IM AZ Finishers
62
Member
1442 days
AZBuckeye posted 3 years ago.
I think we all have stretches where we just dont want to think about training, but ultimately we lace up our shoes and mount our bikes and begin to train for another race or season. We are different, and with every race we try to be more different, either by improving times or trying a longer, more challenging distance. Whenever you need motivation think about this guy. He makes me want to get out the door and train, because I will have some great stories to tell one day as well, but nothing compares to this one........
Then there was Bill Kellogg.
The 44-year-old from Ahwatukee Foothills had a serious accident early on, which looked like the disappointing end to his first full Ironman competition.
"I thought my day was over," Kellog said.
He had finished the swim on pace with his target time at an hour and five minutes. Eight miles into the bike event, while riding over the bridge on Priest Drive, Kellogg got tangled in bike traffic as he turned left onto Rio Salado Parkway. He was forced into the route-marking cones, and lost control.
Kellogg smashed into a street sign and flipped over his handlebars, landing in the middle of the road on his left shoulder and head. Kellogg said he was knocked unconscious, and when he came to, he saw a young volunteer and policeman running toward him with horrified expressions. They lifted the bike, which had landed on top of him, and the policeman offered to call an ambulance.
"I knew if I got put into an ambulance, that'd be it, I would be done. So I told them to hold on for a minute," Kellogg said.
He struggled to breathe as he stood on Rio Salado's median for 15 minutes. His bike helmet was cracked, the wind was knocked out of him, and his left side throbbed with pain. Kellogg thought his collarbone was broken.
But having spent months training for this event, Kellogg wanted to finish, if at all possible. His bike still functioned, and to the cheers of spectators standing nearby, he mounted his bike and took off.
But the same drive that inspired Kellogg to train hours a day prodded him to continue. He finished the bike event just before 3 p.m., and still had nine hours until midnight, when he had to complete the race. He had a 26.2 mile run ahead and his left side was beginning to swell.
After walking seven miles, he grew worried. Time was running out. He built a sling with the strap of his heart-rate monitor and with his left hand pinned to his chest, he began to run.
Kellogg completed the race. He crossed the finish line, hobbling with his arm in a makeshift sling, at 13 hours and 51 minutes. According to doctors, he has a separated shoulder, his rib cage is severely bruised, there is bad swelling on his left hip, and he has severe road rash all along his left side.
And, of course, a medal and a great story to tell.
62
Member
1442 days
AZBuckeye posted 3 years ago.
To avoid plagerism, I found this in the Arizona Republic, the story is also on Runners Web.
2334
Member
2427 days
Tribro posted 3 years ago.
Good to see you're back Chucky! Everyone takes some time off after a big like you did. Glad you found some inspiration to get back on the bike, lace up those shoes, and start training for the next event.
So I finished CA 1/2 IM about a month ago....
Since the race, I've lost all motivation to train and I mean ALL. I haven't swam in the last two weeks. I've ran three days of each of the last two weeks. I haven't been on the bike in nearly three weeks . My fourteen hour training weeks are now down to three.
My diet? What diet. Pizza, burgers, pastrami, you name it, I've hammered it home. I haven't gone overboard with quantity, but food selection has not been strong - at all. Oddly, I've lost five pounds, but I have to assume it is muscle.
My friends have asked how I find the time to do all of the training that I did. I've always responded that I made it a priority and that I valued my training, my health, etc... So what about about now? What has changed? Where has the spark gone?
Enter IM AZ. I hate AZ (no offense to those of you that call it home, but really....). There is no way in hell (no pun intended) that one could get me to race THAT race. It might have been just as well if they put the race in Death Valley or some other god-forsaken place.
And yet.... and yet 2000 people decided that AZ was the place to race. That it was the place to make a dream come alive. To achieve the impossible. I look at the AZ IM list of finishers (some of which I know personally) and I am getting that spark back. Not for where they raced, but for racing inspite of the location. They obviously didn't care where the race was. They wanted to know if they had it in them... if they could DO IT.
To the 1900 IRONMEN that finished IM AZ, thank you. You are truly an inspiration.