How old are you?
45
Where are you from?
I am from Welland, Ontario Canada, but have recently relocated to Placencia Belize.
Website
Chris teaches mixed martial arts.
My Life Long Journey in Sport has always been destined for Ironman
Ever since I was a boy sport has played the most significant role in my development, personality and purpose. I was a shy, small skinny Canadian boy who started school in 1980. Being a Gen-Xer my early athletic life was consumed with the 2 most popular sports in my city (and most Canadian cities at the time) baseball and of course Hockey.
My parents were awesome and sport to them was a way to keep me and my 2 older brothers active. They were never the parents who were wanting to drive me to 6am practices or “across hell’s half acre” (my Dad’s words) to get me to games so the select leagues were out of the question. My Mom was a Registered Nurse working shift work and my Dad was a Marine Engineer on the laker ships so he wasn’t home often from April to January. My early life in sport meant house league play, and that was fine. Even though we only had a couple games a week my friends and I would always be playing whatever form of hockey we could make up during our play time. Canadian kids from that era could make hockey out of anything.
For me I needed sport. I was shy and sports made it possible for a young man like me who never knew how to start a conversation to socialize. Sport gave me an identity and a purpose. When I got to high school I left all my elementary school friends as my family moved to a different city. I started high school knowing only a couple kids from my new neighbourhood. Again, I would need sport to help me socialize.
Here was my problem: I was a late bloomer. If anyone reading this has ever played hockey you know how vicious the changeroom can be with bullying. As a late bloomer it put me in an awkward situation where I could no longer skate with most of the other kids as I was still a boy and they were developing into men. The Coaches weren’t any help in keeping the changeroom bully free. I wanted to quit. My Dad and I had a sit down talk and we decided that I should play out the season and hang up my skates for good rather than quit before the end of the season. I am eternally grateful to my father for teaching me to see things through, which definitely plays a role in my endurance sport mentality.
Once hockey was out of the picture my focus turned to baseball and a new and somewhat obscure sport to me at the time, rowing. This was the beginning of my obsession with endurance sport. I was still undersized when I joined rowing in the 10th grade. My high school was a lower income working class school not known for rowing and my Coach wasn’t much of a Coach, but he showed up to practice to give us an introduction to the sport.
My Discovery of Endurance and Obsession with Rowing
During this time I continued with baseball, a sport which I was very good at, but my love for rowing was growing. For some reason, somewhat unexplainable, I became obsessed. It was mostly unexplainable as I loved the concept 2 ergometer (despite not being that good on it but I enjoyed the pain it put me through) and my crew came DFL (dead effing last) for 2 years straight. I’ll admit that as a teenaged boy the beautiful girls on the girls crew kept my interest as well which made going to practice more fun.
By the end of high school my crew became ok and my desire to succeed at this sport became my focus. This wasn’t just important that I wanted to succeed. It gave me an identity and a social group. I quit baseball and committed completely to rowing. I began rowing with my local rowing club so my exposure to the sport grew to a larger world. I was unpopular with my new crew mates as I came from the ‘dirty’ school and I didn’t care, I wanted to succeed. Their opinion didn’t matter as the girls liked me so that’s all that mattered. This is when I met the most significant man I’ve met in my life other than my father, Coach John Ruscitti.
Ruscitti came to my local club with a champion pedigree as a Coach and I now had an opportunity to finally learn how to train properly and win. His influence not only provided me with opportunity in the sport but also shook my mentality into a champion mindset. My sport life and social life launched with his entry into my life.
I learned how to Coach and became a great success in rowing. Within 3 years of meeting Coach Ruscitti I became a 3 time Canadian Henley Champion as well as a Varsity Rower at Brock University in St. Catharines Ontario. Brock University is one of the premier rowing schools in Canada. This 3 year journey shaped my mentality, gave me purpose academically as well as a social purpose.
