By Jay Hewitt
Editor’s Note: After receiving a devastating brain cancer diagnosis, Jay Hewitt made the momentous decision to compete in an IRONMAN triathlon while undergoing cancer treatment. This post, adapted from his book I Am Weak, I Am Strong, talks about the courage he found from a supportive community of believers to press on as he prepared for the 140.6-mile race.
This is how IRONMAN’s historic, first-ever full-distance and virtual triathlon worked: athletes from all over the world would register with IRONMAN for the race, download the official app, and sync it with an approved sports watch that would track distance, elevation, speed, and time.
It was each athlete’s responsibility to plan their own 140.6-mile course, taking into account both traffic and elevation change; essentially, you couldn’t plan a downhill course. Also, each athlete would have to figure out how to set up aid stations along the way so they could refill their water bottles and grab some nutrition.