With the race over, it was back to the hotel for me and my bike. I stood there in my hotel room staring at the vial of Basesalt. It’s hard to imagine that I ingested that much salt over the course of the bike and the run. But then again, it’s hard to imagine that 12 hours earlier it appeared that I was going to fail.

(So, what changed all that?)

When I lost my way, my family helped me find it. They guided me back to where I should have been.

(But you were alone, on your bike.)

You are never truly alone. You carry the memories of your childhood, of your grandparents and of their stories. I carried those, but I also carried my children’s faces. The faces that have heard me say “We don’t say ‘I can’t,’ in this family, we say ‘I need help.’” All alone at the top of a mountain in Bolton, England I heard the voice of my father tell me to “figure it out and fix it.”

That combination of my father and my children helped me let go of what I couldn’t do and focus on what I could do. When we lose faith in ourselves, we turn off the part of our brain that Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard refers to as the “what if?” perspective.

Tsvi would implore those of us sitting around his shiur, “What if you didn’t do what you always do when you were faced with defeat and this one time you took a risk?”

I took a risk. I dared to go faster downhill because I no longer had the physical strength to go faster on the uphill.

This wasn’t my first time struggling to complete an Ironman. It wasn’t my first time struggling to complete something where it felt like everything was on the line.

I was late learning to walk.

(14 months.)

I was late learning to read.

(Almost 10 years old.)

I was late starting my career.

(I was 29 when I began teaching.)

But success in the face of adversity builds strengths that we bank like portable batteries for those moments where we need to access that power. We just have to remember what Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, “You always had the power my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.”

My wife snapped me out of my thoughts by asking me, “What time are you getting up tomorrow … or are you not getting up tomorrow?” I giggled.

“At 7:30 p.m.; I want to go to the award ceremony at 9 a.m. to see if I qualify for Worlds.”

“But you are not going to Worlds.”

“True, but I would at least like to hear my name called. Besides, I’ve never been to an Ironman award ceremony.”

(What is Worlds and why would you not be going to it?)

Worlds is the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii and it is held on Shabbos, so there was zero chance of me going.

Joanne had said that, “If you completed this you’d be offered a spot at the World Championships.”

(But you can’t go.)

But I’d never seen an Ironman award ceremony before.

(But you can’t go.)

But I wanted to see what it was like.

(You were trying to see if you could go.)

I WANTED TO GO!

Ever since my first year in triathlon, back in 2007 when Janet and I watched the Ford Ironman World Championship on NBC Wide World of Sports, I’ve dreamt of going to the big game.

Every time I stepped up to that start line in neoprene, I imagined I was competing at Worlds.

(But you can’t go.)

I wanted to at least be offered the spot.

(How is that better than just walking away?)

I don’t know, but I never stick around long enough after a race to experience this. I always rush back home as soon as I can.

First, we had to dismantle and pack away the bike. My bike Friday had performed magnificently, but it was time to put my bike to bed. Some triathletes look forward to stepping away from their bicycles after months of training, but I enjoy riding so much that I wanted to ride to our next hotel and send my family ahead with the luggage.

(Like Neil Peart used to do when his band, Rush was on tour?)

Yup.

(Your wife said no?)

I didn’t even ask. I knew what her answer would have been. It had been a spectacular race, capping off the most intense year of training I had ever had. It was time to relax, tour Scotland and say goodnight to the 2023 race season.

David Roher is a USAT certified triathlon and marathon coach. He is a multi-Ironman finisher and veteran special education teacher. He is on Instagram @David Roher140.6. He can be reached at [email protected].