Ironman for a Cause

On September 9, 2012, Caleb Pike will compete in Ironman Wiscosin. Pike has not only been training for this event over the past year, he has been raising both funds and awareness for Children’s Cancer Connection at the same time. Caleb is the founder of IM4RM, an organization of “everday average people” who enjoy testing their limits in endurance sports. The group adopted Children’s Cancer Connection as their charity in 2011 and have raised almost $15,000 through fundraising and their signature event, IRONGLUT.

Caleb Pike with is family at Camp Heart Connection Guest Night in August 2012.

Guest Blog by Caleb Pike, IM4RM founder and CCC donor.

I decided to take on an Ironman event last year while in the run portion of the Hy-Vee Triathlon. An Ironman race consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. That's all in one day, back to back. A friend of mine was going to be racing in Ironman Wisconsin 2012 and he had been trying to talk me into joining him. I really didn't feel too comfortable taking on something so huge until my run in the Hy-Vee Triathlon. I had been having fun with my training and everything came together really well in that race and I decided that I could take on Ironman in the following year, 2012. 

My training started almost immediately. I had a 3 month off season training program I followed that prepared me for my 9 month training plan that would take me all the way to race day and also the finish line. Still kind of riding on the high of finishing the Hy-Vee Triathlon and also signing up for Wisconsin, I thought that maybe I could do a little bit more.

Earlier that year my Grandfather had passed away after a short battle with cancer. My Grandpa and I were pretty close for a lot of my life. I always looked up to everything about him; he was a business owner, father, grandfather, friend and just an all-around great person. He treated everyone he met like they were important and they mattered to him. That's how he ran his business and treated his employees as well as his customers. He would go out of his way to take care of someone that struggled to do so themselves. So losing him was a huge blow to our family, myself and in my opinion, our community. So I wanted to turn my Ironman training and race into something larger than myself. I wanted to do something in his name to make an impact in our community. 

I didn't want to fundraise for just any charity, I wanted it to be local and I wanted to know where the money we raised was going to be used. I researched and met with some charities and ended up deciding to go with Children's Cancer Connection. Not only did I feel a personal connection to the cause, but I also felt a connection with the staff. They really seemed to be excited about what I wanted to do and also what they are already doing. So after meeting with Mark, I felt that we were all very excited and I pretty much knew that was the charity we would be going with. And being the father of a 4 year old beautiful little girl, I couldn't help but see her face on all of the kid's in the brochures that Mark had given me as well as on the site. 

So over the past several months we have been able to raise nearly $14,000. My original goal was to reach $10,000 but we realized that we would have to raise that fairly early in our efforts. We are hoping to reach $15,000 before our race in Wisconsin on September 9th. 

As well as the fundraising, the training has been a great amount of dedication and effort. Not only by me but my entire family. Training is typically done before and after work during the week and the weekends are the long workouts. Some training days can get up to 8 to 9 hours long. That pretty much means my entire day is spoken for since that much work wipes me out and all I want to do is sleep afterwards. The physical and mental toll that the training has taken really starts to show this late in the game. With the race only a few weeks away now, it becomes harder and harder to stay motivated to stay on track. To keep pushing hard and to keep working toward the starting line. When I start to feel bad for myself or like I want to just take a day off I think of my grandfather and the kids that benefit from Children's Cancer Connection and also the folks that make Children's Cancer Connection work. I want to make them all proud and I want them to know that I'm not only doing this for myself and my family, but for them as well. I know I have a choice in the suffering I'm putting myself through and I know that there is a lot of suffering that people don't have a choice in. That inspires me to keep going.

What I'm most excited for about this race is, finishing. I want to hear Mike Reilly's voice as I cross the finish line, "Caleb Pike, from Des Moines, Iowa. YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" And then to see my family and friends at the finish will just make this the best day of my life, I'm sure. Aside from the day my daughter was born of course. The second thing I'm most excited about is, not living my life according to my Ironman training plan. My next goals will be much more social and fun. Next year I will be doing one Half Ironman and other shorter distance Triathlons. I am also planning on doing the GoRuck Challenge at the end of summer next year.

Learn more about Caleb and IM4RM at www.im4rm.com

Children’s Cancer Connection would like to wish Caleb the best of luck at Ironman Wisconsin! Please leave your well wishes for Caleb below or send them to socialmedia@childrenscancerconnection.org