The Fall Solstice for 2006 has arrived

Alright my little pretties. Here are some of the "lost" photos of the IronMan Arizona that I DNF (Did Not Finish) in April 2005. Enjoy

These are just a few pictures that I chose. The sign shows the date of the Ironman Arizona. That way when I get old and my memory get worst I can always rely on the photo for instant recall. The next photo I chose was the bike of my bike. I had to deliver my bike the night before and get the bike prepped for action the night before. As you can see the water bottles were full along with my watch timer on the handlebars of my bike. The "bike corral" was a sight to see. So many rows and within those rows each bike was basically spaced as in the picture. Yet, what is even more mind boggling is the cost of the bike corral. I mean there were some spectacular bikes and I can not even imagine the cost of all those bikes. There insurance premiums to cover those bikes had to be alot, if there was one. Sorry, that is what I would think since you required to leave your bike overnight. NO day of morning delivery to the bike corral. The other picture is the row that my bike was located in - since I was number 635. The picture was the shot of the morning of the event - maybe 6 in the morning. I can not recollect when dawn started that day. I do remember listening to Metallic that morning and I guess I did have the butterflies everywhere. Yes, I was never, but not jumpy. The bridge you see in the back ground was where the crowds gathered to see the swim portion of the event. The other picture is the grouping of all us athletes waiting for the go ahead to get into the water and swim to the starting line. Damn, damn, and fuck me! That water was cold that morning, but they said it was okay for us swimmers to swim in. Shit. I was hoping for them to cancel and add mileage to the biking portion - which was stated in the rules. I am in the crowd, but basically not hearing the world since I had my swimming plugs in my ears. You could hear a bit, but muffled. I guess I can tell you folks that I have not told before. I was waiting for all the "ready" swimmers to go first. Anyway, while I was waiting I noticed that there was a woman standing behind me doing the same thing. We both looked at each other, smiled politely and then still watched everyone go ahead of us. After a few more minutes and the crowd thinning out I looked back at her and she looked at me we both grabbed each others hand and walked to the jump off point into the water. Not one word was said between us. I could not believe that I did not say a thing, nor did I feel stupid or shy holding her hand. It felt normal, we Ironman competitors were a "family" that day and I had no problem doing the unthinkable or maybe something un-Daryl, if you will. Getting back to the story, we stood at the edge of the pier, looked once more at each other smiled and then did a Thelma and Louise jumped together over the edge. We broke contact in the air and the next thing I was fucking cold. It was hard to breathe and I was gasping when I broke the surface of the water. I scissored for about 30 seconds and then started to swim to the starting point still struggling with the cold. What I have not mention to anyone until this blog - I had considered doing the swim in one of my speedos. Yes folks those tiny speedos we men swimmers have to wear. Let me tell you people - full length swim suit are expensive. I know that you can not really see much or maybe make anything out in the picture, but there are those orange balls in the water that helped guide you swim down the river and then you came back the other way on the other side. In between the orange floatation balls were kayakers and then spaced out were the motor boats. Also, the kayakers were here and there to watch for the swimmers. The picture of the bridge showing all those people. They were there for us, for themselves, but wow I did not know that crowd was going to be that big. Do you know what made it really real before the Cannon was fired. I saw the swimmers in front and around me, I heard the muffled announcer on the PA system, I then saw the helicopter flying in front of the starting line filming. I felt a rush of what I saw on tv in the past years everytime I watch the Ironman Hawaii on tv - un-fucking-believable.

Gosh, it is amazing what I just wrote and the memories are still there - thank you. There is more and I have yet to tell or reveil the day. Sure I was, am, disappointed for not completing the Ironman, but getting a DNF was something beyond I could control. I gave up, but not because I gave up. It was my body shutting down that forced me to DNF. I remember the kayaker that was following me and asking me for the second time "are you sure?" I said "yes" He looked at me for a few seconds more to see if I would change my mind and then he raised his oars. That was..... well I am going to have to talk about this later. I can not see clearly since this memories is starting to tear up my vision. Sorry folks.

On that note I will leave you be.

The Fallen Athlete - Daryl Charley