Monday, August 24, 2009

The IronSherpa

n. (ī-ərn-sher-puh) 1. an expert in the field of pack-muling and spectathlon, who devotes him- or herself entirely to the chosen triathlete for a day (or longer), to support in any way possible the athlete's desires and/or needs on the road to a successful finish line crossing at the race of utmost importance.

Jeremy gets his first shot at IronSherping this weekend at Louisville. He has the daunting task of not only being my sherpa, but Nancy's as well. I'm not sure he knows this. I mean, sure, he knows he is there to "support" us, but the full realization of what is required has most likely not occurred, nor will it until the end of Sunday when his legs are as tired as mine and his exhaustion (but not elation) exceeds mine. One clue that he was clueless came when he mentioned hanging out with an old friend during the race. I think I flinched. He may want to be napping instead. I'll let him figure that out on his own.

At my last Ironman in Panama City last November, there was an apparent competition for Sherpa #1.


Laura won with flying colors. Not only did she dress the part,

she also made enormous posters of our heads, and took excellent care of me during my forced post race pool leg soak and towel bath, all the way to planting me back on the couch later that night. For that she won the honor of IronSherpa #1, and will accompany me to Kona in about 6 weeks. What a prize. :)

Her competitor made mistakes right from the beginning. Nancy will never see her pump again, and here is the evidence of who last held its little tube before abandoning it on the vast sandy beach:
So tasks for Jeremy may include but are not limited to the safeguarding of pumps at all cost, towel bathing and crutching the racers post race, dressing up, cheering (not to be taken lightly), possibly walking many miles while carrying bags of race gear or in support of walking racer (please no!), and generally doing anything requested of him. All after waking up at 4 am. You got all that babe?


Good. No pressure. Any suggestions from the crowd for this newbie?

2 comments:

  1. Did you mention shaving our legs prior to the race? :)

    It took me a while, I cried and whinned for a couple months, about the loss of my fav bike pump. However, I've moved on, I've grown attached to my new bff pump. I hope to grow old with it.

    Yeah Jeremy!

    Laura, would you be able to handle two?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm, Nancy, I'm not sure. Maybe if the two Ironmen (Ironmans, what's the plural of this?) don't finish at exactly the same time. I think you should qualify for Hawaii so we can find out. ;)

    Poor Jeremy! I wish I was going to be there to give him on-the-job tips/training. In any case, GOOD LUCK to the competitors and sherpas.

    Lucky for you Joy, I'll be there for the next one to show him how it's done. Haha. ;)

    ReplyDelete