Minot's iron man

Published Oct. 15, 2015
By Airman 1st Class Christian Sullivan
Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- To some, fitness is an everyday lifestyle to keep healthy and stay in shape. To people in the military, it's mandatory to stay fit to fight. For Staff Sgt. Josh Hull, NCO in charge of the Minot Air Force Base honor guard, fitness is about more than just staying healthy or maintaining Air Force standards.

"In 2010 I started running 5Ks, 10Ks and marathons and I started to want more," Hull said. "I did marathons until my little brother passed, which gave me the idea to do the Iron Man Challenge."

Hull chose to run as his own way of grieving after suffering a devastating loss.

"I didn't know how to grieve the loss of my little brother," Hull said. "People grieve in different ways and mine was to run. The first three months after it happened, I probably ran close to 500 miles. It was my time to be alone with my own thoughts and to talk to my brother."

When Hull decided to do the Iron Man Challenge, he realized how big of a commitment he was making.

"I registered for the Iron Man and didn't even own a bike," Hull said. "It was a big commitment, registration fees are $725 dollars just to sign up."

The Iron Man challenged Hull in three different forms: running, biking and swimming.

"It's a triathlon," Hull said. "You swim 2.4 miles, you hop out of the water onto a bike and ride for 112 miles, then a full marathon, 26.2 miles. The main goal is to finish all three within 17 hours."

The process of training took time away from his personal life, including time away from his marriage.

"Not a lot of people do it so it's hard to learn, I'm self-coached." Hull said. "They say if you're still married you didn't train hard enough. It took a lot of time away from my wife, which was hard. I'd swim four miles a month, cycle 500 and run about 100 miles a month."

After nine months of training and with all of his family and friends coming to support him in Lake Tahoe, California, Hull was faced with yet another hurdle at the last second.

"That morning we wake up and go to the beach, the race starts at 5:45 a.m. and at 5:42 the race officials cut off all the music and came over the loud speaker and cancelled it," Hull said. "No refund, no reschedule. It was a cancellation due to the forest fire's smoke that had been going on the week leading up to the race 30 miles away from Lake Tahoe."

After not being able to reach his original end goal, Hull decided to compete in another Iron Man until he was able to compete at Lake Tahoe again.

"I just wanted to do one," Hull said. "When they cancelled, I thought to myself that I was pretty trained up, so I looked at what I was able to do next. Coeur D'Alene, Idaho was where it was closest in time and distance from here so I planned on doing that one, where the weather is average 80 degrees, so it's supposed to be an ideal race."

Two weeks before the Coeur D'Alene competition, record heat was predicted and the day of the race a 90 year record for heat was recorded at 97 degrees.

"The swim went great, the biking was hot and they ran out of water at mile 70 so the dropout rate was extremely high because people couldn't handle it," Hull said. "During the marathon I was running through neighborhood hoses and sprinklers, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn't think about running the rest of it with soaked shoes and socks. But I did finish this one after 15 hours, 57 minutes."

After Coeur D'Alene, Hull took a couple of weeks off to recuperate and prepare to train for his original goal, Lake Tahoe.

"I had an awesome finish in this one," Hull said. "It was ideal weather, picture perfect, blue skies, no wind and 70 and 80 degrees all day. My swim was great; I got out of the water 7 minutes faster than my Coeur D'Alene swim."

Although Lake Tahoe was his original end goal and what he wanted more than anything else, Hull thought about giving up until he realized quitting wasn't an option.

"After the swim and the biking I was five miles into the marathon I wanted to quit, it was a beat down," Hull said. "I had a little come-to-Jesus moment, my little brother quit on us, I didn't want to quit on anyone else. My overall finish time was 14 hours, 27 minutes, 31 seconds and that was one hour and 30 minutes quicker than my Coeur D'Alene time."

Hull plans on doing more Iron Man Challenges in the future.

"I want to get my time down," Hull said. "I'd like to do one every year, I think I'm at a point where I don't need nine months to train anymore. I'd like to eventually do Iron Man Canada."