials to fix two flats.

Despite, the challenges on the swim and bike, he was still set to finish the race in under twelve hours. While it was not the sub-eleven that he had been shooting for, it would still be a respectable finish. His legs felt great, and he finished the first half of the marathon in record time. He was running well and passed me with a big smile on his face.

As I stood a couple miles from the finish line, I knew about when he should be coming in, but he did not come. I waited and waited and waited. I kept updating the online athlete tracker, but it was hopelessly behind. Finally, it updated and showed me that Douglas had slowed to a seventeen-minute mile shortly after passing me the first time. Normally, he runs between a nine and ten-minute mile at the end of the Ironman, so I knew that something was very wrong. Luckily, I only had to worry for about a half hour. Douglas finally showed up, looking pretty good. It turns out that his knee had been bothering him, but he was able to work through it.

In the end, he finished in 12:33.05. He was dejected about that time, but I had to remind him that a lot of people would be very happy with it. He came in ahead of over two thousand people despite all of his difficulties.

Now, he has two weeks to prepare for the Olympic-distance National Championship Triathlon in Milwaukee, WI. The good news is that he is looking great. You would never know that he just completed an Ironman if you saw how he trotted up the stairs the next morning.

I will try to get a couple of things done around the house before we go, but I hope you will understand why our renovation has been on hold this summer. Blame my husband!

So, what do you think? Is it insanity or dedication or a dedication to insanity?

Happy Homemaking!