Ironman World Championsip 2011 Dream Believe Achieve

When I became a father I had no idea what to expect.  Now 32 years later I know.  I have 2 great adult kids and I still don’t know what to expect.  Well, in a way I do.  Based on what they have achieved I know they tend to over achieve and are winners.  My daughter has had a big year and while I would love to brag about her we will save that for another day.  This blog belongs to her brother. Scott

32 years ago my son Scott was born 7 weeks early and by the grace of God grew into a strong healthy kid and challenged us in every way a child can. He and his sister became water rats at the local YMCA (YMCA OF Austin,Mn) and they joined the age group swimming team.

He was a good student and a competitive athlete in high school (Austin,MN) driven by his sports, mostly swimming.  He did well and went on to swim in college (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and improved a great deal.  We as parents followed him all over the country, (for two of those college years we also followed his sister and her college swimming team) investing a lot of time and money in support of them.

There were times he won and times he did not, but he never quit and a defeat made him try harder to do better the next time. He was fiercely competitive.  

He met his wife Mary in college.  She was swimmer at UWSP as well and through her. he began to enjoy biking and running and then all too soon he was out of school, no more swimming, full time job and he married his college sweetheart and they settled into married life and their careers.

His desire to compete still burned and he started to run and then suddenly he did a couple marathons with some success.  His wife, Mary competed as well and it proved to be a great activity and common bond for them. Then 2003 he did his first triathlon.   He was hooked. 2 years later he completely flipped out in his father’s opinion (this author) and did his first Ironman, competing in Ironman, Wisconsin. 

An Ironman is 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles bike and 26.2 miles run, for a total of 140.6 miles of grueling mind over matter competition.  Just finishing is a victory for most.  Not for my son Scott.  After each race, he wanted to improve.

Jump a head a few years and he had some amazing races and high finishes, including Ironman Arizona 2007 where he finished 24^thout of 2,000 qualifying for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii that year.

The whole family was at Kona to cheer our guy on and he did not have a good day, suffering a disappointing finish over an hour slower than he was capable of but he did finish.  He discovered that the Kona course was tougher than he thought.  How tough?  Many did not finish not as high temperature of 130 degrees on the bike and run through and lava fields took its toll.  I also found out that most runners feet blister completely when they run a marathon. Oh MY!

As a parent spectating at an Ironman, you ask, are they nuts?  Truth watching is both boring and so exciting becasue my kid in this this race scares the hell out of me.  You see very little of your athlete due to the logistics of the course and there is a fear that only a parent or a spouse can have for their athlete doing this near impossible feat,  They could drop dead and die!   So naturally when they are behind schedule and you’re waiting for them to pass by or show-up on computer at a check point, dads tend to get concerned. They go nuts with worry!

After 2007, the next two years for Scott and his sport had its up and downs and he missed his goal for qualifying for a return trip to World Championship by 1 placement.  2009 came had been filled hopes but ended with an injury that required surgery and a long stint on crutches.  There was a possibility that his running days were over.  2010 started out with rehab and hard work and the reward was Scott finished 23rd at Ironman Wisconsin 2010 with his best ever Ironman time of 9 hours 36 Minutes 6 seconds, a personal record and qualifying for The Ironan  World Championship in 2011. (I should point out there are only 6 Ironman 140.6 mile races in North America every year.)

So that brings us too yesterday.  After training 25 to 30 hours a week for months, working a job and spending time with family, Scott was again in Hawaii looking for personal redemption competing with 2,000 of the top triathletes at the World Championship at Ironman Kona.  Back in 2007his finish time was a disappointing 10:51.30, 730 out of 1,836 finishers.

This time dad and mom were back home thousands of miles and 5 time zones away. We had all been together at his sister’s wedding,  just 7 days before in Arkansas. Sunday bright an early Scott in and his wife fly black to Milwaukee, pack his bike and turned around and flew across the Pacifi to Hawaii for the Ironman World Championship, that Monday Morning, and finalized his traing for the race on Saturday.
  
