Living the Dream

Many often wonder if their dreams will become reality. This triathlete proves that anything is possible if you want it bad enough.

He was on the career track and never wavered. He went from high school to a college degree in commerce and graduate school in accounting. Growing up, education was everything in his household and he made his parents proud. "In our home, it was always education first, sports second," he says. "Athletics was something for the weekends." He was 23, owned two suits and a collection of dress shirts and ties, rode the train to work every day and caught up on the financial news, received a nice paycheck every Thursday, plus he had an amazing view from his office of the city's skyline. 

And he hated every second of every day.

"I had been at my job for 10 months and I'd look out of my window and daydream about riding and swimming and running," he remembers. "I probably wasn't a very productive accountant."

He had been successful as an age-group triathlete, but what if he could quit his job and travel the world as a professional triathlete?

One day he told his boss he was quitting. "My boss thought I had another job offer, and he laughed when I told him that no, I was leaving to become a professional triathlete. He thought that was hilarious."

But how to break the news to the folks? "For two weeks I would get up in the morning, put my suit and tie on, and my dad would drop me off at the train station," he remembers. "Then I would get off at the first stop, go home and spend the day on my bike."

Eventually, though, he knew he would have to face the music. When he finally sat down with his parents to tell them the news, his mom was supportive, but his dad was silent. "That was the worst," he says. "I would much rather have him be angry and yell at me. When he went quiet, I said ‘Dad, don't be disappointed, be angry."'

It turns out his dad wasn't mad or disappointed, he was just processing. His dad's response is something this son will remember forever.

"He said, ‘Son, if this is what you want to do, if you want to be a professional athlete... than BE a professional athlete. Don't waste the next 10 years of your life being stupid. Do it properly. If you become the best you can be, I will be very proud of you.'"

He bought an open-ended ticket to Europe, flew to Paris with $2,700 in his pocket and bought a triathlon magazine when he landed. "I stayed in these cheap hotels and raced three times every weekend. I was going to race until I either made it or ran out of money," he laughs.

In Orange, he paid up front for three nights at a hotel and ended up staying five. "The hotel manager kept coming up to my room looking for the money for the fourth and fifth nights," he recalls. "I ended up climbing out the window and bailing on paying for the last two nights. She's probably still looking for me." 

Triathlon is a little different in Europe. He would race a smaller event on Friday afternoon and a bigger one on Saturday in the same city in France. Then he would hop the slow train Saturday night so that he could avoid paying for a hotel, arrive in Switzerland in the morning and race again Sunday. "One weekend I made $1,000 and thought I was the richest guy in the world, that I'd never have to work again," he says. "I was amazed and thrilled by it all. I wanted to prove to my mom and dad that I did do it properly, that I had made the right decision."

That decision led him to wins at the 1997 ITU World Triathlon Championship, Wildflower, Escape from Alcatraz, Chicago, St. Croix, Ironman Australia and, one title that meant more than all the rest, the 2007 Ford Ironman Triathlon World Championship.

Do dreams come true?

Just ask Chris McCormack.