Well, I did all that training...

So with 170 minutes left before the deadline I sign up for Ironman Japan.  Ultimately I need to justify all the cycling and swimming over the past 4 months. 

The training forces me to enter the event rather than the event forces me to train.  The tail seems to be wagging the dog. 

I know lots of marathon runners who randomly pick a marathon to provide purpose to their training, when the overarching purpose is to either  lose weight or improve their cardiovascular health -- neither of which particular concern me. 

In my case I cannot remember anymore what the overarching purpose of doing an ironman was...

That said I am really looking forward to travelling down to Nagasaki and Goto Island with Keren and Stu.  And I am terribly curious how I will hold up for the ironman distance, especially on the bike.