After a few years of great success in rowing I lost my desire for the burn. We all know how that can wear us down over time. I reached my pinnacle in the sport (after 9 years of hard racing) and had no where else to go with it. Making the national team was out of the question as I just wasn’t strong enough to make the team despite giving it my all. No regrets here as I know in my heart I did the best I could and I was undersized even for lightweight. I was elite but not in that magical tier of rowing athletes who can pull near 6 minutes on the concept 2 as lightweights. That machine haunted me and I could never best 6 minutes 46 seconds. I no longer loved the concept 2 ergs … in fact they a cruel torture devices.
Changing Tide with Maturity
I had met the love of my life at this point in my last year of university and I wanted to live a “normal” life for a while. I still Coached rowing and became very successful as a Coach working with Coach Ruscitti. It was over this time that I really learned the importance of mindset and sport psychology of endurance sport. Then came a major shift in sport as in one incident I realized I needed to develop a new skill. This was the beginning of my journey into Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts.
The incidence was a road rage situation where another driver decided to attack me in a parking lot. I took a punch to the face, got out of my vehicle where I noticed the attacker was smaller than me, and I knew him as well. Let’s get things straight here, I’m far from a big guy. 5’10” tall and 145 pounds at the time. The attacker was small. The problem was, was that I didn’t know how to react. I wasn’t hurt at all as the attacker left me alone (mostly as I got out of my vehicle. What concerned me was that I didn’t react). A week later I was threatened by him and some of his friends and this left an emotional scar on me. Again I wasn’t hurt physically but mentally I felt like a coward.
My Journey into Mixed Martial Arts
I then joined my local Jiu-Jitsu school after a couple of years with that incident in my head. I needed something new to obsess about, find a new social group and something I could do with my future wife as she wasn’t a rower. Jiu-Jitsu changed me. I was hopelessly trying to break into the professional world and kept coming in second for jobs. After two years training in Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts I finally discovered a way to monetize my Coaching ability I learned from rowing. My original instructors were dedicated to Martial Arts, but lacked the Coaching structure I was trained in and exposed to through Rowing Canada. I was legitimately being Coached previously by some of the best in the world in a sport that Canada is dominant at. I made a business plan and when I would achieve my Japanese Jiu-Jitsu Blackbelt I would open my own school.
This is where Covid comes into play. We opened our school in 2008 and my school became incredibly successful in competition from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, to Kickboxing and of course MMA. I earned my Blackbelt in BJJ and enjoyed many competitions while winning some along the way.
During my training for the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation Masters World Championships in 2017 I stumbled on a training article. The article was from a Doctor of Kinesiology who spoke of his journey from endurance sport to BJJ and then back to endurance sport. The methodology of BJJ training for competition is interval training as BJJ is an anaerobic threshold and muscle endurance sport. Through the years I adapted my training from the endurance (muscular and cardio as rowing requires extreme muscle endurance) training to high intensity interval training.
The article explained how he did the same but found himself getting extremely fatigued in matches despite his ‘proper’ training for BJJ competition. What he discovered was that his body was tuned for endurance sport from his formative years, so he started putting more long-distance zone 2 training back into his regime. The result was better performance.
This article intrigued me, so I did the same. The results were two-fold. One, it worked as I found my fatigue levels became much lower in competition. My style is not an easy one to compete with as I am up tempo and a high energy competitor. What I found was I was able to bounce back much quicker after an explosive attack or escape. And two, I fell back in love with endurance sport.
For a while I had a bucket list goal to climb Everest; however, after watching endless videos and seeing the commercialization of the mountain I decided it would be a bad idea to spend 80 thousand dollars on an activity where I might die due to being stuck in traffic on the mountain.
August 3rd 2019
“The night that inspired me to become an Ironman.”
I was planning on what I called a long ride at the time as I was planning on riding from my house in Welland Ontario Canada to my favourite restaurant/bar on Lake Ontario, Emma’s Back Porch (which sadly fell victim to Covid-19), in Burlington Ontario. The ride would be 85 kilometres. Now to that point it wasn’t my longest ride as on June 22, 2019 I rode 140km for my birthday, which was pure suffering as I was totally unprepared for it.
