Photo: Michellie Jones & Rhett Bonner. He insists that they are just "good friends."(Kailua Kona, HI - Sunday, October 11, 2009) Furnace-like heat. 8000-pound gorilla humidity. Gale-force winds. Unless your name was Chrissy Wellington (women's CR - 8:54:02!) or Cherie Gruenfeld (65-69W CR - 13:22:10), you set your Performance Dial on "Survival Mode" and prayed for a same-day finish. Several fast Minnesotans spent much more time, in some cases extra hours, on the courses than originally hoped.
How'd they do?
Here's how:
* Dan Arlandson, 33, Burnsville - PR - 9:13:42 (Full Vineman '09) - IRONMAN '09 - 10:19:44
* Ironman...Results...
* Rhett Bonner, 45, Duluth - PR - 10:42 (Hawaii '04) - IRONMAN '09 - 10:31:14
* Mark Carey, 39, Rochester - PR - 9:11:41 (Florida '07) - IRONMAN '09 - DNF
* Dan Friedrichs, 40, Mankato - PR - 9:47:41 (Florida '02 - Dan's 1st IM!) IRONMAN '09 - 11:04:39
* Josh Riff, 34, Edina - PR - 9:29:59 (Arizona '08) - IRONMAN '09 - 10:06:54
* Greg Taylor, 55, Mankato - PR since turning 50 - 9:37:20 (Hawaii '05) - IRONMAN '09 - DNF
* Sue Rubens, 43, Plymouth - PR - 10:14:31 (Florida '07) - IRONMAN '09 - 11:53:28
* Merilee Sander, 49, Northfield - PR - 10:54:18 (Arizona '08) IRONMAN '09 - 13:33:56
PERSPECTIVE: After winning the 1979 Boston Marathon, a TV reporter asked Bill Rodgers which runner he admired most. She expected to hear a name like Lasse Viren or Toshihiko Seko or Jerome Drayton or Derek Clayton.
"Anyone who spends more than 4 hours to go the distance," was Rodgers' surprising, sensitive and thoughtful reply. He went on to explain that he knows his limits; that he was blessed with speed and that he could tolerate no more than two hours and twenty-five minutes of running.
The abovementioned elite triathletes pushed themselves and persevered for much longer than they had hoped to last weekend. Hanging in there required extraordinary guts and will and they are to be admired even more than had they achieved their original goals. What they did last Sunday was learn first-hand what their less-gifted peers go through every time they toe the line at an IM. Those folks who commit themselves to continuous movement for 13-14-15-16-17-or-more hours; the folks who the great Boston Billy Rodgers believes deserve the lion's share of the admiration.
