If I had a billion dollars ...

New Boy asked me what I would do if I had a billion dollars.
Easy: train for the ironman and hire Paula Newby-Fraser as my coach, get my PhD, and buy you a green dress. But not a real green dress, that would be cruel.

That got me thinking about the Ironman...
So, the original plan was to race Ironman Arizona in '08. It's now nine months away and registration is still tantalizingly open. But is it really feasible?

Cons:
I haven't seriously trained since February, I'm just now coming around to it again. I got burned out, got a kidney stone, got mono, and then there's the matter of my shoulder, which I still haven't had surgery on.

I feel like I could go out and bike a century cold, and even run a marathon cold (which is looking more and more likely), it wouldn't be fun, but I could do it.
However, there is no way in hell that I could swim two and a half miles cold. I really don't know if I could swim that distance even after training nine months.

And, the longest distance I've tri'd so far is a spint, so that officially makes me out of my damn mind.

And training for a tri is just so lonely. I'm not a crazy cat lady like Peter Reid who can take hiding out and training in solitude.

And, I don't actually have a billion dollars and triathlon is expensive.

Pros:
IMAZ is a mostly flat course, which is good, because I just don't do hills on the bike.
And the race would be over in time for me to start crew season.

I would be super fit and I'm itching to push myself.

The timing is prime to do an IM, since I hope to be in grad school next fall and you just can't be in grad school, work full time, and train for anything.

The IMAZ training camp is run by ... Paula Newby-Fraser.

The realization of a dream is priceless.


Any voices of reason out there?