But tagging along behind Dave Scott was not going to be a plan that would lead me to victory. I had no idea what the best race pace was to come up with a victory. I liked to feel like mentally I was in charge of the race, and if Mark wanted to sit behind me so be it.” No different than any of the other years, but I knew that he was going to be ready this year. Dave Scott described that mindset this way: “The morning of the race my plan was go out out as hard as I could. He had a strategy that was willing to go with that plan. I was there to race my best by learning from the best.
And if Dave once again reigned supreme, then so be it! What’s most important is coming up with your best. No, it seemed like no matter what I did, Dave Scott had a stronghold answer that put him atop the podium. Dave won then, again, as he had done like a precision surgeon cutting away with a scalpel all that was in his way. I had a lead of over 5-minutes with less than 10-miles to go in the marathon in 1987. In 1984 I had a lead off the bike of over 12-minutes. My most recent honor came in 2012 when I was voted "The Greatest Endurance Athlete Of All Time" in a worldwide poll conducted by ESPN.Įven the biggest of leads off the bike are eaten up with a few miles of walking on the marathon. In 1997 Outside magazine tabbed me "The World's Fittest Man" and was also inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame. I was named "Triathlete of the Year" six times by Triathlete magazine. Over the course of my racing career, which ended in 1996, I maintained a 90% average in top-three finishes. I was undefeated in ten trips to the Nice International Triathlon in France, and from 1988-1990 I put together a streak of 21 consecutive race wins at all distances of triathlons from the Olympic distance all the way up to Ironman. In 1989 I also won the International Triathlon Union's inaugural World Championship at the Olympic distance in Avignon, France. It would be the first of six Ironman titles in Hawaii, the last coming in 1995 at age 37. Growing up I was a competitive swimmer, which eventually lead to becoming an All-American at UC San Diego where I received a degree in biology.Īfter competing and losing in the IRONMAN World Championship six times (often to Dave Scott), I emerged victorious in 1989, winning one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. I knew that I could win it after that vision but I didn't know if I was going to.I was born in Glendale, California. I just felt like I was gaining energy from this image of Don Jose and I just got stronger and stronger from that point on.
I realized I'm happy just to be here next to this guy-nobody else is. I got so caught up with trying to keep pace with Scot that my mind became totally quiet and, at that moment, the image of the old shaman came back into my mind he just had this look on his face in the ad that said "I'm happy just to be alive," and somehow that started to give me strength. Midway through the marathon I started to get real tired and I thought "Ah jeez, not again.here he goes, Scott's going to win.I'm never going to win this crazy race."
Anyway, in the middle of the marathon, at about mile 13, I was right with Dave Scott, way ahead of everybody else and we were both on pace to break his world record (8:28.37). I had never heard of either of these two men or Huichol Shamanism, I knew what Indians were obviously but I didn't know anything about this tradition. There was a picture of these two shamans that were going to lead it, one was a 109-year-old Indian named Don Jose Matsuwa and the other was his adopted grandson Brant Secunda. A couple days before the race, I was flipping through a magazine and happened upon an advertisement for a workshop on Huichol Shamanism in Mexico.
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