Start

Ironman Texas

The Woodlands, Texas. 2014.

Jason Blakely reads over his race notes on the morning of his first Ironman

At 4:45 AM, Jason leaves his hotel room to meet up with his fellow participants at the racecourse.

The athletes converge on the bike transition area to make final inspections of their gear and grab their swim bag before walking to the swim start.

While it's still dark, Jason arrives at the swim start to get numbered and prepare mentally.

Jason receives his race number, which can be used by his friends and family to track his progress during the race.

Jason and his mother, Susan, share a moment just before Team Blakely went in search of a good view of the start.

Last but not least, Jason leans down as his 4 year-old son asks a few last minute questions about the race.

Of the three segments of the race, the 2.4 mile open water swim gave Jason the most anxiety, which he took out on the neck of his wetsuit.

Jason's training partner Zack Mitchell (top right) led his friends in a prayer before entering the water.

The athletes make their way to the water.

Jason takes once final glance back before the point at which he can only look forward.

The swimmers enter the water for Herman Memorial Ironman Texas. May, 17, 2014.

Prior to the start, the athletes warmed up in the wet-suit legal 68° water.

Prior to the start, the athletes warmed up in the wet-suit legal 68° water.

Jason's son, Reed, peeks through the railing of the bridge which provided spectators the best view of the starting line.

The start of Herman Memorial Ironman Texas was announced with a loud canon that shook the quiet morning in The Woodlands, Texas.

The alarm goes off at 4 AM, waking amateur triathlete, Jason Blakely. It’s race day on his first ever Ironman, a grueling 140.6 mile endurance test that requires athletes to swim & bike ungodly distances before running a marathon. As rude as a 4 AM wakeup call can be, it might be the most polite challenge he faces this day.

In just a few short hours, the cannon will go off at the starting line. But for Jason & the 2800 other competitors in Memorial Herman Ironman Texas 2014, this isn’t a start; it is an end.

For most, training began 9 months prior, when there were no crowds in Team Blakely t-shirts. The journey to the starting line took them through many rude, early morning rides, cold winter swims and lonely mental deserts as they pounded out countless miles on foot. For Jason and his training partner Zack Mitchell this “start” comes with 3,800 miles of training preamble.

Sadly, they don’t give you a medal for showing up at the starting line. They don’t say, “Jason Blakely, you are an ironman,” just because you started the work. You have to finish the race set before. You have to endure on the day that counts most. 

But before you can finish — and this is really just a metaphor for anything — you must start. You must decide that you will endure & then you can live the encouraging words of business man, Harvey Mackay:

"A great accomplishment shouldn't be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward.”

The beautiful thing about Ironman, I learned, is that it does not matter if you finished eight hours after the canon announced the start of the race or one second before the lights went out at midnight. If you cross the finish line in the time allowed, you begin life as an ironman.

And that’s not a bad way to finish.