The day Lamon DNF'd the St. George Ironman and proved he was a Man!

Lamon Mack- I kind of like him . . . a lot. It’s not a mystery why either. He is amazing. And I promise it’s not just because he looks great in a wetsuit either, although I do enjoy his wetsuit hotness. 

 There are so many things that I love about Lamon. One of the things I admire most is that he is a very hard worker. I don’t know that I have ever met someone that knows how to work quite like Lamon. In all honesty sometimes I’d love for him to take a rest! But he inspires me and makes me want to be better.

Lamon works hard in every aspect of his life, and fitness is no exception. Yes, there is a reason that he looks so great in a wetsuit. That body of his is amazing. I have written about his physical feets before. He has done numerous marathons, triathlons and bike races inspiring us each and every time.

Well, about a year ago he decided that he wanted to do the St. George Ironman. He has trained for the last six months 6 days a week and has dedicated many long hours to getting ready for the race. It has been a sacrifice for all of us, but we counted down the days and were so excited for the race to come. And he was ready! In fact for the last week I was the only one who was nervous and not able to sleep at night. Lamon was not nervous, he just wanted to get it on! He was ready. His body felt ready. Why was I so nervous? It wasn’t that I feared he couldn’t do it. I knew he could. I just knew how important the

race was to him, and I worried about something happening out of his control that would ruin the race for him. I remember one Olympic Tri in which he had a tire blow out and had to finish waaay later than he had planned on. That was awful. And this wasn’t just some triathlon, it was the Ironman!!  I just prayed that the conditions would work out in his favor and that nothing crazy would happen.

Well, we had fun in the days leading up to the race. It was fun to get caught up in all Ironman excitement. We went to the banquet, and went to all the meetings. We bought a bunch of stuff from the Ironman store, and basically we just waited for the race to come. Drew and Hayden came with Lamon’s family on Friday and ran in the Ironkids race. That was a lot of fun too. And then we rested.

So yesterday was the race. We woke up super early all excited for this long awaited event. I interviewed Lamon on his thoughts before  this endeavor, never even entertaining the thought that he wouldn’t finish. I was imagining how awesome it would be to watch him finish. We were all in good spirits. I woke the kids up at 4:45 and we made our way to the lake. It was exciting. We found Lamon when we got there and he was excited. We took pictures and found a spot to watch the start.

And just like Lamon has told us over and over . . . the start of an Ironman is incredible! There isn’t anything like it. It is crazy to see that many swimmers all start together. And the start of this one went off without a hitch. The weather was absolutely perfect when the gun went off. But then something crazy happened.

All of a sudden these microburst winds started up. The winds were insane! And pretty soon that calm lake turn into white capped waters with four to five foot swells. I couldn’t even imagine trying to swim in it, and a part of me was waiting for them to somehow call it off and bring in all of the swimmers; but they didn’t stop the race. We have since learned about how truly unsafe it really was. Here is what the Newspaper wrote about it: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/54053841-77/ironman-swim-george-hoffman.html.csp

And here is a video I took of the crazy wind:

Well, we waited in the wind for Lamon to come out of the water. Mandy and I decided to split up.  She would catch him coming out of the water and I would catch him coming out on his bike. So I took the kids to the bike start and waited for her call. And she did call. Only what she said was not what I wanted to hear.

I said, “Mandy. Is he in yet?”

Mandy said, “No . . . Mary . . . he’s out. They took him out of the water. They told him he could bike and run . . . but he’s out.”

What? Is she kidding? I felt my heart suddenly sink. The tears immediately started brimming in my eyes. How could this have happened? I was sort of in shock. I never thought Lamon wouldn’t finish the swim. He is a strong swimmer. If there would be a difficult event it would be the bike. I took the kids by the hands and started dragging them through the crowds to find Lamon.

“Mom. What’s wrong? Is Daddy done?”

“Daddy is out of the race bud.” It’s all I could do to hold back the tears and we kept walking. But kids are kids and they love to ask questions. So the entire way to the water they were asking me questions like:

“What do you mean he doesn’t get to finish? How come?”

I was actually getting a little frustrated with them as they asked all of these questions that were running through my own head. “What happened?”

Well I’ve only known Lamon to cry twice since we’ve been married. Once on our wedding day, and once when he gave my brother Jim a blessing. He is not a crier. And he didn’t cry today; but when I found him standing there at the dock . . . it looked like he could have cried if he would have let himself. It was devastating!

None of us really knew what to say. We were all so sad for him. He told us that while he was swimming with the current he could feel the waves go over him but it was pushing him along, and then suddenly when he turned a corner about a third of the way through the swim the waves were four feet tall and were crashing over his head sideways. He was dizzy, nautious, and couldn’t breathe. It got so crazy and at one point he grabbed onto to a Kayak and looked around. The few swimmers he could see were getting pulled out of the water. He thought they were calling off the swim. And that article even explained the chaos and how some people were even getting pulled and being told the swim was being called off. And he felt strongly enough that it was too dangerous to swim in those conditions that he got on the boat.

But they didn’t call off the swim. More than a thousand people finished the swim and he struggled as he watched them come in. And it was hard for me to watch him watch the swimmers come out wondering if he should have just stayed in. He was so prepared for this race. Could he have possibly pushed through the waves? A part of me wished that he could still just jump back in and go! There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he was capable of doing it.

