Ironman 70.3 Augusta : Official Thread (Page 16)

I will conquer what has not been conquered.

I will believe what others have doubted.

I will gladly go into our arena of battle,

Knowing that I have reached it by every mean at my disposal.

And when I get there I will arrive violently.

Today is that day,

Not tomorrow, not next week.

Today is MY day.

Around me are my competitors,

Competitors that have also been through thick and thin,

Through sacrifice, through blood, sweat and tears.

I will always endeavor to honor, respect,

And grant prestige upon my competitors,

Even as I defeat them,

Even as I rip the heart from their chest,

I shall not hope for them to fall, or to fail.

I desire them to be mighty, to be great,

To challenge me beyond what I know I am capable of.

I acknowledge the fact that they do not expect me to prevail,

That it is their belief that it will be they who prevail;

However, they do not know my heart.

I will never surrender.

Weakness will not be in my heart.

Defeat will not be in my creed.

No one will deny me.

No one will defy me.

And no one will tell me who and what I am and can be.

I have trained my mind and my body has followed.

Defeat, retreat, surrender, quit

I do not understand their definitions.

I do not understand when things go wrong.

I do not understand mistakes, missteps,

No matter how badly things go, I do understand this:

I understand preparation, and I understand execution, and I understand victory.

I will look to my comrades,

To those that depend upon me,

To those that brought me into this world,

To those that have trained me,

And I will draw strength from them.

Belief has changed the world.

It has climbed mountains, forged countries, and put man on the moon.

And it will carry me through this endeavor.

History will remember me,

And I will not have to worry about her being kind.

I will define myself.

I will write my own praises.

And no one will tell me what I can and cannot be.

I will never go home, not without giving everything that I have.

My heart and my mind will carry me when my limbs are too weak.

Who am I?

I am an IRONMAN!

I am a CHAMPION!

 I know, I know its a Half Ironman, but that seemed to take something away from the spirit. Again, blatantly plagiarized from the originals above and certainly in violation of the IronMan trademark, but I'm not planning on printing it on T-Shirts or posting anywhere else.  Its just for fun, and to keep my mind off the upcoming race for a few minutes, so sue me.

Those poor pros will be done long before it gets nice and toasty. Anyone know which "big" names are in this year. It was cool meeting the Bennets last year.

Are there any Augusta natives out there that have an opinion as to whether or not this race will be wetsuit legal?

Hmmm current water temp is 76.28 according to http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02197000.  Looks like if they check it in the morning it will be wet suit legal.  I won't be placing so even if it does go above 76.1 I'll still wear mine.

Wetsuit sounds good to me.  I did Augusta last year for my first HIM.  We swam through a lot of seaweed - especially getting close to shore to get out.