Unlimited Human Potential

I looked up more information on Ironman after hearing about it from Jeff Jonas. 

An Ironman triathlon comprises of:

1. 3.9 km swim (max timing: 2 hours 20 minutes)
2. 180 km bike (max timing: 8 hours 10 minutes)
3. 42.2 km marathon (max timing: 6 hours 30 minutes)

An Ironman completes the above within the max timings.

This is crazy. How could anyone have completed the above??! We are talking swimming 78 times the length of a swimming pool, cycling from Yishun to Bedok 9 times and finish off with running 100 rounds around the stadium, on the same day, one right after another. Unimaginable.

The first Ironman took 11:46:58 in 1978. The fastest Ironman today took 7:41:33. People have shaved 4 hours off in 40 years. 

The slogan for Ironman is "Anything is possible". Indeed. If I ever complete such a grueling race, that's exactly how I will feel. 

Nope, I am not ready to take up an Ironman challenge. It is a good reminder for me to embrace challenges. It may not have to be a big challenge like Ironman, but small challenges daily. It serves to:

• motivate myself - Reminding myself that I can be and should be stretched further.
• make myself happy - Through doing and completing the challenges. It feels like something tangible is being achieved.
• keep my mind active - stimulating and exercising that muscle of mine. 

 "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life" - Founder of Ironman, John Collins.

photo credit: 4687077035_06e316154c_o via photopin (license)

Drive Right Through It like Jeff Jonas

Very privileged to have attended Jeff Jonas' talk today. 

Nope, he is not your average established IT professional that studied for a PhD and worked his way up the corporate ladder to reach where he is today.

He went through the school of hard knocks, literally. Life dealt him with many blows. Among which, includes being a bankrupt after a failed business venture, becoming a single parent after getting divorced, becoming a quadriplegic following a car accident.  

He drove right through the challenges to:

• Set up a company that was eventually acquired by IBM.
• Became an IBM Fellow - one of the 90+ IBM Fellows in the world.
• Owned 11 patents.
• Conferred as Honorary PhD.
• Completed more than 45 Ironman triathlons around the world.
• Raised 3 children as a single father.

Lessons learnt:

• Finding a passion early in life. Jeff found his - software programming - when he was 14 after getting acquainted with computers. His passion led him to developing a program which his lecturer helped him sell during his sophomore year. He also founded 2 companies. One failed but the other became wildly successful and was acquired by IBM after 20 years.
• Look at challenges in the face and drive right through it. As he was recovering from being a quadriplegic, he raced cars, swam and later on, took to marathon and to date has completed 46 Ironman triathlons. 
• Do it for fun and for helping more people. He sold his company to IBM for the sole reason that he could help more people. 

What a life!