Matthew Coffman's winning entry

    I returned to Tennessee after my second tour in Iraq with the US Army in June of 2008.  I jumped back on my bike the next day.  In October, I won my age group at the Atomic Man Half-Ironman outside Knoxville, Tennessee.  That was how it was supposed to go, anyway.  In reality, I got home and crashed for two days then got back on my bike.  And I took second in my age group at the Atomic Man.

  I have wanted to do an Ironman since 2005.  It seemed like a challenge, and I like challenges.  I joined the Army after September 11th and became a Special Forces medic.  It was hard, but after finishing all the training I needed another goal.  An Ironman seemed appropriate.  Go big or go home, right?  Of course, Iraq was in full swing at that point and I sandwiched what triathlon training I could between military schools and deployments.  I bought a Cervelo P2SL when I moved to Clarksville, Tennessee and began to train in earnest.  Still in the military, I snuck the training in where I could.  I found that I could compete even with deployments when I finished my first race, an Olympic Distance race in Nashville in September 2006, a week after I got back from a deployment to Jordan.  Motivated to continue my trek towards an Ironman, I continued my training, finishing several races during 2007.  I deployed to Iraq again in the fall of 2007, and returned in June.  As soon as I was back, I informed the army that I was not re-enlisting, and was told my last day would be April 17, 2009.  I entered the Atomic Man and started training.  I raced in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July and had a terrible race.  The weather was awful and I kept getting blown all over the course.  I thought they were going to cancel the race several times.  I finished, and was disappointed.  It was fuel for the fire.

The Army decided to move me to an administrative position, which I was a big fan of because it meant more time to train.  I trained for the rest of the summer and fall, and was rewarded with a second place finish in Knoxville. The fire got even bigger.

    In February of 2009, I will stop working for Uncle Sam and begin training full time.  I've got the Boulder 5430 Series (a sprint, international distance, and half-iron) this summer to prep for my ultimate goal, the Ironman Tempe race.  I've got a coach, motivation, no injuries, and a very understanding wife.  The race is the 22nd of November, 2009, and I will be on the start line, ready to race.  I will cross the finish less than 11 hours later, and I will be exhausted.  But satisfied.  Very Satisfied.