The Boss: You Win if You Finish
December 19, 2009 by admin
Filed under Career News and Advice
I BEGAN swimming competitively when I was 6. My mom drove me to 5:30 a.m. practices. While I trained, she would sit in the car and fall asleep. As a high school senior, I was captain of the swimming team. The team became close. We thought green hair from chlorine was normal.
Alex Mcknight/Ironman
BEN FERTIC
Chief executive of World Endurance Holdings, the Tampa, Fla.-based operator of Ironman Triathlon events
AGE 41
HOMETOWN Orlando, Fla.
HERO Ronald Reagan
When my brother was 14, he climbed a tree and was shocked by a power line. He had his right arm and leg amputated. He was in intensive care and spent six to eight months learning how to walk on a prosthetic limb.
Six years later, in February 1982, my brother and I were watching an Ironman competition on TV. Julie Moss was leading the women’s competition when she stumbled and fell. She crawled her way to the finish line. (An Ironman triathlon has a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.) We looked at each other afterward and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that race?”
Two years later, my brother …
Read the original article at NYTimes
