Fighting to finish

Some call it the zone. To others, it’s autopilot.

At the peak of physical exertion, it’s the point where the mind detaches from the body. It’s the moment where training and muscle memory take over while the mind wanders. The body responds when the brain falters.

Those who haven’t experienced it can’t comprehend it, but the moment it sets in, it can’t be confused.

For Dick Smith the only thing more noticeable than going into the zone was coming out of it.

After a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and nearly 22 miles on foot, Smith fell out of the zone four miles from the finish line of the 2007 Ironman World Championship.

The sun had long set off the Kona coast as Smith closed in on the final few miles of his first Ironman. For most of the run, Smith had been in that zone, but it was the feeling in his feet that brought him out of it. He had completed 97 percent of the race, but when Smith stopped, took off his shoes and saw blisters covering the entire balls of his feet, the then 66-year-old retiree from Hanalei knew the final four miles would be much longer than the 137 he had already completed.

Dick Smith has waited four years to complete those final four miles. The blisters on his feet and the limited amount of time left in the race forced Smith to cross the 2007 finish line in the back of a medical van.

“I felt it really wasn’t worth the destruction of my feet to come across a finish line that wouldn’t be there when I arrived,” Smith said, noting he wouldn’t have finished by the midnight cutoff.

Smith will be running his second Ironman today, this time with the sole goal of finishing.

After failing to finish four years ago, Smith has dedicated himself to this year’s race because it will be his last.

At the age of 70, Smith said this will be his last chance for his first finish.

Commited to a grueling workout routine since January, Smith said the time sacrificed by himself and family is just too much for another go. Today is now or never for Smith.

“Not finishing was upsetting and it’s something I still remember,” Smith said. “It was disappointment.”

Smith has carved himself into the best shape of his life. Whether it be a 4 a.m. Saturday morning bike ride From Hanalei to Waimea and back or pushing himself through rigorous weight routines and long runs and swims, Smith has done everything he possibly could to prepare himself for today.

And he’s ready to be finished.

“Physically I’m feeling OK,” Smith said last week from Kona; he’s been training on the Big Island for the past month. “I’m tired, though. The training has some to do with that but it’s mental as well. I’ve been preparing for this since January. Over the months it starts to wear you down.”

Smith’s fatigue from everything Ironman shouldn’t be confused for lack of focus; he wants nothing more than to finish the race. That’s what drives him. But to get to the point where Smith can walk to the starting line this morning and know he’s given himself the best possible opportunity to finish has taken its toll.

Barbara Smith, Dick’s wife of nearly 50 years, can’t wait until the Ironman is over. For the past nine months, the Smiths have put their lives on hold while Dick trained. They’ve cancelled trips and engagements. They haven’t seen their family and Barbara hasn’t seen much of Dick.

“It’s tough on our family,” Barbara said. “It’s one of those things where you better look at your family and know what you’re doing because many Ironman marriages dissolve and there’s separations, because it is a separation.”

Barbara was willing to sacrifice for an Ironman year one more time because she knew what not finishing did to Dick four years ago, and she knows what not trying again would do to him.

“He’s got a goal and he’s going to finish that goal,” Barbara said. “I’m not the person to tell him he can’t do things.”

Dick took the last three years off from the Ironman, and despite starting training in January, his Ironman dream almost died in June. In order to compete in the Kona Ironman, competitors must qualify for the race in one of several sanctioned Ironman competitions across the world. Dick had circled the June 4 half-Ironman in Kona as his race.

Dick needed to finish in the top three to qualify. He finished fourth.

But because he finished the race, Dick was able to enter his name into a lottery that selected hopefulls to compete. His name was called and he accepted a spot in the 2011 Ironman.

“It was very thrilling,” Dick said. “Then it was numbing, because I realized what was ahead of me.”

They say finishing the Ironman is a win in itself. The event requires those wanting to conquer it to be proficient on foot, tire and in water. The swim begins at 7 a.m. and navigates through the surf of the Pacific Ocean. By the time racers reach their bikes the sun sticks to them like a magnet. Biking across the coast of the Big Island in desert-like conditions for 100-plus miles is gruelling enough, but then a full marathon is added at the end as the cherry on top of the torture cake.

Regardless of what shape someone is in going into the race, finishing is an unknown. Dick said unlike a typical triathlon where unless something drastic happens he’ll finish, the Ironman is a whole different animal.

“When you get to this one, there is no guarantee,” Dick said. “It’s so long and so subject to the weather — the wind, the heat, the humidity — that some don’t make it.”

Dick has prepared for as many possible problems entering the race as he could. He’s in great shape. He’s been working with a nutritionist from England and has been carbo-loading for the past week. He’s even switched socks in order to prevent the blisters that crippled him last time.

But it’s the Ironman, and Dick knows that no matter how much he prepares, nothing is certain. Whether it be an injury, fatigue or a shard of glass that pops a tire, anything can happen.

It wouldn’t be the Ironman if it was easy.

But Dick has worked too hard and too long to get back to this point, and with this being his last shot at becoming an Ironman, chances are he’ll crawl to the finish if he has to.

“I’ll be surprised if he can’t make it,” Barbara said. “But if he doesn’t, I think he’ll be more accepting. I tell him ‘Look at what you’ve done. There’s people young and old who haven’t finished the swim or bike or run. There were people out way before you.’”

Whatever happens in today’s race, there will be closure. Acknowledging this is his last crack at becoming an Ironman, Dick will leave everything in the Kona heat. When the sun rises on Sunday, the Smiths will have their lives back. They plan on traveling to the mainland and later to Europe and Australia. They plan on living their lives and enjoying retirement.

But for 17 hours today underneath the sun, the national media and the pressure of the last four years, Dick hopes to hit that zone. And this time he doesn’t want to come out of it until he finishes those last four miles.

• Tyson Alger, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by emailing talger@ thegardenisland.com. Follow him on twitter.com/tysonalger.