Saturday, 7AM Scott and 1910 of the World's best Ironman competitors swam acorss the bay at Kona and the race was on.   His swim split of 2.4 miles came up on the Ironman website, he was 2 minutes slower that 2007…HMMM.  Twitter said there was a good chop on the Bay at Kona.

  Then came the first bike split, he was flying though the Big Island's lava fields.  After 112 miles searing heat he averaged 22 plus MPH.  That performance put him well ahead of his 2007 pace.

Now into the home stretch, a punishing 24.4 mile marathon.  This is the point where parents and spouses worry. Kona’s marathon is hot through semi-arid conditions back into high humidity along the ocean. Temperature’s on the pavement was 135 degrees.  His first 2 splits came up at 5.0 and 10.2 miles. He was running7:17 and 7:29 per mile average.  That was good, in fact it was great, and he was way ahead of 2007,

Then came the final check point and we saw he had hit the wall. His pace had dropped to a disappointing 9.03 for that 7 mile split.  While it was obvious he was way ahead of his 2007 performance, hopes for a personal record seemed to be gone.  That pace and the fact that I feared he might be really dogging it ment in my mind he likely would get slower and that would put him well above his goal, time wise.  He would likely miss and fall 20 or more minutes short of his personal record.

 I as his father, some 5,000 miles away, was certain he didn’t have any gas left in the tank. I had been to Kona and had seen that last 9 miles and it was hard punishing run and would be hot. Twitter Tweets reported the surface temp a mile from the finish was 134 degrees.

To make things worse our computer stream was acting up and it looked like we would not be able to get the finish line feed.   Worse yet my fears were mounting that maybe he would not finish. Would he cramp up?  Humans, in my opinion, were not made to do something like Ironman races so concerns for Scott started to rise.    I computed a finish time of 9 hours 54 minutes.  While that would be a great improvement over the previous attempt, (If he could finish) it would a disappointment for Scott. I texted my fears and the projected finish time to my brother, 300 miles away in Milwaukee. He replied, “He’ll be fine”.   The clocked ticked, and we had no decent computer feed of the finish.  They had 20 minutes to get their crap together, I thought.   My cell rang, it was my brother.  “He just finished”.

How could he?  He should have been at least 20 minutes or more away from the finish line according to my calculations.  Well, so much for my math.

He had indeed finished and in the process set a personal record for any Ironman he had competed in with a time of 9 hours, 35 minutes and 15 seconds, besting his old record and finishing  214 out of 1,911, competing against the best Ironman Triathletes in the world. 

Somewhere he had amazingly reached down and really put it all out running that last 9 miles at a 7 minute 59 second clip.  We had many years ago adopted in our fmily of Dream, Believe, Achive.  It was on a swimming poster put out by USAS Swimming. Sott ahd made it happen and we were so happy for him. 

When he called me later he said, he really had to dig down, "Man the run was really hard, but I got it back, felt good and went for it."

 The result he had a personal best acheivement to be proud of in the toughest competition in the world.  He had dreamed of it, bleieved he would get it and he achieved it.

 As your dad I say this to you. Yes, there were others who were faster and finished higher, but Scott you are truly an elite World Class Ironman Triathlete.  Who’d a thunk a preemie baby would grow up to be what you are. Well, I  always had hopes but it never crossed my mind at the time you would and Ironman Elite Athlete. and I am not sure I thought it would be possible a few years ago but you made it happen.  You had a dream.  You excel at achieving and more in all you do, as does your sister. I and  your Mom are proud.  So what's next?

It's back on your head, coffee break is over as Ironman Arizona is 5 weeks away on Nov 20.  No rest for you, your already back in training today, blistered feet and all and the its back to work with your job.

Check out www.scottbowe.com and see what kind of training and mind set a serious triathlete has to follow.  It will amaze you.  There is also link at the top of my blog to his website.   

For Scott's comments on his race 2011 Ironman World Championship

From complete Ironman 2011 World Championship Information check out   http://kona.ironmanlive.com/#tracking

DREAM! BELIEVE ! ACHIEVE!  Cross The Finish Line 

Scott Bowe; you are an Ironman!