CULLMAN – Laura Brock only started running because she was not being tested.
“I wasn’t being challenged by aerobics; I wanted a more challenging thing,” she said.
The first day she ran she said it was awful and difficult; in other words, this is what she wanted.
That was back in 2009. Since then Brock has discovered over and over again the hidden joy that runners insist exists within their sport.
Brock, who is a nurse and also an athletic trainer at the Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center, started doing Ironman Triathlons in 2011. An Ironman Triathlon is a particularly grueling event which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run, done in that order and without a break.
Brock has the Ironman in her belt of accomplishments. Put differently, Laura Brock has completed infinitely more Ironman Triathlons than most humans who’ve ever lived.
The Ironman seems like a particularly athletically challenging event, formed in order to give the most well-prepared a formidable test of endurance. Built for those who are willing to give money for their run, and get a solid run for their money.
Now take that competition and double it.
This month, Brock completed the Florida Double ANVIL Double Ironman in Clermont, Florida, becoming the first woman in the history of the state of Alabama to complete a Double Ironman race. It was a punishing 281.2 miles over 28 hours and 38 minutes.
With 4.8 miles of swimming, 224 miles of cycling and 52.4 miles of running, the Double Ironman is a competition with such a dearth of those interested in participating that only three states offer it: Virginia, Oregon and Florida.
However, for Brock, it is pretty much the athletic mountaintop.
“Everything was leading up to last weekend,” she said. “It was very painful, and even though I train 35 hours a week, you cannot prepare to be uncomfortable.”
Brock’s humility was evident when asked if she would consider herself one of the most distinguished athletes in the world.
“I wouldn’t say that,” she said. “Not like the Olympians or anything.”
Brock has completed something greater than a simple marathon, although she’s completed many of those.
The word “marathon” comes from an ancient legend of a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Greeks had won the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance (which is about 26 miles long) without stopping, and burst into the assembly, exclaiming the news before collapsing and dying.
By this reporter’s calculations, anyone who can complete a Double Ironman is twice as legendary as a legend.
