Triathlon training leads to spiritual awakening

"Sometimes I feel disappointed

"By the way I spend my time.

"How can I further Your kingdom

"When I'm so wrapped up in mine?"

These are lyrics to the song "In the Blink of an Eye" by the Christian band MercyMe. It's what Vance Sutton was listening to on his iPod that November day in 2005 out on Highway 159 by Red Rock Canyon, some of the words he was contemplating riding his bike while training for his second Ironman triathlon when the driver of an automobile going 60 mph behind him reached for a CD and mistakenly drifted over.

Sutton estimates he was pedaling at half the car's speed upon impact, when he crashed into the windshield and was hurled onto the desert floor some 30 feet away.

He lay there knowing all was not right with his back and other pieces of his battered body, but when the man who hit him finally reached the area, Sutton did a curious thing while they waited for a Life Flight transport to arrive.

He prayed with the man, prayed that he would experience no anger or resentment toward him for such a careless and treacherous mistake, prayed guilt wouldn't swallow the driver for making it.

"The first 30 seconds or so, I didn't know if I was going to live because you always hear the stories about people dying on the way to a hospital," Sutton said. "So I said to myself, 'If this is it, if I only have a few minutes left, I better make things right.' "

He broke vertebrae and some ribs and had all kinds of contusions. He missed six weeks of training for the race in Arizona in May 2006 but still competed because, well, Sutton owns that inexplicable trait that only people who put their bodies through such incredible torture know. His time was 13 hours, 53 minutes, nearly two hours more than his first Ironman. It was an unbelievable feat just to finish.

"In a blink of an eye that is when

"I'll be closer to You than I've ever been.

"Time will fly, but until then

"I'll embrace every moment I'm given.

"There's a reason I'm alive for a blink of an eye."

He is spending his time preparing for the physical nightmare known as the World Championship of Ironman in Hawaii on Oct. 13, where competitors swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, bike 112 miles along the Kona Coast and through scorching lava fields while at times into the face of 60 mph winds and then run 26.2 miles back down the same highway in temperatures that often reach 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity.

There is a cutoff time of 17 hours to finish. The winner will do so in just over eight. It's basically hell in paradise.

"And though I'm living a good life,

"Can my life be something great?

"I have to answer the question

"Before it's too late."

He has this idea about helping to do something great. Sutton is a former Clark High School football player and track athlete who is 46 and single and has enough time running his commercial window cleaning business to devote the countless hours of Ironman training.

But in a sport defined by its selfish and individual nature, he has decided this journey can produce awareness for ONE.org, the global fight against poverty and AIDS.

He is encouraging people to sign an electronic declaration committing themselves to the cause and is inviting the public to do so at a local restaurant Saturday, hoping others too discover the ONE campaign.

"Who doesn't want to eliminate poverty and AIDS?" Sutton said. "Maybe by me making this part of my training for (Hawaii), it can help save and change lives.

"I could have died when that car hit me, but I came out of it. I didn't lose a leg or have some terrible injury. I didn't land on my head or the asphalt.

"The first person to reach me was an off-duty EMT professional. The doctor in the emergency room trauma unit was a guy I knew from my childhood. And now I win a lottery among tens of thousands for one of 150 U.S. spots to compete in the Super Bowl and World Series of triathlons after trying to get there for six years?

"When you connect all the dots, it has become a very spiritual thing for me. I'm not going win the World Championship. I'm not going to win my age division. But I want to give the race respect. I want to have a good race. I might never get back there.

"I feel truly blessed to have the chance."

"If I give the very best of me

"That becomes my legacy.

"So tell me what am I waiting for?

"What am I waiting for?"

Vance Sutton isn't waiting to give his best and make a difference, because he already knows how quickly life's voyage can turn.

In the blink of an eye.

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Those interested in meeting Sutton and signing the declaration can do so Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Agave Restaurant, 10820 W. Charleston Blvd., or online at ONE.org.

Ed Graney's column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.