Tom Crites (Hazards Control, 2004) recently completed an Ironman Triathlon at Madison, Wisconsin and would encourage other retirees that life isn't over at 60/62/65 whatever. It wasn't a particularly good finish time but it was a thrill and he will probably do another one.

The Swim was more fun than a litter of puppies. Ironman insists of mass starts. With 2100 people all starting at the same time on a double loop course around a set of buoys, it was full body contact all the time. He had hoped to draft other swimmers; that certainly worked out, but he still had the slowest time he’d ever had for that distance.

The Bike event was hills, lots of rolling hills, lots of turns and hot. No hills as steep or long as Del Valle, but several to bring you out of the saddle and no place to settle into a steady ride. At the first of the week they had predicted a high of 62, so he said "oh goodie" and got out the arm warmers. Mid-week they said 75, he said "fine" and put the arm warmers away. Race day it was in the upper 80's, 90 at one point. They had Gatorade at the rest stops and his stomach doesn't tolerate that well, so he had mixed up his own stuff to pick up at mid-point. Unfortunately, in the heat, it went bad and tasted like cheap, stale beer. It was another 12 miles before he could switch to Gatorade and he got behind on drinking again. Having learned on the Deathride how much rest stops can eat up time, he was off the bike 3.5 minutes for this ride and felt pretty good going into transition. No crashes, no flats, no cramps, a perfect ride.

The Run was the longest marathon of his life. The run course is a dream, basically flat, with cheering crowds. Some slopes in town and one small hill. But 4 miles in he started getting light headed and dizzy, at 8 miles started cramping up and at 10 miles throwing up. But he figured out that, with the time remaining, he could walk in and found sucking on ice relieved the nausea, so he made it in with the worst marathon time he’d ever had.

He lost 10 pounds during the event, but recovered that in a couple days. The next morning he had decided he'd never do another event over 8 hours, but by now he’s ready to sign up for another Ironman.

Ron and Barbara Hill (Mechanical Engineering 1991, and 1993) had a mini-reunion at their second home above Jackson. They invited Jane (Engineering, 1993) and Pat Ellis (Hazards Control & G Division, 1991), Ron Carr (Mechanical Engineering, 1993) and his wife, Donna, Gus (Electronics Engineering, 1993) and Jane Olson (Mechanical Engineering, 1993), and Cleve Gunderson.(Mechanical Engineering, 1983) and his wife, Betty. It was a very lovely afternoon with good food and drink and much reminiscing about our previous lives at the Laboratory. It was also fun catching up on what everyone has been doing since they left the Laboratory.

Please send any news or input (please include the date and department from which you retired) to Jane or Gus Olson. E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.

This article appeared in the November 12th Retirees' Corner in Newsline.