Dec 18th, 2006
First Female Above-Knee Amputee Ironman
I’m still contemplating about whether or not to stop drinking alcohol (for now). My brother-in-law Dan says he got his swimsuit, so he’ll train with me tomorrow morning at the pool.
I just stumbled upon an interesting website, iamsarah.org. It’s the website of Sarah Reinertsen, the first female above-knee amputee to become an ironman triathlete. Here’s the story she has on her website:
October 15, 2005 will always be a red-letter day for Sarah Reinertsen, since it’s the day she became an Ironman, completing the hardest Ironman of them all, in Kona, in 15 hours, 5 minutes. Sarah’s dream became a nightmare in 2004, during her first try, when she missed the bike cut off by just 15 minutes; a year later, the benefits of new coaching, training and nutrition regimes paid off.
Sarah’s mother, Solveig Fuentes, was one the hordes of people waiting for her to cross the finish line. Not much could be heard over the chant of “Sarah! Sarah!”
“We expected her to finish sometime after 11, so we were really surprised and thrilled when it happened at 10:05 p.m.,” Solveig said. “I was watching her face as she crossed the line, and she almost had a look of disbelief, like she couldn’t believe it had really happened.
“For me, seeing Sarah realize this dream was even better than giving birth,” Solveig added.
Since completing her historic feat, Sarah’s life has been a whirlwind of activity. Among other things, she appeared on Nightline on Oct. 21, wrote an MSN blog and even rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ. Her achievement has inspired others to commit to their dreams; Sarah will, of course, never stop reaching for hers.
Her impressive success motivates and inspires me.
What do you think?