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Ironmanlife: Meredith Dolhare's Fourth Anniversary The ultimatum came on July 10th, 2007. Walter Dolhare was quite clear to his wife, a woman he obviously loves dearly as he is, hands down, her greatest supporter. "You have to get it together," he told the mother of his two sons. "If you don't, you're out of here."

I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. I’m guessing there must be times, now, when he wonders what on earth he started. On Sunday his wife is going to celebrate the fourth anniversary of that ultimatum by finishing four Ironman races in 49 days – the last three of those in three successive weeks as she finishes up the incredible triumvirate of Ironman France, Ironman Austria and Ironman Switzerland.

“At first I was angry,” Meredith says of her husband’s harsh words. “He had every right to say it, though. I was living a pretty unhealthy life. My life had gotten very out of control. I was doing things I should not have been doing. My husband had every right to give me the ultimatum. I was drinking a whole lot … I was living very unhealthy.”

What Walter was trying to say to his wife was that she needed to find herself again. Once a competitive tennis player (you aren’t Tennessee’s top tennis player if you can’t hit a pretty good backhand – and forehand, for that matter), the incredibly active mom he was used to seeing was disappearing before his eyes. It was time to find a goal, he told her.

It’s hard to say who she was testing more with her answer. Coming off surgery for a foot she’d broken twice in the previous few months, she promptly declared that she was going to do an Ironman. How outrageous was her new goal? She didn’t even have a bike.

Even though I have never met Walter, here’s where I know that this is one impressive guy. A former competitive tennis player himself, he followed up on his ultimatum the way a class guy should: he has been Meredith’s number one supporter ever since.

“I have the most supportive, best husband in the world,” Meredith says with the intensity that seems to pervade every single thing this woman does. “I am blessed with a husband who just says ‘whatever.’ He’s come to love Ironman also. It’s changed our family dynamic. It’s become a family event. It’s definitely changed me for the better. He’s all in. He’s all for it. He’s just thrilled with what I’ve become.”

What Meredith Dolhare has become is an Ironman machine. Last year she did two Ironman races within a few weeks of each other. This year she qualified for Kona at Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas in May, finished ninth in her age group in France, finished Ironman Austria in a blazing 11:35 and, I have no doubt, will get through Ironman Switzerland in equally as impressive style.

It gets even better, though. Later this summer Dolhare will compete at Ultraman UK just a month before she heads over to Kona. Dolhare believes that “the body is made to withstand so much more than we think it can,” and appears to be on a singular mission to prove that point. And, in case you think that all she does is train, forget about it. She helps coach her kids’ cross country team at school, sits on the board of a couple of charities at home in Charlotte, North Carolina and is also active with the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

“I don’t sleep a whole lot, unless I’m trying to recover,” she says. (Yeah, like that’s a surprise.) “It’s difficult to juggle everything … My mother has been a saint. My mom and dad are fantastic. I would not be able to do this without them.”

If you have the chance to meet Dolhare, which I strongly encourage, you will be blown away by the woman’s enthusiasm for, well, everything. It comes as no surprise that the boys have become scary-fast runners and triathletes – with a mom who comes home so psyched about every workout, wouldn’t you want to get your butt out there, too? Part of the reason she wants to do all these races is because “there’s so much beauty involved in each of these races, I feel like if I only do one or two in a year, I’m missing out.”

That doesn’t make this new voyage any easier, though. “When you start the marathon for the second week in a row you think ‘Really? Why did I think this was a good idea?’” she says.

That’s not going to slow Meredith Dolhare down one bit, though. In the end she knows all this has been a good idea. So does her husband – who sent this e-mail out earlier today:

Many people know that my wife Mer is doing three full Ironman races, in three consecutive weekends, in three different countries. What most people don’t know is why: she is taking on this challenge to raise money and awareness for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). Kevin Mackinnon did a write up about her racing on ironman.com and he is working on a follow up piece.

Mer has now finished two of the three races and will attempt to complete her goal at Ironman Switzerland this Sunday. She wrote a blog yesterday about why she is passionate about CAF which I included below.

If you share her passion and would like to help her raise funds for them please go to http://raceforareason2011.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=451145&supid=320989182

You can also access the link, as well as her recent blogs and race reports, from her website: www.meredithdolhare.com

Thanks,

Walter

Just today, that e-mail has raised $7,000.

Hey Walter, that ultimatum did the trick. The result has been a win for everyone.

Good luck on Sunday, Meredith.

You can reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.com

Originally from: http://ironman.com/columns/ironmanlife/kevin-mackinnon-recounts-another-amazing-ironman-journey#ixzz1SfwwNyQr