Listen to what Bob Babbitt and Paul Huddle of competitor radio have to say about the event:

http://competitorradio.competitor.com/2010/05/eric-abbott/

“Hardest run course anywhere” – Chris McDonald in his pre-race interview: go to 9:54 to hear the snippet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1TTeVLdG0k&feature=player_embedded#!

Also from what I heard from the rumor mill the race had the 2nd highest DNF of any Ironman event.

Can It Be Done Barefoot?

I have always wondered if an Ironman event could be done barefoot. Ever since I set my sights on running a Marathon barefoot it has been in the back of my mind. I first heard about Ironman races back in the eighties when I was in high school. Big athletic bodies moving out of the water on national television to mount bicycles (Just like in Breaking Away ) and then to run a Marathon (Just like Bill Rogers and company). For a tall skinny kid, the Ironman, in my mind was the ultimate athletic warrior event. No anorexic marathoners did these kinds of events. You had to be strong, you had to be big. It was little wonder that I found my way into the Marine Corps right after high school. I was off on a great adventure to Washington DC to learn how to guard the president. Along the way I found a set of original manuscripts by a Navy Chaplain, Ray Willian Stubbe, who wrote the history of the Marines 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. I was so motivated by this manuscript, that I could think of nothing else but getting invited to join this unit, and so began my journey.

On the corner of Marine Barracks 8^th and I streets you could find me on most mornings in an intense callisthenic workout announcing to the world where I was going. I ran, and I swam like I was possessed. My body began to resemble those mighty runners that I watched on ABC wide world of sports running in Kona. My focus was not going to Hawaii but to take the entrance test for one of the most elite fighting units in the world. At the pre-qual event I was selected to move on to the selection test. “The best we have seen in the water to date” wrote one evaluator. I continued to train. Five others from Marine Barracks joined me on this quest.

80 kilometers
Pack full of sand
on a Solo March
Quantico Virginia in February
Snowing
3AM Swimming
2 Miles of Frigid Water
ICE breaking against my head
Leaking Holy Neoprene
Shivering
3 Hours of Sleep
Hungry
Go Go Go
Wait a Minute Bushes
Map is Gone
100 Pushups the Cost for
a New Map
Run, Run, March
Push, Push, Push
Stay in The Woods
Do Not be Seen
I Am First
6 Hour Gap between
The Next Marine and me
Fastest to Date

AARUGHA!

I was in!

Soon I was married and traded in my adventures to be a Family man.

In 2005 I suffered a severe kidney infection and renal failure that put me in the hospital for a week and in severe pain.

In 2006 I could barely run up a hill 500 yards without feeling like I was dying.

Run a Marathon? Not even in my frame of reference.

Run it barefoot? Not even plausible.

Fast forward to 2010 and here I am watching one of the greatest sporting events ever designed. Ironman! It was here in my town – St. George Utah.

I found a terrific spot, with my four of my children, to watch the bike and run sections of the event just above the corner of Bluff and Sunset. The twins where hooked up to their harnesses and were fascinated by the riders screaming down the long downhill section on their bikes. We got there just in time to see first, second and third place finishers for both the men and women pass by us and starting their first loops of the run course.

WOW!

I kept looking over at Steve Hooper with his family. He had the same glint in his eye. You could tell just by his look that he was signing up for 2011. So was I!

I was inspired, I was stoked, but there was a knot in my gut.

If I ran the St. George Ironman, I would have to run it barefoot!

“I want to do this race.” I repeated in my mind, alternating that affirmation with questions such as: “Can I do it barefoot? Can I drop the enough weight? What do the rules say? Will my feet be in strong enough for a Marathon after the run and swim? And so on.”

The feelings going through my body brought me back to when I decided to run the St George Marathon barefoot. I knew I could do it, but at the same time both fear and adrenaline where pumping through my body.

When I got back home I read through all of the official rules and nowhere did it say that shoes were a mandatory piece of equipment.

That night Michelle and I watched Ironman competitors continue to cross the finish line. It was inspiring. Some breaking down into tears as they reached the last 20 yards to cross the line knowing they achieved something extra-ordinary. Chills went up and down my body. Walking back to our car that night my wife Michelle asked me what I wanted to do, knowing that I was aching to compete in an Ironman. “RUN THE ST. GEORGE IRONMAN BAREFOOT!” I screamed!

It was out. I declared it to the Universe, and Michelle said that I had her full support to do this.

The following day – Sunday – I was just beginning the final hour of my church meetings when I could no longer take it anymore. I had to go and drive the run course. So I quietly left the meeting, jumped in the car, drove the 5 minutes to the start of the run course, and then drove the course. I stopped at the Elks Lodge and got out. Super rough pavement – just one short section though, and not any harder than the St. George Marathon – “Yea I can do this!” I said out loud. I met Michelle and the rest of my family coming out of Church. I was smiling from ear to ear. “Yea it’s doable” I said to Michelle.

2011 St George Ironman – I will be there, sans shoes, with a number scribbled on my arms and legs.

Michael Carroll

Some pictures of local heroes, and a link to a story
about the guy (Jeff Rodes) who crashed and finished.