The night before the 85km ride I came across “Iron Cowboy” on Netflix. I was amazed at his 50-50-50 and this got me thinking “I think I should do an Ironman as my Everest.” Up to this point, and to this day, I have considered the Ironman as the ultimate in human athletic achievement that can be done in a single day. Ever since seeing the famous clip of Julie Moss crawling to the finish line in 1982 on ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports,’ I had an unsolicited admiration and subconscious obsession with the difficulty of triathlon and the mental strength of its athletes. The fact James Lawrence did 50 in 50 days is crazy.
The Swimming Issue
Here was my issue: I couldn’t swim more than 10m at the time with my face in the water, due to trauma I suffered from being dunked as a child. When I was 7 years old I still couldn’t swim. We went to a community pool where the local bad kid was. He was 5 years older than me. My Mother told me and my brother’s to be nice to this boy as “he was a bully because no one gives him a chance.”
I was being playful and we were being kids and splashing. He, at 12 years old, grabbed me and dunked me. At first I was fine as I was a wirey kid and could slip out most of the time when wrestling with my brothers. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn’t. He held me underwater against my will and it was the first time in my life where I felt completely helpless.
Fortunately for me the lifeguard saved me. I was terrified and the first thing I saw when I was set free was my two brothers on the pool deck dumb-founded. This incident kept me from ever feeling comfortable with my face in the water. To this day, I truly believe that bully would have killed me had the lifeguard not rescued me. He wasn’t very bright and lacked the wherewithal to understand what he was doing.
After I competed at the IBJJF Masters World’s that year I decided “I’m doing this Ironman thing.”
September 2019
I decided it was time to overcome my childhood trauma and at the end of September of 2019 I decided to start swimming. What an incredibly difficult feat. I always admired people who could swim 100m let alone 3800m. I figured it would take me 2 years to be ready to meet that task.
It took me and my friend Eric an entire hour to do 20 lengths at my local YMCA. Every length felt like I was going to drown. Knowing the lane buoys were there wasn’t enough to clear my head of the fear of drowning and the memories of being dunked. I was exhausted after that swim.
As the weeks went by my stubborn nature took over and I figured out the breathing in freestyle swimming. To my surprise swimming became meditation time for me as the sensory deprivation really empties your head. Yeah I was slow but I was doing it and I was LOVING it!
March 2020 The Plague …
I had just signed up with Team Peakers which is a training app to help on my Iron journey. I had a good program to follow as I know a good program when I see one as I am also an endurance sport Coach from my rowing years. However, on March 10, 2020 my local YMCA closed due to fears of the Coronavirus out of China. On March 12 it got worse as we had to cancel our annual Jiu-Jitsu Tournament, NextGen Niagara. Then on March 17, 2020 we had to close our large Mixed Martial Arts School and our 24 hour gym.
I knew the shutdown would be more than the 2 weeks the politicians were saying but not what it became. My frustration loomed as my business had incredible momentum from 13 years and we finally were running properly. I messaged my Coach, Coach Gaby, and said “load me up as I have nothing to do and need to keep my head straight.” Oh did I mention my wife was 7 months pregnant at the time too. Tough times were on the horizon.
We pivoted our gym to online immediately and that helped us massively as we were able to keep many of our students engaged. However, the focus on my training is what kept my head straight through these times and my amazing supportive wife Blayne had my back and was really enjoying what I was doing.
Lots of firsts happened from March 2020 to late June 2020. I ran my first half-marathon (which became a weekly occurrence), did my first 100 mile ride, did my first set of brick workout as well as the ultimate brick the 120km ride followed by a half marathon, my first 70.3 and had my first child.
