Iron Cowboy is an endurance memoir in the tradition of Dean
Karnazes's Ultramarathon Man--a lifetime's worth of intensely lived
experience packed into twenty riveting chapters written by Matt
Fitzgerald, one of America's best sports narrative writers. Readers will
discover the secret to redefining their own goals and achieving great
success.
When James Lawrence (aka the Iron Cowboy) announced his plan to complete
50 Ironmans in 50 consecutive days in all 50 states, the only person who
believed that he could pull it off was James himself (and his wife,
Sunny). An Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride,
and a 26.2-mile run. In Lawrence's case, he would have to complete those
distances and then make it to the next state in time to do it all over
again the next day. Even Lawrence's coach didn't think he could do it;
he penciled in another event the day Lawrence was supposed to complete
the challenge. But with the support of Sunny and their five children in
tow, and with grassroots support conjured always at the last minute via
Facebook, Lawrence accomplished exactly what he set out to do. Iron
Cowboy is the story of Lawrence's herculean 50-day journey and all the
wonderful, miserable, and life-threatening events that happened along
the way, as well as a glance at his life leading up to the mission, and
winning two prior world records.
Lawrence holds two world records in the Guinness Book of World Records
one for completing 22 half-Ironmans in one year (2010) and one for
completing 30 full Ironmans in one year (2012). In 2015, he set a record
for completing 50 Ironman distances in 50 states in 50 days. Through
social media and press, Lawrence was able to find fans in each
state--anywhere from 3 to 500 people--to complete some of the Ironman
alongside him, and supporters were invited to join him for the Iron
Cowboy 5k (the last 3.1 miles of James's marathon); for his last Ironman
in his home state of Utah, more than 3,500 people showed up. Along the
way, Lawrence survived tropical storms, internal bleeding, hypothermia,
hyperthermia, dehydration, nerve damage, infected foot blisters, a
blood-clot scare, extreme sleep deprivation (he only got four to five
hours of sleep each night), and a bike crash--and because he's Mormon he
did it all without coffee!
