OGDEN -- They insist it's not a midlife crisis.
Barely a year has passed since appointments that would plump any resume, landmarks to any legal career: Dee Smith as Weber County Attorney and Mike DiReda as 2nd District Judge, handed near life-and-death power over thousands of defendants a year.
Since Wednesday, the 40-something pals have been on-site, training for the St. George Ironman competition. This morning, they were to join an estimated 2,500 others in the 140.6-mile triathlon with a 17-hour deadline, until midnight, to finish the swim-bike-run.
"If I'm having a midlife crisis, I've told my wife it could be worse," Smith said.
"My wife is annoyed: 'Why can't you just act your age and gracefully surrender the things of youth' kind of thing," said DiReda, 44.
"But it's not out of any dissatisfaction or disillusionment with what we have ... most of the people here are competitive by nature, always goal-oriented, looking for another mountain to climb. You just keep pushing yourself."
Today's registration includes 70-year-olds, he said. "Against that backdrop, we don't seem so insane. But if I'm still doing this when I'm 70, maybe a psychological examination would be called for."
They consented to interviews Friday afternoon as they dropped off their bicycles at the transition area from the water leg of the gauntlet. After the 2.4-mile swim in the Sand Hollow Reservoir, they were to rush ashore to their waiting bikes for the 112-mile cycling portion. They finish with a 26.2-mile marathon.
"Everyone has their own nutrition plan," the 41-year-old Smith said. "I'm estimating I'll need to consume 2,400 calories along the bike ride. Down a pack of Goo and go. You have to have enough in you so you don't break down."
Goo is the brand name for a popular nutritional supplement triathletes use. The route also has aid stations every 10 miles, with Gatorade, power bars, bananas and so on.
Smith noted he tried a marathon six years ago just to stay active. "When I ran the first marathon, I thought that would be it. But I just got hooked on it."
Twelve marathons later, the Ironman is his first, the second for DiReda. They've been training in earnest for four months, with three trips to St. George, negotiating segments of the course.
They are joined today by fellow Ogden-area aspiring ironmen Shane Jessen, a surgeon, and businessmen Todd Kammeyer and Shawn Kunzler.
Race updates, live video and "athlete tracking" are available at ironmanstgeorge.com and ironman.com. The race is accredited for qualification toward the national Ironman championship in Kona, Hawaii.
A total of 63 professional ironmen and ironwomen have signed up, with an eye on the $5,000 purse to be split by the top five male and top five female finishers.
"Fourteen hours would be great. I'd be happy to do it in 14 hours," Smith said of his goal. "But I'd also be happy just to finish."
Each leg of the triathlon has minimum time limits to be met or competitors are taken off the course.
DiReda hopes to beat his time of 15 hours and 28 minutes in the 2003 Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Ironman.
They talked casually about a training routine that startles the average out-of-shape, middle-aged person. They've cut back on the hard training of late, a 15-mile run two weeks ago being the last major effort.
A week before that, it was 90 miles of cycling in Yellowstone National Park, a mile in the water Wednesday and a three-mile run Thursday, just to keep the legs loose.
DiReda said he intended in 2003 to do only one Ironman. "But truly, it was kind of a life-changing experience. Difficult to articulate.
"People don't understand until you've done it. There are few things in life where you are stripped to your core like that ... the finish line at an Ironman is an amazing thing to experience.
"The closer you get to midnight, the more people there are waiting. They want to see the people gutting it out, literally crawling to the finish line."
Smith and DiReda plan to be back at work Monday.
"Sanity's going to return here shortly," Smith promised.
Comments