My Dream

Growing up, I remember always watching the Ironman television coverage from Kona, HI. I remember distinctly when Julie Moss competed and had so many problems, but drug herself with her arms even when her legs would no longer move. (She had some other problems, but we won’t go into that here..check it out for yourself in the Ironman archives, for more details). Dave Scott and Mark Allen, the famous rivals…the other thing I remember from watching the coverage, is that I would always be moved to tears by the sheer inspiration and achievement of it.

Fast forward to 2010. I was a real estate consultant with my own team, Service Perfection, working at a Keller Williams office in Denver. At the suggestion of my team leader, I decided to take a revolutionary Keller Williams Master class called BOLD. BOLD stands for Business Objectives, Life by Design. The rumors about the class were daunting…make a huge number of contacts per week and change the entire complexion of your business. I was scared and excited.

Turns out, BOLD was more about changing mind-set and removing limiting beliefs, and also blending highly refined systems for lead generation, follow up and listing leverage. Meeting one day per week, and having many requirements to meet, I would be kicked out if I failed to meet any one of the requirements, 3 times. The class cost $800, so I had to graduate and build my business! We were challenged to make 100 contacts per week and even further challenged to make 100 contacts in one day. Right then, I decided I would be the first to make them in one day. That weekend, I went door to door in my neighborhood with my BOLD folder and scripts and even my Camelbak and made my 100 contacts, which took the entire day, because to have a contact, you have to actually talk to someone; you can’t just leave something at their door or leave a voice message on the phone.

I went back to class the following Monday and announced that I had made 100 contacts in one day and got cheers from the class and was the only one that did it. I was to receive a pin that said BOLD 100, and because they didn’t expect anyone to do it so quickly, they didn’t have the pins yet!

Through the rest of the class, I learned to remove my limiting beliefs about my abilities. I was doing things I had previously been scared to do, thought I couldn’t do, or didn’t have time to do. I learned that I could achieve far more in less time, and could reach very high goals that I once thought impossible.

Just as BOLD finished, I began to read a book that was casually suggested to me; Born to Run. It is the story of the author’s journey to understand his own running, the best runners in the world (the Tarahumar tribe from the Copper Canyons in Mexico) and the history of man and how we are actually all meant to be runners from our evolution and how we could catch food. An absolutely fascinating read! Also discussed in the book is the Leadville 100, which is a 100 mile race (both foot and mountain bike) in Leadville, CO.

As I finished the book, I couldn’t wait to share it with my friend Dan Blankenship, who had been consistently increasing his running and was looking like he was going to get into ultras. When I brought up the book, he said he had already had the pleasure of reading it, which was the catalyst for him to start pursuing ultra-distance running. Wow! I was elated! How very cool! He then suggested I help him and several others “pace” at the Leadville 100 the following month. A bunch of excuses came out of my mouth because I felt like I would be an impostor “pacing” someone at such a race. But, thank goodness Dan kept after me; I finally realized that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain as well as seeing many people from the book, including the author as he was filming a movie.

So, I told Dan that I would participate, but didn’t want the longest leg. He said ok, and later I found out I was assigned not only the longest leg, but the leg at the end. This meant I would get to take the runner to the finish line. I thought there had been a mistake. How could they want me to do it, since I had never been there before, or “paced” anyone? I verified it and found it was correct. I was dumbfounded and immediately felt pressure to do well. Dan explained that when I would start “pacing” the runner, he would have already completed 87 miles, so he wouldn’t be running much and if so, would not be fast. I was expected to be more of a Sherpa, keep him on the course, awake and get him to the finish.

The runner’s name was Chris Labbe. He and his brother Andrew were both running and our entire group was pacing both of them. Their dad, Greg, had an old house in Leadville and was putting all of us up as a thank you for helping his sons. He was also pacing and helping.

The race came and wow, what an experience! I could write another book on it alone. I got to see the absolute iron will of human beings that believe in what they are doing and how training and preparation can make all the difference. I also got to others who were achieving even greater feats (Leadman achievement) as well as the people from the book and the author. The race was at the end of August and after it was over, I wasn’t sure what to do. It felt like I was looking for the next thing, but didn’t know what it was.

Then I remembered watching the Kona coverage year after year, growing up. I remembered thinking how much I felt a connection to Kona and the race and course, but subconsciously had told myself that I wasn’t an elite athlete, so how could I expect to compete? I suddenly realized that I was the only one holding myself back from pursuing that dream. No one else was telling me I couldn’t do it! After about two weeks, I decided to pursue my dream of competing in Kona.

I began by just verbalizing to people. I also had no real idea of how to get there. As I was verbalizing to some friends at dinner, they said that their cousin had done it and had a great coach. They asked if I had one, to which my surprising answer was no. They recommended two coaches, both of whom I called right away. One was a husband and wife team called Mile High Multisport, both of whom had competed in Kona several times and had sent many athletes there as well. Come to find out, this was a very important thing. Its one thing to get yourself to Kona and quite another to get others there.

They were the obvious choice, and I happily hired them. They lived in Highlands Ranch, so I was fairly close, which made it easy to begin the process of meeting with my coach, Kathy Alfino, and acquire the equipment and information needed to start. Oh, and yes, the training! One of the reasons I hired Kathy was because she supplied a daily workout (at this site) so I knew exactly what to do. She had also been racing for 28 years, so she had plenty of experience to draw upon, and she was #3 in the world at age 50! Pretty darn impressive!

I also met with other friends, one of whom had been trying to qualify for Kona for 10 years. I admit, I was a bit naïve and conceited, but they gave me great insight about what it was like to train to get there. Here is what it takes: Only several of the 50 qualifying Ironman races throughout the world during the year have “Kona slots”. This means that to get one, you have to finish top 3 or so in your age group, which goes in groups of 4 years ( mine is 40-44, the most popular).  There is also a lottery where you can get two entries and if you get in, you must complete a full Ironman before Kona in October to prove you can do it. What I later found out was that over 90,000 people try to get 1,900 spots at Kona every year, so I had my work cut out for me!