Growth through our challenges

This week I continue to be inspired by Jonah and his efforts in the Caribbean. The Caribbean may look like mostly fun and games but he has helped rescue sea turtles and visited orphanages while overcoming some of the challenges of being at a three week camp.

I have faced a few unexpected challenges of my own this year. Adversity can be discouraging, but if we look hard enough there is usually a silver lining opportunity for growth.

Two of my buddies regularly overcome challenges to train for IRONMAN triathlons. They both completed IRONMAN Triathlons this weekend. One a veteran (Terry Nugent) qualified for IRONMAN Hawaii again by winning his division in a landslide at the Buffalo Springs half IRONMAN in Texas. The other was a newbie (Dan "Banzai" Bunts) who crushed the Idaho course in a full IRONMAN for a finishing time of just over 13 hours!

Here is some more about IronMan:

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike and a marathon (26.2 miles 42.195 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4 mile swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.

The name “Ironman Triathlon” refers to both the original Ironman triathlon and the annual Ironman World Championship. Also called Ironman Hawaii, the world championships of the event, held annually in Hawaii since 1978 (with an additional race in 1982), are now preceded by a series of qualifying events. Ironman Triathlon became known for its grueling length, harsh race conditions, and television coverage.

Thanks Jonah, Terry, and Banzai for your continued inspiration!!

Below are Banzai's Results from his FIRST IronMan and a few pictures from Jonah and his buddies in the Caribbean.

Daniel Bunts

BIB	AGE	STATE/COUNTRY	PROFESSION
1580	39	Langley Afb VA USA	U.S. Air Force

SWIM	BIKE	RUN	OVERALL	RANK	DIV.POS.
1:29:54	6:55:42	4:23:32	13:13:21	1168	176

LEG	DISTANCE	PACE	RANK	DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM	2.4 mi. (1:29:54)	2:21/100m	1611	219
BIKE SPLIT 1: 34.2 mi	34.2 mi (2:08:35)	15.96 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 2: 90.2 mi	56 mi (3:30:01)	16.00 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 3: 112 mi	21.8 mi (1:17:06)	16.96 mi/h
TOTAL BIKE	112 mi (6:55:42)	16.17 mi/h	1641	236
RUN SPLIT 1: 6.6 mi	6.6 mi (1:05:09)	9:52/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.4 mi	6.8 mi (1:12:06)	10:36/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 19.5 mi	6.1 mi (1:08:09)	11:10/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.2 mi	6.7 mi (58:08)	8:40/mi
TOTAL RUN	26.2 mi (4:23:32)	10:03/mi	1168	176
TRANSITION				TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE				16:54
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN				7:19