On Ironmans and heroes by Lampros Zolotas

Last week I posted my thoughts about my latest Half Triathlon race. At the same time my feed in Instagram was full of similar posts by people I follow and the organisations page. Lots of interesting stories and different angles on many strong women and men who embarked on the challenge to participate and finish such a race. It’s a really tough one to finish, regardless of the time, and gets even harder if you try to finish below 6 hours. I saw the word Ironman a number of times to be used (and indeed it’s an Ironman 70.3 event). Officially, an Ironman is someone who finishes the Ironman 140.6 event (3.8K Swim, 180K bike, 42.2K run). Still I am ok with that as perception is reality and it takes IronWill to successfully complete such a race. On the other hand though when I think of an Ironman, the first picture that comes into my mind is that by Yannis Behrakis, showing a Syrian refugee carrying his daughter towards Greece’s border with North Macedonia. This is an Ironman. A hero. A Father. I do hope that we can be IronDads, IronHusbands, IronFriends and Iron Coaches for our loved ones and our teams. In life and in work. The rest is just a hobby to test our mind, body and limits.