The training from March to June truly kept my mind off what Covid was doing to my business. It also gave me a feeling off optimal health. Prior to this stretch, my longest run was 13 km. Heck nowadays that is a nice easy cruise. The hardest part of this stretch was embracing Zone 2. Talk about a shot to the ego, especially in running. Running above 7 minutes per kilometre was tough. Not only did it feel like I was moving at a snail’s pace, it was hard on my body and I hated knowing that my friends would see my slow pace on Strava.
My wife was awesome during this time despite being pregnant. She would come to my basement to chat and distract me while I was doing 5 hour Zwift rides. Oh yeah I also conquered the Uber Pretzel during this time too for you Zwift lovers.
Solo 70.3 June 22, 2020
As mentioned earlier, while training for the BJJ Masters world championships the previous year, I did my first 140 km ride for my birthday and it was brutal. I actually did that ride purposefully to suffer so I could fortify my mind for the Jiu-Jitsu championship. This was the beginning of my now annual birthday sufferfest.
So I spoke with Coach Gaby in April 2020 telling her I would like to do a full 140.6 for my birthday. Given that I had never done this she recommended I do a 70.3 first … And thank God she did. I agreed and my preparation was for the 70.3 on my birthday to prepare me for the Wisconsin 140.6 in September 2020. This 70.3 would prove to be a HUGE learning experience.
I woke up the morning of my birthday excited and had arranged for a couple of friends to help me throughout the day. I didn’t think it would be terribly tough as I had done 3 of those 120km to half marathon bricks leading up to my birthday. And swimming wasn’t tough for me as I was pretty slow and wasn’t able to get my heart rate very high back then. I was just getting through the swim.
So at 6:30 am I jumped in the water and did my 1900m in 52 minutes. That was a good time for me at that time. I got on the bike and the wind was tough. Cycling is my best of the 3 disciplines. I had a friend join me on the bike to have someone out there with me. Yes I did draft a bit on the first lap. Not long into it I had to pull away. The wind got tougher and the heat came up.
Got through the bike with a slow time for me at 3hours 14 minutes. I wasn’t mad as the wind was a pain. Started the run and 3 km into it I thought “this is going to be easy.” Well 5 km later I knew I was in trouble. My heart rate was sky rocketing. The temperature at the Welland International Flatwater Centre’s start towers said 41 degrees C. Not only was the heat getting to me but so was my terrible nutrition plan. The caffeine filled gels were making me sick and the 2 apples were, in the words of Ron Burgundy, “a bad idea.”
So 8km in I realized I still had 14km to go and I was hurting. People on my social media knew I was doing this on this day and as a Coach and Martial Arts and Fitness club owner I have expectations to fill. At the halfway point into the run I was making up excuses to stop. “It’s crazy hot people will understand,” “you’ve already covered a lot of distance,” “dude you couldn’t really swim 9 months ago.” Then I had a crucial thought: “Nobody follows a fucking quitter.” Despite the difficulty I finished. Despite running out of water with 4km to go, I finished.
What I learned
I got home after a 7 hour 70.3 which is far from impressive as the swim was 52 minutes, the ride was 3 hours 14 minutes and the run took a long 2 hours 51 minutes. Two huge issues arose: One, my nutrition needs to be better, and two, I have to learn how to transition to the run better by having a better plan on the bike. The third issue would be that I need to get better at swimming but I had already known that.
Moving forward to Ironman Wisconsin
So now I decided to embrace the whole program offered me by Peakers by messaging my Nutritionist Taylor. She gave me a proper nutritional plan for when I planned to do a full 140.6 in three months time. Coach Gaby was completely right to have me do a half first.
So for the rest of the summer I hit it hard and had some more firsts. I did my first 180.2 km ride, and got my first in person swim lessons from Coach Kyle Jones from Edge Triathlon in Niagara Canada. I swam, biked and ran like crazy! And Covid restrictions lifted so I was able to reopen my gym. Unfortunately, we took a huge hit from Covid and were forced to close our 24 hour gym and only keep our Martial Arts and Bootcamp open.
I had a great summer of training. Had two hiccups from running. First my Achilles Tendonitis flared up and I suffered a minor pull in my Psoas. I didn’t get to run a whole lot leading up but I had the miles in and my cardio was off the hook.
