It all started on Sunday morning of 1997 when I was a Uni student at QUT watching Sunday morning sports on TV, gulping down a glass of full cream, milk a huge bag of cheese nachos.
Kona Ironman Triathlon had just ended a week earlier and CNBC was showing the complied video of the one-day toughest extreme endurance sport. A 3.8km swim in choppy sea followed by 180km ride and a FULL marathon .(42km run). omg!
The 1 hour show gripped me by the collar and got my attention. There were Pros, age groupers, disabled athletes completing the race . They were digging deep into their souls, heart and body to complete a very gruelling race ... The professionals were taking 8 hours to finish and the rest were going the distance to finish by 17hours which is the cut off time.
While the race was being aired, segments were being shown about how age groupers trained over months sacrificing their time, overcoming cancer, broken bones, personal tragedies to reach the starting line of the race. The power of human spirit was unfolding right in front of me ..
Unimaginable pain was written all over the face as the triathletes struggled to finish a gruelling race that the human body was not designed for...but the mind was going on...... pushing the limits or what they thought their limits were..
As they cross the finishing line ......jubilation, tears of joys and sense of accomplishment was written all over their face.
The video was so inspiring that tears welled up at the end and I told myself "Ramesh , you WILL DO this one day".
Fast forward to 2009, i did my first mini triathlon in Singapore (OSIM Tri). Small steps ......
