In 1975 in Germany, my uncle Bill ran a 3,000m race in 8:06. Fifty meters into the race he had lost one of his spikes (running shoe) as his heel had been stepped on by another competitor so he ran the race with one shoe and one bare foot.

On Sunday, and after two liver transplants, basically all the cartilage in both knees destroyed by anti-rejection medication, it took him almost eight and a half hours to complete the marathon portion of the ironman but he still finished it. He said that he was in pain for the entire distance of the marathon.  Bill had swam 1:16 for 3,800m and biked 6:19 for 180km before the marathon.

It is inspiring to see him remain an athlete, no matter the obstacles. Bill’s unofficial finishing time was 17 hours and 2 minutes, finishing 2 minutes after midnight.  We rarely get to see the entire story in the official time.

Congrats Bill, you are an ironman.

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