Ken Rideout

The first time I qualified for the Ironman in Hawaii on NBC Sports, it was so hard to qualify.

Only 2,000 people out of hundreds of thousands try to qualify, and it's the best of the best, and everyone's good.

And I got there and I was so happy just to be there.

For me, at 40 years old, it was like qualifying for the Olympics.

But you qualify in your age group, so it's all relative.

And I get there and it just got hard when I got off the bike.

I got onto the run, it was hard, and I just quit like a dead dog loser.

My wife was standing there recording the minute I quit.

she's recording yay go and i'm like cut i'm like i can't do it i'm too tired and she was literally like what are you crazy really just keep walking and i was like i was part of me was embarrassed i wasn't doing well so in my mind again this is where you need mental toughness my mind was telling me it's okay you're not gonna win like come back again another time but meanwhile my wife has like put up with all my selfish training for years she's like this is it after this

You did it.

You reached your goal.

We're done with this.

So I also knew this was probably the last chance.

She would let me go back and do it again because of the disaster that I created for myself.

But that sting of quitting on that day in Hawaii, I get emotional thinking about it now.

I'm so ashamed of myself.

My wife would say, who are you embarrassed in front of?

Myself.

And the only opinion of me that matters and that should matter is my own.

Because if I don't think highly of myself, why would my wife think highly of me and respect me?