In April of 2017, I did Ironman Texas. It was a test to see whether I wanted to continue doing Ironman-distance triathlons, or whether I was ready to retire. My body and my mind told me pretty decisively during the windy, terrible bike at Ironman Texas that I was done with Ironman. And so during that race, I decided to retire from Ironman.
Best laid plans, right? A couple months later, Karen told me that she was doing Ironman Arizona 2018, that Trista and Cecilia would be joining her again for their second Ironman, and that Brandy would be training to do Arizona 2018 as her first Ironman. Oh, and that IMAZ 2018 would be on Karen's birthday. Turns out, in the battle of Retirement vs FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), FOMO was the clear winner.
And so, yes, I came out of Ironman retirement and registered for my 8th Ironman. For those who don't know Ironman, Ironman Arizona is an Ironman-distance triathlon in Tempe, AZ. A 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike followed by a 26.2 mile run (a marathon). You have 17 hours to do all of that and get yourself across the finish line.
If you're the sort of masochist who enjoys ridiculously long race reports, you can read my other Iron- and ultra-distance race reports here. Fair warning: I'm not kidding when I say they're long.
We renamed the event Ironman Karen's Birthday (IMKB) and got custom shirts made: Eat all the cookies. Drink all the wine. Pet all the dogs.