Road to Kona

I started this blog to journal about IRONMAN training and create awareness around pancreatic cancer. I learned a lot about myself through this journey and, along the way, I hope I’ve educated some of you on the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, what to do if you don’t know where to turn and on the great…

The world championships IRONMAN is the only race I’ve done in recent years where we did both an age group start and a water start. My age group (45-49) was the last wave of athletes to start the race…nearly an hour after the pro women started, so we saw the pro women coming into transition…

When I started this blog nearly 6 weeks ago it seemed like IRONMAN World Championship was so far away. Now that the race is just days away, I realize it didn’t seem real then. Yet, my stomach and mind are constant reminders that it is very real. Travel to Hawai’i (the Big Island) was uneventful…

According to Wikipedia, the statement “know thyself” has been around since the Ancient Greeks. From my quick research, the principle meaning of the statement was to “know your limits”, which seems to have spanned from knowing the extent of one’s abilities to knowing one’s place in society. Apparently though, the statement took on a slightly…

While I did well in science classes as a kid and teenager, I was never going to be the next Bill Nye. Looking back, I didn’t enjoy establishing a theory or hypothesis as to why something happened and how the outcome would change if I tweaked one little thing. Why couldn’t it just work the…

I’ve been an avid lover of roller coasters since my head crossed over the “you must be this tall to ride” marking. I loved everything about them…the waiting in line and associated anticipation, the getting locked in for a safe ride, the slow, clanking ride up the climb and the extraordinarily fast seconds that followed…

As of a couple of weeks ago, my race calendar included IRONMAN Canada in Penticton on August 27th and IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii on October 14th. Endurance athletes, and probably most athletes, label their races according to their importance, so it likely goes without saying Kona, as the World Championship is often referred to, was…

A couple of weeks ago, I was awarded a spot in this year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii, the same event I watched with Mike so many years ago. As such, I feel it only fitting to do the race in his honor and will be raising money for Sky Foundation (SHANNON’S IRONMAN – Campaign (classy.org)) as way to create more awareness around pancreatic cancer.