Happy New Year from Babbittville

The year was 1980. I was in Oahu for the third-ever Ironman Triathlon.

I had a $75 police auction bike that had been burned in a fire and came with a fuzzy raccoon seat cover and foam grips on the handlebars. I added a Radio Shack radio that I bungee corded to the handlebars. Since I couldn’t change a flat, I rode the Ironman bike course on solid rubber tires, and because I had no idea you finished the race in one day, I had a sleeping bag and tent with me in my panniers. The plan was to do the 2.4 mile swim and ride 56 miles on day one, camp out, then ride 56 miles back to Honolulu and run the marathon.

My crew gave me a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke at mile 25 of the bike and a root beer snow cone at mile 80. When I finished the bike ride at Aloha Tower, they had a boom box and a bamboo mat set up and gave me a 45 minute massage between the bike and the run.

I was in heaven.

In both 1978 and 1979, 15 people had attempted the first two Ironman races starting at Sans Souci Beach and 12 finished both years. In 1980, because of a Sports Illustrated article on the 1979 race, there were 108 of us attempting what is now known as the toughest one day event in endurance sports.

I thought this image was perfect for a New Year’s card because it was taken right after I finished that swim in 1980 and I had absolutely no idea what the day would bring and how the Ironman would end up impacting my life. By finishing the Ironman that day I learned to never put limits on myself and from then on to simply pursue my dreams and follow my gut.

My gut told me that the sport of triathlon - and Ironman - was something special. I left my job as a PE teacher and became the Los Angeles editor of a Southern California publication called Running and Triathlon News. Then, in June of 1987, we launched Competitor Magazine, and covering the Ironman became a huge part of our DNA. Next up was Competitor Radio where we could showcase Dave Scott, Paula Newby-Fraser, and Mark Allen so that mainstream sports listeners on an all-sports radio station could be exposed to the world’s greatest athletes and to the amazing stories of perseverance that came out of the Ironman.

Jim MacLaren was an Ironman legend as an amputee and, when he was injured for a second time and became a quadriplegic, we launched the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which has provided over 18,000 grants and raised over $80,000,000 in our first 24 years to get challenged athletes the equipment and training they need to stay in the game of life through sports.

2018 is extra special because we will celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Ironman and the 25^th anniversary of The Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Everything I have accomplished in my life can be traced back to this photo of the guy with the big beard, the big smile and an even bigger thirst for living life to its absolute fullest. The Ironman gave me a blank slate and the gift of the unknown.

New Year’s provides us each year with that very same gift.

Happy New Year from Babbittville!