Jessica Bowser Nelson Fitness

The Guts to Go for a Half Ironman

Today is dedicated to my own personal half Ironman, my husband, Brian.

If you know Brian, you know he is passionate about people, fun, having a great time, being the LIFE OF THE PARTY, and fun…did I say fun? 🙂

What you might NOT think of, initially, is work, struggle, sacrifice, pushing boundaries, conquering fears…WELL, the tides have turned.

A few months ago my husband expressed interest in conquering an Ironman 70.3.

An Ironman 70.3 consists of a
1.2 mile swim,
a 56 mile bike,
and a 13.1 mile run (aka yes…a half MARATHON to end it all).

My first thought when he spoke of this craziness was that he must be going thru a phase. He isn’t REALLY going to do this, RIGHT? How many people say this type of thing and THEN how many actually DO IT? I kind of sloughed it off. Sounds horrible on my part, I know, but some of his favorite past times are lying on the couch and napping…so a half Ironman?? Just seemed far fetched.

He didn’t even OWN a bike.

BUT, I have also ALWAYS believed in him far more than he believed in himself. Maybe this was really “his time”. Just maybe.

The Fish that Got Fried in the Half Ironman

My husband has always been an amazing swimmer. We call him “the fish”. When we went snorkeling in the Bahamas, he refused a life jacket because he just didn’t need it..whereas, I was clinging to my life jacket, as if my life depended on it..because it did! Ha! He’s happiest in the water, so the one area I knew he would rock was the swim.

Not so much.

He found a swimming coach and quickly learned that all he knew about swimming was almost hurting him, not helping him in his training for a half Ironman. Swimming long distances was a whole other ball game. He would come home discouraged and frustrated. Considering he thought that was his strong suite, surely he’d just throw in the towel and quit.

But he didn’t.

He went and picked out a beautiful bike at a specialty bike store in town. I could see the look in their eyes when he mentioned he didn’t even own a bike, nor has he ridden one in years but he needed THIS one for his half IRONMAN. I recognized that crazy look. BUT, how does the saying go?

 “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs

YES, my husband was crazy. BUT, I loved it.

How often in life do we stay in our box?
How often do we do what’s expected?
Ignore the unconventional, outside of the box, thinking?
Rationale said Brian shouldn’t do an Ironman 70.3.
But who is rationale anyways?
I imagine it to be some boring looking person with glasses and a pointer stick.

We were born to LIVE…to take CHANCES…to PUSH our boundaries…to SEE what we are made of and even SURPRISE OURSELVES. THAT’S LIVING. And my husband found his breathe!

The Sacrifice

For weeks, my husband got up at 5:00 am and drove 45 minutes to swim practice. It was early. The bed seemed far more inviting but the easy choices don’t allow us to grow or improve. The easy choices are why we were stuck in the first place. THIS TIME, he didn’t take the easy route. He sacrificed. He went to practice when he wanted to AND when he didn’t. He improved. His confidence grew. He was changing, more so than anything, on the INSIDE.

He literally knew nothing about race day.
What should he wear?
What should he eat?
What should he expect?
Should he even be doing this?

He would google it ALL.

There were many days I would sit and just wonder what was going thru his head. Did he regret his decision? Did he feel like he was in too far to back out but really wanted to? Did he realize his OWN transformation that was so obvious to me already? Did he have any clue of how special this was to ME, to him, to those around him?

You see, an Ironman is less about the finish line and more about the miles traveled..the journey..the fight..the guts to stay in the game.

As I was at his Ironman 70.3 event this past Sunday in Haines City, Florida, I had to hold back tears SOO MANY times as I observed the racers.

These weren’t your ordinary, average people.

These WERE the FIGHTERS, the RISK TAKERS, the BOUNDARY CRUSHERS, the ones with the GUTS and my husband, Brian Freaking Nelson was ONE OF THEM!

Could a full Ironman be in his future? You never know with this guy 🙂

P.S. This is seriously one of the craziest things I’ve even seen. My husband’s official time for the 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run in his half Ironman were IDENTICAL! TO THE SECOND! How crazy is that?!? But he is “a crazy one”. 🙂

P.S.S. If you need help getting started on your fitness journey or if you want to earn money helping other get healthy while you achieve your own goals, message me personally at jessica@jessicabowsernelson.com.

Digging Deeper,
Jessica Bowser Nelson