Inked

If you have ever done a triathlon or a running race, chances are you've seen one.  You might not have known what it stands for or what the hell it even is.  If you've never done an endurance race, you might have seen one at your local YMCA or health club.  It's the stamp only few are allowed to get - the sacred M-Dot logo of Ironman.  The M-Dot tattoo is damn near a must for any Ironman finisher.  Ask any IM finisher and they'll agree and probably show you their tattoo at the same time.  Even people who hate tattoos get the M-Dot.  It's more than a tattoo, really.  It's a symbol of accomplishment.  A tattoo is permanent, there ain't no going back after getting a tattoo.  Just as once you cross the finish line of an Ironman, you are forever an Ironman.  No one can take that away from you.  Personally, I gave up a year of my life, sacrificed time away from my wife and kids, missed out on time with friends, and spent WAY too much money on nutrition and gear.  Getting this tattoo doesn't change anything that happened over the past year.  It doesn't get any time back.  It doesn't solidify the fact that I finished the race.  It really doesn't do anything.  But it will be with me forever, reminding me of the amazing things we can accomplish if you are determined and motivated enough and willing to make the sacrifices.  It most definitely was not easy, hell there wasn't one easy thing about it.  But, I remained determined to finish and see my goal of becoming an Ironman to fruition.

Ever since I started in triathlon, I started brainstorming ideas for an Ironman tattoo, knowing one day, I would be in the position to get one.  I knew exactly where I would get it - my right calf, I purposefully left that space blank on my body for my Ironman tattoo.  Last year after registering, I really started to dig for designs and think about what I wanted to get.  I always had an idea of incorporating a bike cog and chain with the M-Dot.  I also knew I wanted something different.  As I said before, the M-Dot is a very popular tattoo, so I wanted mine to be different, but still have the M-Dot be the focal point of the tattoo.  My second idea was the incorporate a Mexican sugar skull with the M-Dot to symbolize the mortality of life and how alive I felt accomplishing my dream, yet at the same time, feeling like death during certain parts of the race.  An Ironman triathlon can be related to life, that it has it's ups and downs, the difficult times when you just want to quit and go home, yet it has it's great times, when you feel invincible.  It has a clear cut start and a certain and ceremonial end.  Plus, I have a fascination with Mexican art and skulls.  So below was my idea I came up with.

But after coming up with the design I felt as though the sugar skull had so much going on, that it took away from the simple M-Dot logo, which, like I said, I wanted to be at the forefront.  So I came up with a new design with the bike cog and chain.

Which evolved into this:

I took my design to my artist at The Bear Spot Tattoo in Kaukauna - and before you knew it I had this..... A kick ass tattoo, that incorporates all 3 sports, swimming, biking, and running.  The M-Dot is clearly the focal point of the tattoo.  I have the bike chain wrapping around my calf which is connected with a plate on the front with 140.6 stamped in, which is the total miles of an Ironman triathlon.  It turned out better than I imagined and am so pleased with the work done.