The Ironman was all he had been talking about for a year! He wanted it so bad! I knew how important it was for him and I was crushed. A friend compared an Ironman to having a baby. Just like a woman spends all of her time thinking, reading about, and preparing for her new born baby . . . so it is for an upcoming Ironman getting ready for and completing his race. So I guess in a way it’s sort of like Lamon had a miscarriage today! J Anyway, I was feeling pretty deflated. It didn’t help when my twin sister called asking me,

“Hey Mary. Is there an internet address I could look at to see how Lamon is doing?”

And in response I let it all out. I started bawling. I finally said, “They pulled him from the water.”

Suddenly my sister went completely hysterical. She was crying uncontrollably. “What? . . . Oh Mary . . . I can’t believe it! Oh no . . .”

I mean I knew it was sad, but I was surprised by her reaction until I realized that she had thought that I meant they pulled his dead body from the water. Not a good choice of words by me. I was quick to reassure her,

“No Liz, he is fine. He is not hurt. He just didn’t finish the swim. He is safe.”

But Liz couldn’t stop crying and had to hang up the phone. She told me later that it took her an hour to stop crying, because it had scared her so badly.

And in order to understand her reaction . . . you have to know that we have received a phone call like that before. Seven years ago I had to listen as my older sister Karyn called and told me that my brother Jim had drowned in Big Cotton Wood Canyon. It was one of the worst moments of my life.

Well, after talking to Liz my crying pretty much stopped. I had a bit of a paradigm shift at that moment. It pretty much stunk that Lamon didn’t finish the swim but it took my sister crying hysterically on the phone thinking Lamon was dead to help me realize that the last thing in the world I would have wanted was for Lamon to keep swimming and ignore a feeling that he should get out of turbulent waters.

While we were driving in the car later I was asking the kids if they knew why Daddy got out of the water early. They gave a few answers, and then Hayden said, “Because of the wind and the big waves?”

“Yes Hayden. Do you think it was smart for Daddy to get out of the water if it wasn’t safe?”

Hayden quickly answered “Yes.” I’ve told them about their Uncle Jim plenty of times.

But Drew was a little slower and he said, “Yes . . . but how come all of those other people finished?” . . . Ouch. Kids are pretty free with their thoughts. That was the question that bugged Lamon too. It was a question that all of us were beating ourselves up with. How was it that all of those people finished and Lamon didn’t? But then I told them,

“Do you think that it is important to get out of a dangerous or bad situation . . . even if everyone else around you doesn’t?”

“Yes.”

“You know, sometimes you have to do something you feel is right even if no one else is doing it. I’m glad that Daddy decided to be safe and do what he thought was right . . . no matter how bad it would feel not to finish!”

And let me just tell you . . . it felt bad. If Lamon had turned to me and said, “Let’s go home to Orem and cry for the rest of the day.” I would have said, “Sounds great!!” I would have totally been on board with that! That would have been my plan. But I of course am not Lamon. Lamon spent the rest of the day chasing his uncle (who was still in the race) around and cheering him and all the other athletes on.  

So we brought the boys to let them see their Dad do something really hard in finishing the Ironman . . . but they got to see their Dad perhaps do something even harder. They saw their Dad choose safety over a glorious finish, and they were able to witness their Dad deal with disappointment with strength and a cheerful attitude.

So yesterday Lamon didn’t get to hear them say, “Lamon . . . you are an Ironman.” But does that change anything in my mind? Is he any less of a man to me? Not at all. In fact, his manliness went up a notch in my eyes. I already thought he was more of a man than a lot of the athletes for keeping his manly hair and not shaving . . . but as we watched the athletes finish yesterday, I seriously felt like I had the toughest man up in the bleachers with me. Could he have done it? I have no doubt. We have all watched his hard work and dedication. I'm glad that he didn't want to risk his life to prove that he was a man.

But I learned something today. Despite all of my prayers for the winds to stop . . . they didn’t. Sometimes God doesn’t grant us all we ask for no matter how timely WE think it is. Perhaps this Ironman St. George was meant to teach us something entirely different. As inspiring as Lamon’s physical feets are, this Ironman race inspired us more than any other race we have watched; and it wasn’t because we heard them say, “Lamon . . . you are an Ironman” it was because of his character. I’ve been thinking about how the kids have seen their dad do some pretty amazing things. It seems like there isn’t much that Lamon can’t do. He is incredible. But maybe it was good for them to see Lamon NOT finish something. Maybe it was good for them to see their Dad deal with something that hard, and watch the incredible way in which their Dad dealt with disappointment. Because I’ll tell you, it was pretty inspiring. Lamon could have curled in a corner and cried, but he didn’t. He was so awesome. The night ended with so many people from the family texting him and telling him how inspiring he was, not because he had ended the night as an Ironman, but because . . . he didn’t. Because of how when all of us felt like crying, he was strong and was Uncle Reeds biggest supporter running street to street following him and cheering. He was there until the end. Uncle Reed texted Lamon last night, “Lamon you are my brother. You showed the greatest of character today by your support.” And he certainly did.

I am so proud of you Lamon! I love you. Thank you for being oh so much more than an Ironman to me. (Not that that won’t happen soon enough!) You are an inspiration to us all, and I am so blessed to be married to you.

( P.S.- that newspaper sort of hinted that because of the crazy swim Ironman might wave some fees in the future for those athletes pulled out of the water so we will keep you posted. The Ironman journey just may not be over yet! :)