The Mundane vs. The Big Race

While mowing the lawn Sunday afternoon I was struck by how, as a complete and hopeless amateur, those of us staring down an Ironman in the near future still have to go at our day to day life as though it's every bit as important as a day spent swimming, biking and running.

The lawn, of course, doesn't cut itself. And I can either cut it when it needs to be cut, or I can regret being a lazy bones and waiting. So as I cut it, I thought about comparing the two events:

Cost of entry:
IM- 475.00
ML- one beer (strictly enforced)

Beer on course:
IM- prohibited
ML- required

Cost of Equipment:
IM- 3000 (bike, shoes and helmet, wetsuit and googles, running shoes)
ML- 139.00 (mower)

Shortest Completion of event
IM- 10h 25m (twice)
ML- 0h 58m

Longest Completion of Event
IM- 11h 25m (includes walking 8 miles of marathon)
ML- 2h 15 (includes mower dying, going and buying and then assembling new mower and finishing)

Encouragement from fellow athletes
IM- Yes
ML- Front-yard only, and only when near road

Percent chance to run out of gas
IM- 50%
LM- 90%

Crowd cheering when finishing
IM- Yes
ML- Front yard only

Name Loudly (mis) Pronounced at Finish
IM- Hell yeah
ML- Hell no

Medal for finishing
IM- Yes
ML- Wife frequently responds to me finishing with 'Yeah, so you mowed the lawn. Do you want a medal ?'

Overall- The ironman wins, but mowing the lawn is sure less costly.