Friday, May 7, 2010
365 Days
Today is May 7, 2010. The next Ironman St. George is May 7, 2011.
My Triabetes Teammate, and a Triabetes Team Captain for the next season, Tiffany Heindel, reminded me of that today. It's just 365 days until I become an Ironman. Sure, I set out to do this before, but I had doubts then. I've seen what it takes, and now I'm going to do it. It's taking me a little longer than it takes some, but I'm OK with that.
Barring any unavoidable catastrophes (Anything is possible.) it's only 365 more days.
Let's have a little fun with this. Here is a brief history of Ironman.
1963 Marvel comic book Iron Man.
1968 A U.K. children's book, The Iron Man. (Renamed The Iron Giant when published in the U.S.)
1970 Black Sabbath song Iron Man.
1978 First Ironman competition, February 18. Combined three existing long-distance competitions, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around-Oahu Bike Race, and the Honolulu Marathon. "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Navy Commander John Collins.
1979 Sports Illustrated 10 page Ironman story by Barry McDermott, who was on Oahu to cover a golf tournament.
1980 ABC Wide World of Sports first Ironman coverage. Collins is transferred to Washington, DC, and turns the event over to Valerie Silk, owner of a local health club.
1981 Race moved from Oahu to the Kona District on Hawaii, the Big Island.
1982 Bud Light sponsors. Julie Moss crawls in to finish second.
Cal Ripken, Jr. begins the longest streak of consecutive games played in MLB, eventually becoming known as "The Iron Man." (Lou Gehrig, who previously held the record, had been known as "The Iron Horse.")
1982 Race moves from February to October. Second Ironman in one year.
1983 17 hour time limit established. Kona becomes a championship race as LA has an Ironman competition. Sylviane Puntous of Canada becomes first international champion. Bill Carlson is the first insulin-dependent diabetic Ironman.
1985 Scott Tinley wins with the first use of aerobars in an Ironman, setting a Kona course record. Ironman races are held internationally.
1986 Patricia Puntous finishes first woman at Kona, but is later disqualified for having drafted while on the bike.
1989 Dave Scott and Mark Allen duel it out for 8 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds. Allen prevails.
1989 Pete Townsend produces rock opera, The Iron Man: A Musical, an adaptation of the children's book.
1990 Ironman Triathlon sold to Dr. Jim Gills, who starts World Triathlon Corporation. Kona race course is altered to avoid airport traffic.
1991 Gatorade sponsors. NBC Sports televises.
1996 Rapper Ghostface Killah, a type 1 diabetic, produces an album, Ironman.
1998 Cal Ripken, Jr. voluntarily removes his name from the lineup for the Orioles final game of the season, ending his streak after 17 full seasons, 2,632 games.
2008 12 type 1 diabetics forming the Triabetes team participate in Ironman Wisconsin.
2009 Another group of Triabetes Captains and more Triabetes team members participate in Ironman Arizona.
2011 10 Triabetes Captains and more team members continue the tradition at Ironman St. George.
My Triabetes Teammate, and a Triabetes Team Captain for the next season, Tiffany Heindel, reminded me of that today. It's just 365 days until I become an Ironman. Sure, I set out to do this before, but I had doubts then. I've seen what it takes, and now I'm going to do it. It's taking me a little longer than it takes some, but I'm OK with that.
Barring any unavoidable catastrophes (Anything is possible.) it's only 365 more days.
Let's have a little fun with this. Here is a brief history of Ironman.
1963 Marvel comic book Iron Man.
1968 A U.K. children's book, The Iron Man. (Renamed The Iron Giant when published in the U.S.)
1970 Black Sabbath song Iron Man.
1978 First Ironman competition, February 18. Combined three existing long-distance competitions, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around-Oahu Bike Race, and the Honolulu Marathon. "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Navy Commander John Collins.
1979 Sports Illustrated 10 page Ironman story by Barry McDermott, who was on Oahu to cover a golf tournament.
1980 ABC Wide World of Sports first Ironman coverage. Collins is transferred to Washington, DC, and turns the event over to Valerie Silk, owner of a local health club.
1981 Race moved from Oahu to the Kona District on Hawaii, the Big Island.
1982 Bud Light sponsors. Julie Moss crawls in to finish second.
Cal Ripken, Jr. begins the longest streak of consecutive games played in MLB, eventually becoming known as "The Iron Man." (Lou Gehrig, who previously held the record, had been known as "The Iron Horse.")
1982 Race moves from February to October. Second Ironman in one year.
1983 17 hour time limit established. Kona becomes a championship race as LA has an Ironman competition. Sylviane Puntous of Canada becomes first international champion. Bill Carlson is the first insulin-dependent diabetic Ironman.
1985 Scott Tinley wins with the first use of aerobars in an Ironman, setting a Kona course record. Ironman races are held internationally.
1986 Patricia Puntous finishes first woman at Kona, but is later disqualified for having drafted while on the bike.
1989 Dave Scott and Mark Allen duel it out for 8 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds. Allen prevails.
1989 Pete Townsend produces rock opera, The Iron Man: A Musical, an adaptation of the children's book.
1990 Ironman Triathlon sold to Dr. Jim Gills, who starts World Triathlon Corporation. Kona race course is altered to avoid airport traffic.
1991 Gatorade sponsors. NBC Sports televises.
1996 Rapper Ghostface Killah, a type 1 diabetic, produces an album, Ironman.
1998 Cal Ripken, Jr. voluntarily removes his name from the lineup for the Orioles final game of the season, ending his streak after 17 full seasons, 2,632 games.
2008 12 type 1 diabetics forming the Triabetes team participate in Ironman Wisconsin.
2009 Another group of Triabetes Captains and more Triabetes team members participate in Ironman Arizona.
2011 10 Triabetes Captains and more team members continue the tradition at Ironman St. George.
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1 comment:
Loved the historic time line! Best of luck to you Jerry as you train for this! You can do it - and you've got many fans cheering you along!
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