Chet “the Jet” as he is known by his friends and Team mates is still working hard on the Double Deca Ironman. Yes, that’s 20 times an Ironman! Normally, the Ironman distance is 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles bike, and 26.2 miles swim. As if that is not enough, Chet is attempting to do that 20 times over. That’s 48 miles of swimming, 2240 miles of biking, and 524 miles of running.! And, it is not his first time. He became one of only 5 participants in the world to finish this endurance event 12 years ago. That same year, he completed one more Triple Ironman, two Double Ironman, and a single Ironman to hold the World’s Record for Most Ironmans in 1 Year – 28.
I asked him why he wanted to do the Double Deca again, when he has already proven that he can do it. He told me, “I started coaching the Iolani girls cross country and track teams, and my training group -Team Jet, the year after that. And, I just kept getting more and more out of shape. Soon, nobody knew that I had done it, or could even believe it because I had such a big stomach. Last year I ran the Honolulu Marathon in something like 5 hours 45 minutes and knew I had to get back in shape. Two days later, it was fate that I got the call from Monterey (Mexico, where the event is held) and I knew that was my chance to show everyone that I could still do it.”
Chet trained hard over an 8 month period, and dropped 40 pounds working his way back into shape. Unfortunately, violence has broken out in Mexico, and Monterey seemed to be one of the worse areas. So Chet, and his handler, Charles Dias had to make a tough call one week before, and pull out of the race. Chet said, “It wasn’t worth risking our lives over.” But, he was determined to still do the event, and thought it was a blessing in disguise, because “This way I can do it on Oahu in front of my family and all of my friends. Everyone can come out to watch and see what it was all about.”
So, On November 13th he set off on a historic journey that mostly has gone in circles. He swam 48 miles at the Oahu Club pool from Nov. 13-16. It was much tougher than he thought it would be, and he was really glad to get out of the water after 3 days and 6 hours. Chet rode his bike 1200 miles on the Lagoon Drive loop (2.8 miles) from Nov. 16-25. Unfortunately, he had to stop short of the Double Deca distance because of saddle sores that plagued him from nearly the beginning of his ride. He passed the Deca distance of 1,120 miles and said, “I wanted to round it out to an even number, so I decided to stop at 1200 miles.” The last day of his bike ride, which happened to be Thanksgiving Day, also happened to be the toughest day of his entire ride because of extremely high winds. “This made it easy on the way back, but didn’t make up for the fact that on the way out, it was really tough.” Fortunately he had a lot of supporters out there beside him on this holiday.
Now, he has endured blisters on his toes, and hot afternoons in the sun, as he has passed the 130 mile mark on the 4th day of his run. You can stop by to cheer him on at Kapiolani Park (1.8 mile loop) as he runs 33 miles per day. 11 miles from 7 to 9:30am, 11 miles from 12 noon to 2:30pm and 11 miles from 4:30 to 7pm. His support team, and Charles Dias, his handler who has been with Chet every minute so far, is located across from Kaimana (San Souci) Beach Park in the purple Team in Training tent. He will be running at Kapiolani Park every day until December 12, when he will finish the run portion of this Double Deca Ironman at the Honolulu Marathon event.
Follow his daily progress on the Team Jet website: http://www.teamjethawaii.com/doubledeca.php
And, if you can – please donate to the Melanoma Research Foundation in support of Chet’s effort at: http://www.firstgiving.com/chetblanton1
Hawaii Running Project 