Sunday, June 22, 2008

BURY ME AT WOUNDED KNEE

Last week training before Morgantown went very well. Sorry things did not workout for me to race at Maumee. I missed seeing a new friend, Ann, from the Akron area, do very well in the Olympic, her first triathlon. She has a compelling story, which I hope to share with you in the months to come. Rob Reddy placed 6th. Congrats Kenny Bodnar, who is truly stud of all 50-54 studs came in 9th. Way to kick the kids butts, Kenny. I am not in the same solar system as Kenny. I see race director Shannon Kurek was 2nd in his final year before he hits 40 .


Tonight, I am beaming with pride. Remember Kaleb Kaschalk, the 19 year old, policeman in the making who was the youngest competitor at Ironman France???? Kaleb got it done!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! 15 hours 17 minutes. I am extremely proud of that young man. Awesome.!! he raised lots of money for cancer research in honor of his late grampa. An incredible young man. Way to go Kaleb.!!! I know the marathon had to be torture...it was about 6 hours alone.

I know many bloggers tackled Cda..and I was following Bigun and a few others. Congrats to all who went up against the challenge. I look forward to reading about all your adventures. Of course Bree Wee was amazing in Japan. 9 hours, 37 minutes!! Fantastic.

and now...... HE WOULD MAKE A HECK-UVA IRONMAN

You just have to know that if he were to sign up for one and to train for the Ironman that he would do very very well. We have already seen the signs. He is at heart a runner, and an athlete with speed, power and grace and..I forgot to mention..true grit. He has the strongest will of any athlete in his sport.. he simply will never allow himself to lose. He could be having a lousy week and by any one elses standards the thoughts would be "ohh well get em next week, but this guy keeps on grinding and grinding and finding a way to go one step better, to find a solution to the hell that he currently is in.

This man, would be a great Ironman, because he can withstand pain. In fact in his most recent competition, he had excruciating pain and continued. He bore the look of a man being beaten by palace guards. but while he acknowledged the pain, he never let it master him. He kept his focus and lived the words his father taught him. " never, never quit" ....and thats what he was doing.. But this candidate for the sport of triathlon sacrificed the health of a body part to try to win one of the biggest awards in his sport. For now he has been told to start from scratch after he has surgery. Its back to square one to try to regain his form. I never doubted for even one second that if Eldrick Woods wanted to, he could swim, bike and run and GET IT DONE.


He could crank up his workouts and one day don the wetsuit and tackle an Ironman.. He could oneday go to Kona and conquer the lava fields. I don't doubt it for a second.
In my second Ironman distance race, I had a left knee that was screaming at me in 6 languages.It was torture in some ways, but I was never going to allow the discomfort of a knee keep me from crossing that finish line, even if it was 15 hours and 30 minutes after I started. Tiger stood up to the intense pain while swinging a golf club and placing unbelievable torque on his left knee.He kept on trucking.
I don't know how good of a swimmer he is, but what do you think??? Could the worlds best golfer take on an Ironman and finish??? Would his knee hold up?? A penny for your thoughts.

18 comments:

Viv said...

Tiger could probably do anything he put his heart into. He already has the iron...get it. (dumb I know I could not help it)

rocketpants said...

I am sure he could do anything he focused on. What was it...two fractures to his tibia and a torn ACL...and he never let on that he was down for the count. It was a pretty amazing tournament. People have been talking about it all last week.

Kevin said...

His last win was amazing. Hopefully he has a quick recovery from knee surgery

Wes said...

I think anybody of reasonable athleticism can train for and finish an Ironman. Tiger certainly could...

jahowie said...

Hmmmmm.....has he ever learned to ride a bike? I wonder if he was ever allowed to take the time during his childhood to learn. I know a lot of great golfers who are terrible bike riders, and in turn I can't hit a golf ball to save my life. It would be interesting though.

jahowie said...

P.S. Congrats to the young man for finishing!! :-)

Kurt said...

Well Tiger is a great golfer but your a better Tri than he is. Of course if Lance ever gets serious about Tri's he would be awesome also. Time for you to go interview them both!

Brian said...

My wife told me his story about his injury from running. She loves to rub that in my face. My response was "that'll teach him him to run. Running isn't for amateurs."

He is a tough one. I would probably have quit long ago if I were in his shoes.

Lily on the Road said...

Congrats Kaleb...15 hours ++!! Way to GO!

Well, Tiger does have the grit to get it done. Does he have the dedication to go three very differnet venues at one time?

Don't know, but you can't knock him for what he does do best...

triguyjt said...

hey guys.....

Viv had a great line...

about the Iron !!! wink wink...

good stuff...

Rachel said...

At least it would be good publicity for the sport. Which would mean more races for all of us! I say, Bring It!

Rainmaker said...

That kid's incredible - he did awesome!

Jade Lady said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! Tiger is only human. Everyone has their sport and he found his...could he do an ironman? Perhaps...but, heck, I have no idea what drives him...nor do I know what it takes to be an ironman - these ironman folks are the most amazing athletes on this earth! Yes, you're amazing!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Congrats to Kaleb!

Now, about Tiger and Ironman...I'm not so sure. I would be interested to see how he could handle all the different mental aspects of an IM. Like letting someone pass you on the bike because you are pacing yourself. I admire Tiger for not giving up during The Open...but I'm not sold on the idea that he's a good IM candidate. Let me take that back...he could do an IM no doubt...but qualify for Kona...not sure. Definitely food for thought though!

Unknown said...

Have you asked him about it? ;)

triguyjt said...

Lana... good comments. your right. he is so "all out" he might bonk for going too hard too soon. we have all done that.

I could see him initially doing a 15 hour Ironman distance race...

Lisa- No I have not asked him about that. Only times, I have interviewed him has been at Firestone Country Club, and its always just about shots in his round..that kinda thing.. would be interesting to see the response.

Donald said...

I'm going the other way here ... I think he'd be just so-so. He could definitely train and finish an IM, but I don't think he'd automatically be a top AG guy or anything like that. It's so hard to presume that an athletic skill set will carry over to other sports. Remember MJ trying to hit a curveball? Occasionally it works for guys going from one endurance sport to another (like Lance), but I can't think of anything golf and IM have in common except the mental focus.

Anonymous said...

You are tough...I can't believe you finished that IM with such knee pain!

Man, I was so into watching the U.S. Open this year! Tiger's unbelievable shots the day before the final round were so exciting. It hurt to watch the cringe in his expression with his knee pain though. As I was watching the playoff round, I was texting Jeff at work with play-by-play updates.

Gotta love Rocco, too...he has such a great attitude :)