5 minutes to the start...

He stands on the beach squishing the wet sand between his toes. It's a brisk morning and the water feels like the temperature of iced tea on a hot day. The hope is that he'll warm up quickly, and the wetsuit will do it's job and preserve his core temperature during the next hour or so.

There are a couple thousand other people waiting with him on the beach. The sun has just tip-toed above the horizon and the sky is painted a pale blue with a sliver of orange poking above the tree's across the lake. Music is playing in the background, the last he remembers is U2's Beautiful Day and next up is AC/DC's Thunderstruck...this signifies the start is rapidly approaching.

Thoughts roam through his head like a movie in fast forward, not really images, but feelings that he's felt during the past year. The journey has been long and painful and the true grade on this test won't be given until over ten hours later.

He thinks about time spent and sacrifices made during the process, and what has been put on hold, cut out, or ignored just to complete the plan. The words, "To achieve great results, one must withstand great sacrifice" surely don't ring truer than put into the context of this event, or as some view it, religion. He remembers the times waking before 5 am to get in that days prescribed activity. Much of the plan had to be carried out early in the morning or during the evening, when friends and "normal" folks were winding down the day with a cold beer and TV show. This was not a pure hobby which was to be taken lightly, but a way of life or pseudo-religion that frowned upon caloric excess and late sleeping heathens. Weekends were not for sleeping in, lunches were not for eating, and holiday's were not set aside for relaxation and gnoshing densely packed caloric goodies...these were times to execute the activities prescribed in the plan. Family time was limited as the test approached. Having an understanding spouse made all the difference.

"About three minutes left..."

Casual weekend breakfast's were replaced by an energy shake and 5-7 hours of training. Lunch would have to wait until "Linner", a meal sometime after 2-3 pm when the daily activity list had been executed. The rest of the day would require rest and an attempt to recover before a similarly hard task was to be presented the following morning...early. Into bed early was the mantra, but falling asleep was not always easy. Sometimes the more tired you were from the plan, the longer it took to fall asleep.

At times he wondered why he was doing this, why put your body through this much pain? He had participated in other sports at a high level, but nothing rivaled the length and pain associated with training for this type of event. Now, he thought, you could train just to finish. Training just to make it through the distance, and not racing it, would reduce the misery by a fair amount...but not totally. What drives someone to do this, wouldn't a "normal" person just quit or take an easier route? Was this the much talked about "road less traveled"? If so, it definately wasn't paved!

At work he chose to minimize and avoid the subject of his events. Coworkers would never be able to comprehend what it took, what he had to go through, the sacrifices made. Most were more concerned about things that didn't interest him. With very small exception, all were people in which he had no interest in sharing his personal saga. Zero common ground.

He chose this event because it was what he considered the longest distance someone could still "race". For him, the definition of race was performing an event involving continual motion, no stopping to sit down and rest. There were events of greater length, but they involved multiple stages where there was downtime between sections. He wasn't really built for this distance, not that many were, so he felt it was over his "limit"...and that was a part of the draw. It sounded so cliche by now, but the words still rang true, "You find out who you are and what your really made of..." while training, and then taking the test.

"One minute, one minute to go..."

He wasn't nervious, he's taken hundreds of test's through the years...the days of butterly's have long passed. Although he was anxious to see if all the work, sacrifice, and pain would be sufficient for a "passing grade". If he passed, was it worth it? To him, there was no other way. Nothing half done...110%...all in. He could be categorized as detail oriented or obsessive compulsive...type "A" personality or obnoxious...focused or self absorbed. All these terms can be viewed in their positive, or corresponding negative connotation...it was all in the receiving parties perspective.

The temperature felt warmer now, maybe due to the tense energy surrounding the final countdown. In his mind, he quickly ran through his mental checklist test steps...and then recounted key portions of the plan to reassure himself mentally that he WAS ready for this test...but was he?

The cannon fires...