The Journey of An Ironman

One of my favorite movies of all time is Forrest Gump. Forrest just has a way of putting complicated things into a simple perspective. I can appreciate that because we live in a pretty complicated world, although mostly of our own making. I like the line in the movie where Forrest asked, “What’s my destiny, Mama?” and she replied, “You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself.” Simple question with a simple answer, right?
Well, let me tell you a story about of friend of mine, Paul Reynolds. Now many of you know him. He’s a local physician, lived in Coleman for the past 19 years and has come to be known as, “that Crazy Dr. Reynolds” by quite a few folks around town mostly because he has a somewhat crazy philosophy about his exercise. If you live anywhere around here, chances are you have seen him running, sometimes in the middle of the night with a light strapped to his forehead, biking all over the county or swimming back and forth across Memory Lake, thus the “crazy” reference.
Why on earth does he do these crazy things? Because he asked himself one simple question, “What’s my destiny?” And the answer, “You are gonna live your life as healthy and happy as you possibly can!” You see, what many of you don’t know about Paul is that he has diabetes and hypertension. These are two of the leading causes of death today, especially among Americans both male and female.1 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm Paul came to realize that he had one of two choices to make. He could either live, or he could die. He chose to live, and live to the fullest.
Recently Paul was interviewed by KRBC in Abilene. They did a story on him for his efforts to educate our community about fitness and active lifestyles. The reporter unknowingly made a comment that we (his office family) have come to torture him with. The reporter said, “He isn’t a Small Man”. Yes, I admit, even I have dealt him misery over this statement. But what Paul has recently proven to me is this: He might not be a Small Man, but he IS an Ironman!
In case you don’t know what that means, let me explain. Paul recently completed the 2013 Florida Ironman Triathlon. This was held on November 2nd in Panama City Beach Florida. There were approximately 2,800 athletes participating in the race. According to a press release from IRONMAN, the Florida race is one of more than 30 events in the global IRONMAN Series. It featured a two-loop, 2.4-mile swim in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The one-loop 112-mile bike course took racers out into the surrounding areas of Panama City Beach. Spectators filled the roads along the 26.2-mile run course which paralleled the shoreline through local neighborhoods to the turnaround in St. Andrews State Park. All of this had to be accomplished in less than 17 hours.
Now because some of us are more “visual” than others, I recently explained this Coleman, Texas style. Imagine swimming across Memory Lake to the tower and back about 7 times. Of course this will be minus wind and waves! Then, trudge out of the water and hop on a bicycle and ride to Abilene and BACK. Yes, round trip guys! Then you slap on some shoes and run all the way to Brownwood. Now let’s not forget, this must be accomplished in less than 17 hours and yes, it will take some of the athletes almost 17 hours!
The participants of the Florida Ironman included professional triathletes, Royals from Bahrain as well as amateur triathletes. The overall times ranged from the top professional triathlete finishing in 7:53:12 which broke a personal best as well as other records for him to the last legal finishing time of 16:59:53. Paul’s time was 14:26:45. There were hundreds that put in a valiant effort but were not able to complete the race within the time limit or were unable to continue in their race due to exhaustion, fatigue, and/or injury. For every single person that crossed that finish line, they were rewarded with the announcement, “Congratulations! You are an Ironman!” No sweeter words have ever been screamed through a microphone!
Now you might be asking, what does one do after accomplishing such a monumental feat? You see, that’s where the real beauty of this whole story comes in. The answer: REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT! After so many years of training, such a huge change in diet and lifestyle habits, Paul can now say he LIVES like an Ironman! Just as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life is a journey, not a destination”. There is no ending, only a lifelong journey of health and happiness, living life to the fullest! And the best part, Paul gets to be a living example of what he tries to educate his patients about every day! He gets to “be the change he wants to see in the world”.
In conclusion, Sister Madonna Buder, also known as the Iron Nun, was quoted as saying, “We have all been given different talents. We have to dig deep to discover them. And when we find them, we are obligated to use them for the greater good.” Paul gives thanks to God for giving him an illness that allowed him to dig deep and discover his talents and he gladly shares his wisdom with the rest of us in hopes of us too living a healthy and happy life as long as possible!