A Real Ironman

I think its safe to say that your average Joe, even one in great physical condition, would find completing any one of the Ironman competition's three events almost insurmountable.  Even as a pretty fit runner training to run a 10K, I only might consider contemplating to think about running in next year's New York City marathon. So the thought of completing a 2.4-mile ocean swim and a 112-mile bicycle ride before even starting a 26.2-mile run does nothing short of terrify me.

Now for another kind of triathlon, so to speak. As a high school senior in 1989, Kyle Garlett was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Six years and three battles with cancer later, doctors ceased the chemotherapy that was weakening his heart. Two years later, Garlett discovered a second type of leukemia — a by-product of the chemo treatment for the first cancer. And so, three more years of chemo, before a heart transplant in 2006.

Now, at 37, cancer-free and heart pumping, to say Garlett's feeling good would be a gross understatement. In a CNN interview he explained, "It's kind of like the starving person who all of a sudden finds himself in front of a buffet. And now I've got the buffet. I've got my all-you-can-eat plate, and I'm just loading it up."

In preparation for the Ford Ironman World Competition in Kona, HI, this October, Garlett will train anywhere from 15 to 25 hours a week in hopes of completing the three events within the given 17-hour time limit. He describes himself as neither, klutz or natural athlete, so getting his heart to beat at an acceptable rate is going to take considerable effort.

But Gartlett isn't the first man with a secondhand heart to attempt the Ironman. Last year Dwight Kroening became the first to claim that esteemed title. After an unexplained heart condition at age 26, Kroenig received a transplant and shortly thereafter was told that his physical activity would have to be limited. Kroenig didn't like that idea and set out to prove his doctors wrong. After 22 years of training, you could say he passed the ultimate test — completing the Ironman in 15 and ½ hours. Insane.

"I relate [the Ironman] to what I guess would be like childbirth," Kroening told CNN. "In the process, you're thinking, 'I'll never do this again in my whole life. This is absolutely crazy.' But I think probably about three days later that I started thinking, 'Now this might be something that I might want to do again.'"

Let those be words of inspiration to you, Gartlett, because the rest of us are not even going to try.

Top photo courtesy of Stormydog via Creative Commons and Flickr; bottom photo courtesy of Daniel Rud, via Creative Commons and Flickr