Ironman II Arrives in Syosset - a Lake Placid Journey

This past Sunday in Lake Placid, New York was another year of the second oldest Ironman Triathlon competition in North America. For those of you who might not know what an Ironman entails, in 10 hours of competing (but you could easily be out there from 7am to midnight) one could burn up to 11,000 calories as you swim 2.4 miles, bike (up through the Adirondack mountains) 112 miles and then run a full marathon which is 26.2 miles.

Are you tired from just reading all that? Yes, so am I. It’s truly the few and the proud and right here in the Syosset area, we have a two in a row year finisher.

But somehow, the story that I was about to write about him changed when I entered the Woodbury Equinox Spin room Tuesday morning at 6am. Tripp Doherty, wearing the official 2011 Ironman finisher t-shirt was ready to go to teach his infamous class as always even though his body should have been begging for some rest and relaxation after the taxing weekend. The class was electrifying, larger than usual for the summer early morning time slot, as we had to pay homage to the man who just went through the ringer for 12 hours straight in the unusual heat. Clearly we had no reason whatsoever to sleep in for an hour indoor temperature controlled spin class.

While he playfully stumped us with an old tune by Neil Diamond Craklin’ Rosie, ultimately the theme of this short spurt of intenseness was “one."  He shared the story of hours after him crossing that historic finish line, in the darkness and the cooler temperatures of upstate NY, 10,000 people lined up to make sure midnight would not arrive until those close to their epic goal crossed the finish line. One of those people was Lois, a 70-year-old woman struggling but with the eye of the tiger on that big sign that said FINISH with the announcer congratulating her and saying “Lois you are an Ironman”. 

This was the story, coming together as a community to help the needed. With Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” playing in the background, Lois made it. Even though I was not there physically, suddenly I was there mentally with the spotlights and the screams. Mary J Blige may have been playing the U2 song “One” within the four physical walls, but spiritually, I was somewhere else…in the land of you can do anything, if you put your mind to it.

Tripp Doherty, you are an Ironman, and so much more than that as you share with us the journey of that special late July weekend in Lake Placid. Congratulations from our local community. We look forward to cheering you in at the finish line of the inaugural NYC Ironman Triathlon in 2012.

Watch Lois cross the emotional finish line here: http://trippdoherty.blogspot.com/2011/07/that-video-everyone-has-been-talking.html