An Ironman Journey

Jeff Skinner is organizing this fundraiser.

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Next year is better than this year, I just started a new career. Next month I'll be in a better headspace, I'm stressed right now. Next week I won't be tired, I can have a better start then. It's not the time.

If you don't grab onto the horns of life now, will you ever?

Hi there! I'm Jeff, a fresh grad from the University of Western.

A few weeks ago, I entertained the idea of running an Ironman. I've stayed active throughout my life, but I’ve never even run close to a half marathon. I have next to no real biking experience, and I'm as close to a rock in the pool as it gets. So, I thought, the obvious next step in my fitness journey would be to complete an Ironman distance triathlon; a 3.8K swim, followed by a 180K bike, and then a full marathon.

In roughly one year from now, on August 3rd, 2025, I will attempt an Ironman in Ottawa, Canada.

As soon as I started to dream up the above goal, I started to give in just as quickly. After looking into the time commitment and cost to complete one, I pushed the ambitious goal into a "not reasonable to do right now" box.

I then told myself I would wait and start training once I was further into my career and more established. But that also won't be a good time. I'll probably have more responsibility at work, and I'll be nearing the age of large life events. So, maybe after those?

This is where I caught myself doing what I've consistently done when attempting something overly ambitious. Waiting. Thinking the right time and resources would appear at a magical moment. Unknowingly, creating any barrier I could to prevent me from starting. Or being to frightened to actually seek out a solution to those barriers.

What got me to think differently? Why am I now doing this?

An incredible prof and a sales class.

Eric Janssen and his Sales Foundations course at the Ivey Business School, helped shift my mind and behaviors from "there's always later", to "grab hold of life now, because right now you can".

This approach helped me take a step towards doing something uncomfortable. It helped me reach out to Eric himself, and ask if my former school would sponsor my attempt.

See below for the messages:

Initial Sponsorship Attempt:

Fake press release from email:

Eric's response:

After receiving this incredibly supportive but very unexpected response, I was thrilled to have my first sponsor. Not only a first sponsor, but another concrete reason to actually set out on this journey.

So what? What do I want to prove?

I'm entering this Ironman to break a pattern.

A pattern of living in the daydreams of unimaginable accomplishments, while never taking a small step towards them.

A pattern of limiting myself through self-imposed barriers.

I want to demonstrate the power of doing and the importance of resilience.

Should you support me?

If you are an individual looking for a meaningful cause to donate to, I encourage you to look elsewhere. There are many more deserving candidates and causes across this platform which could use your support.

However, if you are a brand/company or a representative of one, and want to align yourselves with this adventure, I would love and appreciate your support.

If you wish to donate new/used equipment or want to talk through logistics of a sponsorship before donating to this page, please reach out to @JeffTrysTris on Instagram.

Why Go Fund Me?

If my main goal is sponsorship, why make a Go Fund Me in the first place?

Other than being recommended by my first sponsor, (thanks Eric!), I felt it was one way in which I could spread my message and gain greater recognition from brands/companies/representatives that wanted to share my journey.

What's with the donation amount?

Triathlons are expensive. I was able to come to this unfortunate conclusion after doing some research on what was involved. After reading the following website, I was able to determine what I thought the cost was for completing an Ironman in one year.

For more transparency into where the money is going, I've attached an image of a document I created giving a full breakdown of the estimated total cost.

The total cost disregards my ability to find cheaper equipment @ discounted rates on sites such as FB Marketplace.