You Are an Ironman How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World's Toughest Triathlon

by Steinberg, Jacques

• ISBN13: 9780670023028
• ISBN10: 0670023027
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-15
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

A New York Timesbestselling author takes readers inside the Ironman triathlon. As he did so masterfully in his New York Timesbestseller, The Gatekeepers,Jacques Steinberg creates a compelling portrait of people obsessed with reaching a life-defining goal. In this instance, the target is an Ironman triathlon-a 2.4-mile open-water swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, then finally a 26-mile marathon run, all of which must be completed in no more than seventeen hours. Steinberg focuses not on the professionals who live off the prize money and sponsorships but on a handful of triathletes who regard the sport as a hobby. Vividly capturing the grueling preparation, the suspense of completing each event of the triathlon, and the spectacular feats of human endurance, Steinberg plumbs the physical and emotional toll as well as the psychological payoff on the participants of the Ford Ironman Arizona 2009. His You Are an Ironmanis both a riveting sports narrative and a fascinating, behind-the scenes study of what makes these athletes keep going..

Author Biography

Jacques Steinberg has been a staff reporter for The New York Times for more than ten years and currently is a national education correspondent. In 1998, he was awarded the grand prize of the Education Writers Association for his nine-part series on a third-grade classroom on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Left, Right, Repeat	p. 20
Lance Armstrong's Not My Hero AnymoreùYou Are	p. 42
Courageous Warrior of Love	p. 61
Kids, Don't Try This at Home	p. 82
Walking on Air with My Chest Puffed Up	p. 99
A Bright Pink Mohawk and a Skirt	p. 112
Mommy's Recess Time	p. 126
A Saw Blade, Hammer, and Chisel	p. 136
The Incline	p. 148
This Is Going to Hurt	p. 161
His Time to Fight Had Ended	p. 174
Rumors of My Demise May Have Been Greatly Exaggerated	p. 183
The Yorkie and the Sugar Cookie	p. 195
Half of My Peers Are Dead, Half of the others Are in Assisted Living, and Look What Fun I Have	p. 209
My Kayak Angel	p. 228
Talking to God	p. 243
You Are an Ironman	p. 255
Epilogue	p. 272
Acknowledgments	p. 287
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