Cami Eckhoff of Detroit Lakes Completes First Ironman Triathlon

(KDLM) – Cami Eckhoff of Detroit Lakes recently traveled to Des Moines to compete in her first-ever Ironman race, finishing the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run in 11 hours, 11 minutes, and 40 seconds.

“My triathlon journey started last summer,” Eckhoff told KDLM. “I swam in college, and I knew how to ride a bike and I enjoyed running so I figured why not put them all together. And as I got into it, I grew a passion for it. I started with the sprint distance and raced a couple of those last summer. Then I wanted to try the Olympic distance, so I did a couple of those.”

The Sprint-Ironman is a half-mile swim, a 12-mile bike ride, and a three-mile run. The Olympic distance is double that.

“I told my husband, maybe I should try the half-Ironman: a 1.2-mile swim, then a 56-mile bike ride, then a half marathon (13.1 miles). So I signed up for this race down in Chicago Lakes about three weeks before the race started. I had a base but I figured I’d just go compete and see how it goes, and I had a really great time competing. The bug was definitely there to take on the big beast that is the full Ironman.”

Athletes have 17 hours to complete the race which, in total, is more than 140 miles long.

“The moment I said to myself ‘this just got hard’ was about the 75th mile of the bike ride. We’re back in the hills, the sun had just started to come out, there weren’t many spectators back in there, it just seemed like there was one hill after another…I still had 30 or 40 miles left to go. It felt alone…and hot. Thankfully, I saw my husband and our two dear friends who came with to cheer around Mile 70 and again at Mile 90. Seeing them and knowing I had that last stretch really, really helped.”

“You can’t listen to music during the race,” Eckhoff added. “When I’m on my trainer inside, I’ll listen to podcasts. I have a couple of incredible podcasts that I listen to that help with mindset training, so when I was on the course I was trying to channel some things I had learned: only think about positive things and if it’s not a positive thing, think about nothing. Encourage your legs to keep going, smile, think about the process, think about the next mile marker…it was a combination of all of those pieces. If you don’t put something in your mind,  something’s gonna fill so I just tried to fill it with positive things.”

In addition to the positive thoughts, Cami was also met with encouraging notes from each of her four children handed to her by her husband, Keith, along the way.

“I didn’t know these notes were coming,” Eckhoff remembered. “I had one at the very beginning of the race before the swim from Bennett. It was a sweet note, and then he wrote ‘don’t be scared of the snappers’. I am not a fan of lake swimming and I don’t care for snapping turtles so my kids always give me a hard time. I prefer to practice in a pool, but when I get into the lake they’re always like ‘Mom, don’t let the snappers get you,’. It’s really cute. On race day, all lake life is non-existent so it’s a non-issue. When I got out of the lake, I got a sweet note from Graham. He drew a picture of me swimming, but it got wet. When I got into the changing area to suit up for the bike ride, I asked one of the volunteers if they could carefully put it in my bag for me. We got the note dried out, and it lasted. Then I got a couple of notes on the run from Tyson and Miles. It was really sweet and really motivating to read their words to know they were back home encouraging, supporting, and praying for me. It was so special that Keith helped them do that for me.”

There are a number of different running events in the area over the next couple of weeks: the Brave Like Gabe 5K (held in St. Paul, but you can participate virtually) this Saturday, June 25th, the Young Life Triathlon on August 20th, and the Dick Beardsley Races on September 10th.

“If you have that little bug in your ear and a desire in your heart to try something that will bring you joy…go for it!” says Eckhoff. “Once you get committed to something, the motivation is gonna come and go. But knowing that you’re dedicated to something, you’re determined to finish it…that will definitely help. I encourage people to try something that is a little out of their comfort zone because that is where we really grow.”