Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Ironman revisited

They did it!

Diane and Pat McCary, ages 76 and 78, completed the three Ironman distances in Kona, Hawaii to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their performance in 1998. That year, along with their daughter Kristen and son Mike, they became part of the first family of four to ever complete the Ironman together. This year they took their 16-year-old granddaughter, Autumn, along to enjoy the fun and allowed themselves a week to complete the Ironman distances--a 2.4 mile swim, 100-mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run.

They needed to make a few adjustments to get the job done. “The traffic was so bad that I only did about 30 miles of biking on the roads,” Diane explained. The rest she accomplished on a stationery bike. “So boring,” she said. “But I did it.”

The ocean was so rough that they were forced to do some of their swim in a nearby pool. They divided the run up into several segments and allowed themselves a “walk-run” option when that was necessary.

It was the consistency of lifetime training that made this possible," Pat said. 

They spent their time in Hawaii staying with old friends. They heard stories of four miserable months of thick fog caused by the erupting volcano. At last, the air is clear, but record high temperatures were a bit of a shock to the Colorado mountain residents.

“We feel completed,” Diane said. “Afterwards we celebrated with friends. And we’re happy to be home.”

A four-inch snowfall in Allenspark greeted them on their return. Bob Laird, former medical director of Ironman took the photo.




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