Jack Steinberg’s latest book, You Are an Ironman, explores the extreme-distance triathlon and inspired this column. A query on the ’88 Facebook page quickly found some ’88 Ironmen/women (IM). Terry Phillis has done three events: Idaho ’06, Louisville ’07 and Panama City ’08. I asked Terry what led him to these races and he admitted that he isn’t sure, but “it just seemed like something I needed to do.” Terry modestly explained that to complete an IM, “You don’t have to be a great athlete; it just takes a great effort.” Fishing for further stories, he replied, “Despite three races, all I really have are a bunch of inside jokes, bathroom emergency stories and geeky tri humor. It’s a great way to spend a lot of money, lose weight, strain your relationship with your spouse and ruin a family vacation.” Terry summarized his Ironman experience this way: “Preparing for the event is exhausting. Competing in the race is humbling. Finishing the race is exhilarating.” Julia (Mairs) Weisbecker did the Madison Ironman last fall and plans to do it again in September. If you can follow her IM lingo: “I am also going to go for a Kona Slot at St. Croix and Buffalo Springs 70.3, the only North American halves that give out slots.” Julia wrote in March, while leaving the Minnesota rain for a triathlon training camp in Arizona. If you are considering an IM, Julia’s blog, GoBigGreen, will either motivate or terrify you. My two favorite lines are from her description of the swim: “I can’t explain it, but there was nowhere to go.…I was suddenly in a sea of green caps” and “I did take a few head pounds from a big green capped arm until I seriously yelled at the top of my lungs, ‘Dude, stop—you are hurting me!’ It stopped.” Apparently IM is not for the faint-hearted. Kathy (Corbett) Brooks sent this inspiring response: “I’m not an Ironman, but I have done about seven sprint triathlons in the past five years. I started in 2007, a year after I had finished chemo and radiation treatments for breast cancer. A friend asked me to do the swim leg for a relay team at the inaugural Cohasset Triathlon in my hometown. I did it and loved it and wanted to do the whole race as an individual, so I’ve done that for the past four years plus another race twice. Cohasset is the nation’s fastest selling-out sprint triathlon and raises money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I love it because the coastal route is beautiful and it’s familiar territory—during the bike portion I even go along my old fifth-grade paper route! My times are pretty consistent from year to year, so even though I don’t really improve, I’ll take finishing as an accomplishment at this age. My age group standings improved once I hit a new age category after 45!” Lastly, I wrote to Renee Noto, to ask if her long-standing ’88 triathlon team was still going. She answered, “Bridget (Jenkins) Mahoney, Barb (Turley) Marr and I did our last triathlon about four years ago and I think we came in first again. We did this Wolfboro, New Hampshire, sprint triathlon as a team for many years starting in 1990. Others who have competed with us are Scott Marr, John Jenkins and Sean Hogan. My husband, Brad, and I are training for a 1.7-mile swim across Narragansett Bay. I still cycle, but no more running. We stay very fit but I wish I could run. No more bad squash either—we are golfers now!”


Cheers.


—Jane (Grussing) Lonnquist, 4510 Drexel Ave., Edina, MN 55424; jjlonnquist@earthlink.net