My Road to KONA 2013 – Steve Pappas
I was always passionate about sport & loved to compete. However, due to a lack of knowledge & guidance, I injured my legs while training & competing in the 1976 City to Surf Fun Run, which left me with stress fractures in both lower legs as well as Compartment Syndrome in both front calves.
Two operations on my calves just made things worse. For the next 15 years I could only run 3km without stopping – my sporting ambitions were shattered!
Nevertheless, I kept looking for answers & finally found success with a special kind of deep massage. I could now run again & decided to compete in a short course Triathlon – I was hooked straight away & over the next 7 years I gradually increased the distance until I was able to compete in & finish the 2002 Ironman Australian Triathlon at Forster NSW. I never thought I would ever achieve that.
My ambition now was to try to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, the pinnacle of the sport – But it seemed like the “Impossible Dream” as my times were nowhere near good enough.
I finished 4 Ironmans at Forster (2002-2005) but times were not good enough.
Then in 2006, while training for Ironman at Port Macquarie NSW, I was hit by a car (hit & run) at high speed while cycling, which left me with a broken hip socket & a broken collar-bone. I had 3 screws placed in my hip & the surgeon said that I wouldn’t be able to run competitively any more.
Once again, deep massage got me going and I was able to finish the Ironman at Port Macquarie NSW in 2007 and 2008, but the times were still not good enough for Hawaii. Also in 2007, I tried to qualify at the Hawaii 70.3 Triathlon, but was still not good enough.
In 2009, I went overseas again to try & qualify at Ironman Malaysia – I did an all-time PB but it was still not good enough.
In 2011, I was training for Ironman China, when I had another bad fall off my bike, which left me with a badly broken collar-bone, 5 broken ribs & a frozen shoulder. It took 18 months before I could swim again, even though my collar-bone did not mend & remained detached – The Hawaiian Ironman looked like a lost cause.
Nevertheless, I persisted with training & decided to enter Ironman Cairns, QLD on 9th June 2013. I started the race feeling good & at the end of the Bike leg, as I later found out, I was in 10th Place in my age group. I started the Run & just did the best I could all the way to the finish.
Well, my Run time of 3hr 54min was the fastest run time in my age group (in pouring rain), and my Finish time of 11hr 40min was an all-time PB for me at 56 years of age. This gave me 4th Place in my age group & there were only 2 qualifying spots for Hawaii. However, the first 2 had already qualified, so the qualifying spots rolled down to 3rd & 4th, so I was in – I had qualified for HAWAII – it was like a fairytale.
I used Hammer Nutritional Products for all my training & racing and found them to be of great benefit.
Hawaii – the “Impossible Dream” was now a reality – so Never say Never !