Wisconsin was cancelled and I hadn’t officially registered as I was suspicious that it would get cancelled and didn’t want to be stuck in a refund battle that I heard many others had to deal with Ironman. However, my intention was to do it whether the event was cancelled or not.
Peakers tapered me and as I got to the week of the “race” I saw that the weather was going to be terrible. The race was scheduled for Sunday September 21, 2020. Saturday the 20th was lovely and I contemplated doing it that day. Then told myself “no, the race director won’t say ‘hey the weather won’t be ideal on race day so we will do it a day earlier.’” Instead I planned to do a swim with Edge Triathalon the day before on the Welland International Flatwater Centre waterway but chose to do my scheduled taper workout from Coach Gaby. I also noticed a rip in my wet suit that day too. This made it impossible to swim the day before as my wet suit repair had to dry. My father came over the day before as he would be my key support person along with my wife.
I went over the course and where the hydration stations would be as I wanted this to be as authentic as possible. I also spoke to them about the types of things I like to hear when I am physically stressed. Essentially, positive vibes only. I went to bed knowing I was about to get myself into something super difficult and that I’ve never done before.
4am, September 21, 2020: Race Day
No Alarm clock needed! 3:30am I got out of bed with some doubt in my mind. I could hear the wind and rain outside and knew the weather was exactly as predicted. Essentially a thunderstorm without the thunder and lightning, although there was a 60 per cent chance of a thunderstorm.
I took the early wake-up to reflect on what I was about to tackle. Understanding your ‘why’ is absolutely essential. Like most people in his mid 40’s I have a lot of internal demons. Self-doubt created through incorrect actions or inactions weigh on the mind of ultra-competitive high performing people. From times where I felt like I gave into fatigue to business decisions where I felt I under performed or avoided what needed to happen. I got myself into this to end any self-doubt of my resolve. This day was a day that was me versus me and my spiritual growth.
As I ate my breakfast and looked outside in the dark at the terrible weather, I felt that normal inner conflict. Part of me wanted to use the weather as an excuse not to do it. I was surgical in my training at going through the paces. So I went through the paces — made sure all my hydration, supplements, nutrition etc.. was all prepared as was my transition bags.
I was to meet my father at the Welland International Flatwater centre at 6am as he was there to get me started. I rolled up at 5:50am had my final preparation video and music playing. The wet suit was already on. All I had to do was put my arms in and zip it up.
I got down to the dock with my suit zipped up. Stared at the water as it was tough to see since it was still dark outside. The wind was whipping but no signs of lightning. The swells were big for the flatwater centre but they weren’t enough for a race director to ‘call it.’ I put myself in the RD’s shoes and knew that it was go time. I stood quiet at the end of the dock getting myself ready with internalized self-talk. Had a moment with God as I scanned the water, pressed start on my Garmin and jumped in.
It’s really strange what goes through the head of an athlete before attacking the task in which months had been invested. On this day something strange had overcome me. Despite my nerves and the feelings of dread for the scope of the task ahead, my mind was the strongest it has ever been. As soon as I took my first stroke I simply thought; “Well, here we go.”
The swim was long as I was not the fastest and I was dealing with white caps. The wind was a straight south wind and the course is a direct north-south course. My plan was to swim to the 500m mark three times and to the 200m mark twice which equals 3.8km. As I approached the second half of the swim the rain started coming down hard. This was a good thing as I calmed the waves. Then I thought, “oh crap my running shoes are in my backpack in the bleachers.” So I started problem solving whilst swimming, “no problem have Dad take the shoes to my house and throw the in the dryer. I have a 6 hour ride for them to dry.”
As I climbed out of the water I was a little disoriented as it took me 1 hour and 42 minutes to complete the swim. My Garmin let me down saying the swim was only 3200m but fortunately I used the measured course and know it’s legit. The conditions did slow me down but I doubt I would’ve beaten 1 hour 30 minutes in nice conditions.
