An interview with Ironman I champion Aaron Fix

EDY First off, what is the Ironman exactly and what does it mean to you?

Aaron Fix The IRONMAN is the single most important day of the year. On the day of the IRONMAN, I wake up (if I have even been able to sleep the night before) and leave the house thinking only about the challenges that lie ahead, the exhilarating heights and dizzying lows that we all will experience in our quest for ultimate glory. When the events are over and the victor has been crowned, all the contestants can eat and drink and be merry until the time has come to part ways and lay our heads down to rest. Any problems or stress in my life can be forgotten for a day. This is important because I have a lot of important things to worry about on a daily basis.
The IRONMAN is an all-day, 7 event marathon of various sports, both conventional and unconventional. Contestants are awarded points based on their respective finishes in all of the events, and a winner is crowned at the end of the day. Generally, all contestants (4 or 8) ride around in a van listening to Ozzy's IRONMAN and other songs befitting IRONMEN. For 12 hours we sweat and bleed and laugh and cry together. All IRONMEN are brothers for eternity.

EDY Do you think you were a little naive when you won your first and only Ironman, maybe even taking it for granted that it would always be there?

AF Absolutely not. I knew how lucky I was to win that one. It always takes a little bit of luck, I don't think anyone can win an IRONMAN championship without getting some help along the way in some of the team events. I am, however, a little bitter that I didn't get a trophy until the morning of IRONMAN II. I drank out of the trophy at lunch, but had to hand it over to Adam at the end of the day. But I absolutely enjoyed that first win, and savored it for 364 days afterwards. I did not take a single thing for granted.

EDY How was your love life while your reign as champion?

AF Let's see, I won during the summer after my sophomore year of college. Before winning IRONMAN I I had one date with a Colombian girl who worked at the camp I worked at, but I definitely did not seal the deal, and in retrospect, perhaps I could have. Especially if she knew about my champion status. I wish I still was in touch with her because I would like to visit Colombia.

I guess my reign as champion was my Junior year at Wheaton College. I have to say that I did not have anything approaching a love life that year (not that I usually do). In fact, I'm pretty sure that year was the only time in my life that I have actually been rejected. I never realized that before, but maybe there is some curse of the IRONMAN. It will be interesting to hear what the experiences of the other guys were. Come to think of it, I spent part of the following year (after losing the trophy) in a pretty great relationship. And last summer, the only time I have ever been in a relationship while competing in the IRONMAN, I finished quite poorly in what is usually my finest event (the obstacle course) when the championship was on the line.

Well, if romantic success is what I have to sacrifice in order to be champion, then so be it. I would gladly be single for life if I could be IRONMAN for life.

EDY Answer that question I asked you on the way to the supermarket. I forgot what it was.

[note: for those who do not know, Ironman I Aaron Fix lives in the everyday yeah house.]

AF I think it was about my favorite event?

EDY oh, okay. Answer that one.

AF My favorite event is the obstacle course because not only do I feel it absolutely captures the spirit of the IRONMAN competition, but I usually finish near the top (last year of course was a complete disaster). The obstacle course requires a combination of speed, agility, strength, endurance, strategy and willingness to humiliate oneself publicly. It is also the only event that rewards 1 minute of effort with up to 3 points. It is absolutely a wild card, because the course is not designed before the beginning of the day. It also tends to be the most hilarious. Obviously the obstacle course is not a "real" sport like basketball or football, but to be honest I really like the movement away from "real" sports, towards events like obstacle course, big base, egg hour, Settlers of Catan, live animal catch, and floor exercise.

EDY Talk a little about this floor exercise or any of the other games people might not have heard about.
Also, can you talk about your decision to name yourself as team captain for the aaron squad?

[note: a lot of time passed]

EDY answer the damn question...

AF The floor exercise is exactly what you have seen in the Olympics. Basically, it would just be prancing around and doing gymnastics maybe with some streamers in hand. The only problem is finding an impartial judge, which is why it would be difficult to include figure skating in the winter IRONMAN if that ever happens. As for any other games that others might not have heard about, I recommend checking the "games" section of everydayyeah.com. Some of the potential IRONMAN events are in there. In fact, it would be a good idea to do IRONMAN using only those events found on the website.
Regarding my position as captain, I think I was the natural choice for the Aaron squad considering that I am the only contestant named Aaron. I don't feel the need to defend myself. Who is the captain of the Mark squad? I'll tell you who's NOT captain of the Mark squad. ZACK!

EDY So, is there any last words? How about you ramble on for a 1000 words about all that is Ironman and have it done by the time I get back from clogging the toilet?

AF IRONMAN is, I think, an important institution in all of our lives. We all hope to be doing this in 10, 20 or even 30 years. In fact, my dream is for our children to carry on the tradition long after we are unable to exert ourselves physically. Of course, when I talk about passing the tradition down to our children I am really just talking about strong, athletic, verile sons. Perhaps our daughters can have an IRONWOMAN competition that involves sewing and cooking and whatnot, I could care less about that. I am thinking about our beautiful sons, muscles bulging and dripping with sweat as they hoist that trophy in the air that has been hoisted by so many casual athletes before them. And now that you mention clogging the toilet, I have been thinking that maybe that could be added to the list of events, perhaps a tiebreaker to see who can do the most damage with their lunchtime burrito?