Ironman. Or a Half-Ironman. That is the last thing that will come to anyone’s mind when they look at me. I am medically obese and visually a “big guy” with no six-packs or lean muscles. I just finished my first 70.3 Half-Ironman yesterday at Indian Wells, La Quinta and I am so thankful for the whole experience.
Why then would I want to attempt a half-ironman? There were many reasons.
Life changed significantly when I lost my dear brother almost two years ago. Grief got to me, not just emotionally, but physically too. My lower jaw started quivering the night I got the news and still does when I think intensely or have had much caffeine. I could not sleep for more than four hours each night after his passing. Combining this with not watching what I eat made me put on forty extra pounds.
Add to this the fact that I got together with wonderful friends to do a church startup in the heart of Silicon Valley and adopted two amazing kids in the past five years. Though these have been the best and most satisfying experiences of my life, they did come with some emotional toll as well.
The uncertainty of church startup life, the weight of carrying several untold trauma stories of those you care about in your mind that cannot be shared with others, the pain of people leaving, critiquing, and not forgiving, and the struggle to attempt to help people think about God in one of the most godless and affluent tech cities of the world got to me as well.
Going from a household of three to five overnight also had its joys but significant challenges as well. These challenges included navigating the difficulties of foster care and adoption, helping ease our kids who would have nightmares in the first few months after coming home, and comforting our kids until they knew that they had a home forever.
In all of these life challenges, there was no time to pause, reflect, pray enough, and respond.
When I shared these struggles with my friends, they all did sympathize with me and pray for me, but I needed to take more proactive steps to help myself.
So, six months ago, when my sleeplessness became pandemic in my life, and my doctors could not find any physical issue with my body or mind (other than what they called caregiver anxiety), I decided to do something about my health. I just finished my first 70.3 miles half iron-man yesterday at Indian Wells, La Quinta, and am so thankful for that. Throughout this journey, I learned three valuable life lessons that I would love to pass on along the journey.
The Lessons
- Help OTHERS by helping YOURSELF
This may sound selfish, but it’s true. Like the flight safety announcement goes when you’re on a plane, “In case of emergency put on the oxygen mask first before helping others.” If we are not well, we cannot help others around us, starting from our own family or pursue our life’s dreams.
- Flee CHAOS to find REST
When God created the world, He set apart one day for rest. We live in a fast-paced world that attempts to define us by what we do rather than by who we are. As a result, most of us spend the best parts of our lives pursuing success, fame, or money by doing more and more each day and losing out on taking rest. Despite creating the world ex nihilo and launching zillions of “products” in an immaculate fashion, God himself instituted a day of rest. To pursue this rest that can only be found in a real and authentic relationship with God requires time away from things that pull us apart from Him.
- Let go and Live free
Life is short. You never know if you will get to see another day tomorrow. Each day is a gift. Be thankful to God if you’re alive. Be thankful if you have a roof over your head. Be thankful if you have a lovely family. If you have a grudge or anger against someone, especially a family member or friend, let it go. You will realize that you have been the prisoner all along. Forgiveness sets you free. You don’t want to die tonight, leaving those relationships in this way.
The Journey
Training for my Half-Ironman helped me to do all of these. Six months ago, I started on this journey.
First off, preparing for this forced me to take my mind off of things that weighed me down. Riding a bike on a flat trail with the breeze on your face on a warm day, swimming in the ice-cold ocean or lake waters of Norcal, and running in wildlife refuge trails are all very therapeutic. They gave me time to enjoy the beauty of God’s amazing creation and to pray, smile, cry, think, and refresh my mind as I focused on all the metrics of my training. Incidentally, through this training, I have been able to lose 30 of the 40 pounds that I had put on and can now get a good night’s sleep at least three out of seven days a week.
Being physically active and mentally refreshed also enabled me to forgive others quickly even when they hurt me significantly, love God and others more genuinely (though I still do have my “moments”), and enjoy more of God’s amazing creation.
I have also been able to share this passion with a few friends and we got to do a fun triathlon relay race this past summer.
I am so thankful that I finished my first 70.3 Half-Ironman. It was awesome to do this along with around 2500 athletes from 40 different countries.
I got to know a Fire Chief from Alaska who was doing the race to deal with the things he had seen and gone through. I am sure that everyone has a story. Not everyone who competes wants to finish first like Lionel Sanders (who incidentally defended his title from last year).
The Race
The lake was splendid but cold. I had to pause for a couple of minutes after starting my swim but was glad to finish swimming 1.4 miles (instead of the 1.2 miles that I was supposed to swim as I cannot still swim straight so I ended up swimming an extra 0.2 miles) before the cutoff time.
The bike course was spectacular. Riding along beside the palm trees nestled together in the desert valley, surrounded by towering mountains was amazing. Although running through the even more scenic paths was excruciating, it was at the same time, deeply refreshing.
When my legs wanted to give up, I looked up my brother’s picture that I had on my heart and down at the shoe tags that my daughter gifted me which read, “when you’re legs get tired, run with your heart”. That kept me going.
I saw a couple of crashes along the way and one athlete ahead of me stopped to help. One guy lost one of his pedals and was riding his bike with just one leg. It was special to see all of these amazing, non-athletic virtues in a race. More of those in our day-to-day life will make the world a better place.
We rode on a race track briefly that made us feel like Formula One drivers. The volunteers who had sacrificially been serving us were amazing in cheering and encouraging us.
Most of the fellow athletes were motivating each other as we all knew the pain we had gone through in training for the race and shared a deep camaraderie. I can’t wait to go back next year.
I am glad to be a finisher in my first Half-Ironman. More than that, I hope to finish my life having lived well just like what one of my heroes wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV).