A Recent Ironman's Race Report

Another group that Bill Dwyer is involved with is the "Team Woodlands Rebels". They are individuals who run on a regular basis in The Woodlands and that they are either former participants of the Team In Training program or support TNT in various ways. One of the "rebels", Eugenio L'Huillier finished the Ironman Florianopolis Island in Brazil in 11:14:45 over the Memorial Day weekend.

"Lulo", as he is also known, covered the 2.4-mile swim in 1:15:12, the 112-mile bike portion in 6:16:30 and ran the marathon in 3:43:03.

Here is Eugenio's race report and a photo ("An image says more than thousand words; my daughters Nicole and Camila crossing the finish line with me")that is truly priceless:

"I have always believed that everything that is done with passion has a significant better chance of working out right, and fortunately this was not the exception. All the hard work and passion that I put over months of training were worth the effort as the feeling of accomplishment when crossing the finish line is hard to describe with words.

"During this process of becoming an Ironman, I have learned a few things as well, such as the Ironman is an event that challenges your mind's strength more than your body. It means, for example, finding the right reason to put 60 km on your bike before getting to the office, or even more important, during the actual race finding the right reason to run 42 km when you have already been exercising for 7 or more hours.

"An Ironman is a true trial of self-knowledge, where you end up discovering feelings that you were not aware existed within you. Now I can understand something I heard a while ago: "the Ironman is like a microcosm of life"..... it includes the difficulties and suffering, victories and triumphs of an entire life compressed into metaphorical miniature during the span of one race.

"Last but not least, even though this is an individual event you can't even think about attempting something like this without the support and commitment of your family, friends and co-workers. Thank you to all of you for the emails, words of wisdom and prayers which were with me along the way.

"In the grand scheme of things, very, very few people can ever consider attempting an Ironman distance race. Even starting is an accomplishment, left along finishing it. So I have many reasons to celebrate, and believe me, I am already doing it!"

Cheers!