When I got to my SUV my Dad was waiting in his car as it was pouring. I was happy to see my Dad rescued my backpack and shoes. I quickly transitioned into my cycling gear. My father asked “are you going to ride in this?” The wind was whipping at 30km/hour with gusts into the mid 40’s. I said “yep the race would be on. There is no lightning.” I hopped on my sweet ride (Cervelo P3) for my favorite of the 3 disciplines.
By this point the rain was crashing down and the wind was a SSW/S wind making 2/3 of my track against the wind. I had to travel my 45km course 4 times. The longest stretch was straight into the wind only 5km into the lap and was for 7km. My mind was in a different dimension. I had no negative thoughts. Knowing how tough the wind would be I prepared mentally to focus strictly on cadence and heart rate. I made sure I kept my heart rate below 140 BPM and my cadence between 85-95 rpm. Into the wind I tried to keep it up around 95 to stop me from grinding.
“Cadence is good, heart rate is good. You’ll make up speed on the second half,” I kept saying to myself. My father was waiting for me at the 22km mark and the start/finish of each lap for Gatorade or water. I had a great nutrition strategy from my Coach and followed it perfectly. I remember seeing my wife, Blayne, with my father as I grabbed a fresh Gatorade going into my second lap. She looked concerned because of the storm and how it may be affecting me. I just told her “the weather is nuts. I Fucking LOVE it.”
It’s strange how we pain junkies operate. Most people would use the weather as an excuse to not do the task. Pain junkie’s are wired differently. To me the crazy weather added to the challenge and distracted me from the monumental task at hand. It put me more in the moment. My final 3 laps were a blur. I kept my pace steady while maintaining focus on heart rate and cadence knowing how tough the run was in my 70.3 only 3 months earlier. The ride sets up the run.
On my 70.3 I used my Amazon purchased road bike. The bike was heavy but I upgraded the wheels from the fake speed weaponry wheels to Alexx wheels and had aerobars and clipless shoes. But for my 140.6 I had my sweet Cervelo P3 but did not put my real Zipp racing wheels on due to the wind (808 on the front and a 1080 on the rear).
I got through the ride feeling great. 6 Hours for the ride despite the weather and I had a strong gas tank still for the run. Only made 1 mistake on the ride. I wore my compression socks that I normally wear for the run but the were soaked and I didn’t want to risk blisters. Going into my final lap on the bike I asked my Dad to get Blayne to grab me a fresh pair of socks. The weather began to clear through the final lap and as I sped to the transition I Coached myself to take it easy in the transition and to make sure I took in enough calories to get ready for the run. To this point the farthest I had ever run was 26km. Sadly that 26km run ended with me pulling my Psoas.
The Run
While I was riding I messaged my friend Eric who was to accompany me on the run. Earlier that day he planned his own marathon. He wasn’t surprised I went after it despite the weather. He let me know he would be there but about an hour into my run as he was finishing. Eric’s response “you crazy m___f__r” fired me right up as I bared down on the last kilometres of the ride.
When I got to the transition I ate a banana, changed my socks and jersey and set off. I had a plan to maintain a specific heart rate on the run but as the weather cleared it warmed up and I began to ignore my Garmin and use my hurt metre. My Dad was at every 5km marker with water. Everything was great.
It’s amazing where our mind goes when we are in the right place. The craziest things seem perfectly reasonable. 12 Kilometres into the run Eric showed up with his car and asked how I was doing. His wife Kaylee was driving as he was recovering from his solo marathon. They asked how far in I was and I said “12 kilometres, only 30 to go.” His response was epic: “oh man that’s nothing. You got this!”
It was funny because in the moment it made perfect sense. “Yeah I mean what’s 30 kilometres,” I thought, despite me never running more than 26 km before and that didn’t include doing a 3.8km swim and a 180km ride before it. I was on a high and cruising. The legs felt great and I just kept getting closer to the finish 1 step at a time. Then adversity struck.
