An Ironman is most definitely fun!

Hey Yo, Jenez!
Ironman no fun? I cannot concur. And it's not because I have some weird def of fun, or a pain fetish. I run, bike, ride all year round and Ironman race day is the day I relax and enjoy the benefits of my "training." I no longer think that "this is the year I qualify for Kona!" so I can go out on race day and celebrate with 2 or 3 thousand of my closest friends, the wonderful lifestyle that is triathlon. Race day is your reward for all the training you did all year long.

The swim is a dawdle for me. I cruise in around 80-90 minutes without effort so the swim is fun. Then I get on the bike in the cool clear morning air, surrounded by cheering fans and I am grinning like a fool and waving to them up main street. For the first two hours it's a breeze! I can't recall a more exhilarating feeling than the first two hours of the bike after a nice 4K swim. No, really.  :)

Then we hit the Richter Pass climb and I have to bear down and put out some effort. there is some discomfort, sure, but there are people cheering here too and I can chat with people passing me. I'm a Clyde so I don't climb fast.
Then at the top I get a lovely 5K + descent before the rollers - which I take as a challenge and enjoy them too. Now, we are 100K in and things are still pretty good. I've had some nice snacks, bananas, Powerbars, Gatorade. It's just a catered training ride! The scenery is magnificent! The views from the top of the Richter Pass, the Similkameen Valley with the winding river, orchards, vineyards, are fantastic! btw, this is the Penticton Challenge course, formerly IM Canada. I've done it 8 times as IMC. By Cawston and the out and back portion along the bench road to the Special Needs bags I begin to feel some lower back strain, but it's all good. I have taken my salt packets (courtesy of KFC) and the air is warmer, some years quite hot actually. The next 15K climbing to Yellow Lake is tough, I won't kid you. We exchange encouragement as we leap frog each other up the hill and we grit our teeth as we crawl to the aid station for a cold Gatorade. The view is lovely along the lake and the volunteers are great. It's fun all the way, but now it gets really good. The descent off twin Lakes to the highway and the fast 20K back to Penticton along the lake can't be beat for views and adrenalin rush. The last 8K through town and the cheering fans to T2 forces me to suck it up, but I reflect on a terrific 6 hour ride through some of the best terrain in the world! Fun? You bet!

The marathon is a jog/walk for me to Okanagan Falls and back. I get to chat with fellow racers, kibbitz with the fans, and enjoy, chicken soup, melons, cookies, pretzels, yumm! I watch the sun set behind the hills above the lake and the beauty can make me tear up. I get updates about where the nun is and I focus as dusk sets in. It's cooler and the mood is positive as we all know we can finish. I may have an ache here and there, maybe a blister or some skin burn from my wetsuit where I missed with the bodyglide, but, you know what? Pain lets you know you aren't dead. And then I think of what I have done already that day and man, I feel great! This is more fun than just about anything else I could be doing that lasts as long!

I don't have to tell anyone who has finished an IM about how the spirits soar as you approach town and can hear the announcer and the cheers along the lakeshore near the finish. This is the very definition of fun.
Crossing the line before Mid-Night, hearing your name announced, getting all the high fives and applause, knowing you earned the right to wear the tat, even if you don't want one, is beyond compare. If this isn't fun, I don't know what is.

The race fee, though steep, is like a health club membership that motivates you to train and make your investment worthwhile, the thrills, and aches, and tears of frustration that may ensue on race day, actually doing the ironman distance triathlon, are a bonus! The best things in life are free they say; the fee is the motivater to do all the training, cheaper than hiring a coach to scream at you and nag you. The raceday feelings of putting your body through the its paces is the best fun there is. Everybody who has finished an ironman is nodding now, and smiling.