By Guest Blogger Randy Hahn
Have you ever thought about doing an Ironman Triathlon? I haven’t. Oh, once, on a bet, I ran a marathon. But that was a bet (which I won incidentally…my time was 4:28:00 in case you were wondering). But I’m talking IRONMAN here. A two and a half mile swim followed by a 112 mile cycling race and then a full blown 26.2 mile marathon for dessert. Ironman is right. Or, Ironwoman in my case.
That’s right I now live with an Ironwoman. It was tough enough when she was simply a 4 time Emmy award winning weathercaster at CBS 5 in San Francisco. No, now the mother of my children, Roberta Gonzales, is an Ironwoman. And frankly we couldn’t be prouder.
A lot of interesting things have happened to me this past year with no Sharks to talk about. I found out how wonderful the San Jose Sabrecats are to watch and I discovered that Malou Nubla really is just as nice in person as she is on Evening Magazine. But nothing can top what I experienced this past week at the Canada Ironman Triathlon in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada.
Nearly 2300 hundred athletes from 40 countries traveled to this “Sonoma Valley North” to prove something to themselves. They proved that you can set a seemingly insurmountable goal, train like mad for about six months, and then roll the dice on one day and try and achieve that goal. It was so wonderful to watch it almost made me want to do it. Almost.
But I will leave such pursuits to my wife. She made my sons and I extremely proud by finishing Ironman Canada. She set a serious goal, she trained with the dedication of a professional, and then she accomplished that goal. What a great role model for our kids, what an Ironwoman.
Randy Hahn is one of the most respected sports announcers in the Bay Area and the long-time voice of the San Jose Sharks.
Those looking for more info on Roberta’s Ironwoman adventure, check out her blog. Also, here is a news story about her preparations for the race.
Outstanding job!!! I knew she could do it. I can tell how proud you and the boys must be. Great write up…see you both very soon….Claire
If having laid-back Randy clogging-up the house proved enough to motivate Roberta to tackle a marathon, then maybe I wasn’t mistaken. Maybe being around supercharged Drew really was enough—maybe that was Mrs. Remenda I saw on Lance’s wheel during Stage 11, heroically gutting it up the Col du Galibier.
Kudos to Roberta—and to Randy for supporting her! For readers who watch Roberta and Randy on TV and wonder if they could really be as nice in person as on television, they are! We in the Bay Area should be proud to have this media “power” couple living and working right here. Again, way to go Roberta!!
A bit off topic but good news. According to the Susan Goldberg forum at the Mercury News web site, today was the last day of their failed experiment with the single news section. Starting tomorrow we will get the local news in its own section.
Interesting past article about the Merc’s change at the Columbia Journalism Review. See http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001636.asp
Susan Goldberg was on KLIV this morning. She said one reason the Merc is going back to two sections is because couples like sharing the National and Local sections over the breakfast table. Although this is a cute explanation I suspect the real reason is the Merc has learned that people value local news and don’t like to see it buried in with the other news. The eggheads at the Columbia Journalism Review don’t seem to grasp this point in the article you cite.
Roberta is a stud. I can’t even think about IronMan without throwing up.