During the long stretch down the Niagara Canal path to Port Colborne the sun became an issue and I started cramping. This was between the 15 and 20 kilometre mark. When I arrived at the 20 kilometre mark I said to my Dad “I’m breaking down. I’m getting a stomach ache and my hamstrings are starting to Charlie horse,” he asked, “how’s your heart?” I said, “perfect, I’m just hurting.” There was no quit in me. At this station I diluted some Coca Cola in my water, took my schedule salt pills and proceeded.
This was the first spot where I walked. There was a steep hill and I walked it to give my hamstrings a break. Between 20km and 25km was my hardest 5 km in the entire journey. I walked about 500-750m total. Not because I was tired but because both hamstrings were Charlie-horsing. When I got to the 25km hydration station I hammered a small can of Coca Cola, took some Tylenol and hit the road again. This is when it all changed.
I started speeding up, I felt great and the Charlie-horses were gone. I strategically ran through my old neighbourhood when I was a child and by my first school. This experience is about a lot more than pushing the body. I was on a personal and spiritual quest. My main ‘why’ was to shed any doubt of my mental and physical ability. To kill all those demons that build in your psychie as you age. It was a quest to forgive myself and to grow into who I can be. When I reached the 30km marker I drank another small Coke and I began to split un 5:45/kilometre. I felt weightless and could feel the energy of my support crew. Their energy was “nothing is stopping him. He’s going to finish strong.”
Eric drove beside me for most the last 20km and honestly his energy is infectious. We have a deep understanding of one-another as I Coached him for years in MMA and he made me a better Coach as he was an excellent but challenging person to Coach. We’ve been to war together on many occasions and there is a special trust that develops between warriors. As I was closing in on the finish Eric asked “wait, what is your estimated finish time?”
I said, “about 4 hours 35 minutes I think.”
Eric replied, “shit I think that’s faster than my time.”
I said “really? Man it all this zone 2 training I’ve been doing. I can’t believe my engine.” Yes my engine was strong but the energy my support crew was giving me was felt. I felt so strong, supported and positive.
I ripped through the last 6km feeling terrific, and again my support crew was on it. I skipped the final hydration station but felt my right hamstring start to Charlie with 2.5km to go. I pulled up for a split second and 2 seconds later my Dad passed a Gatorade through the window on my SUV. As I approached the finish I asked Blayne to have my tune blasting. “More Human than Human,” by White Zombie as I really connected with this song given that I believe it takes a special person to finish an Ironman: regular human need not apply.
12 Hours and 25 minutes after I started I finished right in front of my house where I let out a huge scream of triumph, launched my trusty Toronto Blue Jays hat into the air as my Dad made the “You are an Ironman” call (a call that I am excited to hear at Ironman Cozumel 2021 where I finally get to do a sanctioned Ironman).
I enjoyed a couple Stellas with Eric while I stood on my driveway in victory. The victory wasn’t a medal. It was an accumulation of forgiving myself for doubts I’ve had of myself. For making peace with myself and God. For being thankful for proving to myself my true resolve and determination. I became More Human than Human over those 12+ hours and I did it properly. I faced the rain, wind, stormy weather and the sun. I overcame mental trauma from my fear of having my face in the water. It was special that my family and a very good friend went out of their way to help me. I could not have accomplished this without them.
My Final Thoughts
Despite COVID-19 eventually destroying my business and changing our way of life I was able to find something to cleanse my soul and give me purpose. This accomplishment of completing a full Iron distance Triathlon will be with me forever and it taught me that there is nothing I can’t accomplish — even in the most difficult times and conditions.
Moving forward my wife and I chose to leave Canada after we closed our business and move to Belize where we are hoping to gain permanent residency. We are loving the time we get to spend with our beautiful baby boy George and are on a new and exciting adventure. I am currently training for Ironman Cozumel November 2021 which is perfect for climatizing to the heat and am opening a new Martial Arts school here in Belize.
WTG Chris!!!
Awesome article!