Ironman a race of the spirit

Life threw cruel curves at 24-year-old Ironman triathlon hopeful Cameron Chesnut this past year.

In November, the Post Falls native buried his 15-year-old running partner, Jordan Johnson, who died of heart failure in his sleep. “He was like my little brother,” Chesnut said.

In May, Johnson’s father, whom Chesnut also was close to, died in a motorcycle accident (See Tributes page 4).

Meanwhile, Chesnut’s father, a nonsmoker and teetotaler, was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer. He, however, is on the mend.

Last month, while Chesnut was cycling on Mercer Island, Wash., an inattentive school bus driver clipped him with the back of the bus. “She just kind of ‘cheese-grater-ed’ me down the side” and left the scene, the second-year medical school student said.

What he has learned from all this is paramount to athletics, Chesnut said.

“I found out life happens and that it’s not your plan you’re following,” he said. “Ironman has been a part of (my life this year), but it’s not as big a part as I thought it would be,” he said.

His grief, it seems, has strengthened Chesnut’s resolve to tackle his first Ironman triathlon to honor the guys who have inspired him.

On Sunday, he’ll take the 7 a.m. plunge in the still-frigid waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene for the 2.4-mile swim. He’s due to follow with a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile marathon run.

“Now that it’s so close, I’m super-excited,” Chesnut said last week.

His goal: Complete the course in 10 hours. (Pros cross the finish line in eight hours or more.)

An accomplished triathlete, Chesnut has finished in the top 10 in triathlons all over the country. But he didn’t want to tackle Coeur d’Alene’s triathlon until he knew he’d be at his physical peak – and before he’d be starting hospital rotations in his medical training.

This is the year, Chesnut said.

Since wrapping up finals, Chesnut has focused solely on Ironman.

He’s been swimming in the Spokane River near his home. Vertical Earth, one of his corporate sponsors, repaired his banged-up bike. And he has squeezed in as many six- and eight-hour cycling and running stints as he could.

“I’m good to go,” Chesnut said. “I’ve got to have some sort of competitive outlet.”

Working out where he grew up is more enjoyable than in the city, he said.

Roads here are better than in Seattle, home of his med school, he said. Traffic is lighter. And there’s less noise, making it easier to reach a flow experience.

Training amid lakes, pine trees and mountains is a spiritual experience, Chesnut said. “I feel close to God. You can’t (feel) that too many other places.”

Chesnut said he hopes he has a bit of a race advantage because he has studied medicine.

“I know physiology, what types of energy work best and how to train different systems. A lot of doctors and dentists are great athletes,” he said.

During his heaviest training, Chesnut downed about 8,000 calories a day, more than three times what an average man needs to function.

“My mom’s a nutritionist. (Healthy eating) has been pounded into my head,” he said. “I read labels as a kid to see which cereals had the highest sugar content. Cheerios or Kix were my two options.”

On a lark in May, Chesnut entered Coeur d’Alene’s 13.1-mile half-marathon the day before the race.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said.

But as he closed in on the yellow tape, Chesnut found himself thinking about his friends Tom and Jordan Johnson. “I got instant goose bumps,” he said. And he remembers thinking to himself: “OK, Jordan. Run me in.”

He did, said Chesnut, who sailed in first in the 20-to-24-year-old men’s division and fourth overall among 1,065 finishers in one hour, 24 minutes and 12 seconds.

At this weekend’s Ironman, he’ll go down in “flames or glory,” he said.

Either way, Chesnut knows he’ll be surrounded by people he loves.