Lindsey Merrill – Local age group favorite ends up with 2^nd place finish

Lindsey Merrill on the bike

Lindsey Merrill – 2^nd place age group

Steve Olson – Another speedy local –Should have been ahead of Lindsey – Hmmm.

Jeff Rhodes is the hero of the day!

So here we are watching the top pros go by, then the top age groupers, and then we see this guy all bandaged up running up 18 in his first loop of the marathon. He is getting huge applause and chills are running up and down my arms and neck. With speeds that we were seeing from cyclists coming down 18 you know this guy has crashed at high speed. Somehow he has climbed back on the bike and made it to T-2 and refuses to give up. Seriously this guy is an Ironman in the full sense of the word. I wonder what he said to the paramedics who patched him up. We could only guess whether he finished or not, my bet was that he did.

This morning I found the full write up for the rest of the story for this champion:

t

http://ironman.com/columns/ironmanlife/kevin-mackinnon-catches-up-with-three-men-who-truly-embody-the-spirit-of-ironman

Dang! I just think about this story and I get chills.

The twins – future triathletes – completely wiped out!

Last Note

From an organizational standpoint I was blown away by how clean the race was. “Leave no Trace” was certainly the word of the day.

I was a bit hesitant to jump in. In 1996 while on a business trip to North Carolina I arrived at my hotel to catch the edge of a great Atlantic storm surge. Without hesitation I jumped into cold dark choppy six foot rain drenched waves to swim. It was late at night and the hotel lights were the only lights shining on this dark night. I loved every second of my swim. I had no fear and a grinning smile never left my lips. “Yes!” I screamed as I left the water, pumped beyond belief, at having the opportunity to swim in the ocean in such favorable (distressed) conditions.

So here I was with my friend Rich an accomplished triathlete and swimmer all suited up in his go fast, high speed, buoyant fresh water wet suit. And me wondering how cold the water was in my acsis running shorts at the crack of dawn of this high desert mountain reservoir.  Was I ready for such a distance? I had swam this far in the pool, but not in open water, and I had not trained in the pool for almost three years. I knew my lung would not give out, but I was unsure of my arms. I jumped in and felt the briskness of early morning water and with in a couple of strokes I was cutting smoothly through the water. The only challenge I had was my goggles kept fogging up and I had to stop, tread water, and take them off to spot my course.

Like barefoot running very few people feel comfortable swimming long distances in open water. I reflected upon an experience I had while teaching at the Marine Corps Water Survival Instructor School. A young man in great physical shape washed out of the training. Before he did I remember speaking with him about completing a required water test that required you to swim across the bottom of a 15′ deep swim tank with your hands placed behind your back, your legs tied Indian style, and with a weight belt to keep you on the bottom of the pool. A giant breath took you to the bottom where you would then hop across the 25 meter width of the pool. At the other end you could then take your arms and swim to the surface and remove your weight belt.

All in the course had completed the test, but this young Marine could not. At the bottom of the pool fear would creep up into this mans head and cause him to panic where he would shoot to the surface and scream to be untied and pulled out. He told me he was still battling the memories of a boating accident were he saw three of his high school buddies drown and die as his boat burst into flames after collision. Naively I told him that by completing this course he would ensure that none of his buddies in the Marine units he would be assigned to would suffer the same fate as his close Friends.

Now that I am 41 years old I see how limited my thinking about fear was at the time. My simple words were not enough to overcome the deep pain and fear that was embedded in that young Marine.

Today on my run I pushed the limits of my body as I ran four laps around a section of undeveloped property, close to my home to complete a distance of a mile, I was pondering how fast I could run the mile barefoot. My fastest time for the mile was a sub 6 for three miles for 17:56 during my time as a 20 year old Marine. Someone reported a sub 5 minute mile the other day on the running barefoot discussion list. I told my wife about this and she said that I should try and do the same. I immediately felt the fear of the pain that that speed would create in my lungs and body. “No, I don’t think I am up for that kind of pain” I said to her. “Did I hear you correctly” She retorted back.

So I pushed hard — feeling the pain well up in my lungs and legs as I pushed my boundaries. I did not have a watch with me, but it felt sixish, maybe 5:59. 

I thought of all the times that I had taken on my fears in my life. Business failures, huge projects, inventions to pull off the impossible, divorce, running a marathon barefoot in the rain, and the like.  As I merge my new  family together, I am now the father to nine children (Mine, Hers and Ours), I have a completely new outlook on the challenges of fear. Every challenge that I face in the business world is reflected acutely in my role as Father.  A wave of fear courses through many businesses at this time; How are we going to survive?  Will we have jobs? Will we have customers? And many more questions such as this.  My answer, now more than ever is one of patience, love, and encouragement. It is the secret to success in such times as these.

I sure hope the young Marine that I spoke with some twenty years ago was the recipient of love and encouragement to overcome his fears by the people he interacted with after me.  For me,  I am committed to overcoming my fears – I see an 100 mile trail ultra, and running the Ironman in minimal shoes in my future!  Game is on.

Michael Carroll