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Panama City was supposed to be the
site of Shawn Harrison's finest day as a
triathlete.
From the time he finished Ironman Lake
Placid in July 2006, Harrison told his wife,
Christine, that Ironman Florida on Nov. 3
would be the last of his six Ironman's.
He won't get the chance.
The 17 year Marine veteran was tired of
the marathon-distance run that
completed the swim-bike-run event, but
he knew his best chance of setting a new
personal record would come on the flat
course in Florida's panhandle.
Four years ago, Shawn, with Christine
less than an hour behind, set a personal
best of 12 hours in Panama City Beach.
He expected to lower that mark this year.
From the time the couple completed
Ironman Lake Placid, his eyes were set
on the Gulf Coast.
"Our best race ever," Christine said of
the upstate New York event. "By far the
best. We were trained. We didn't have our
fastest times, but we had our best race.
We had a great race. That was our last
Ironman together.
Shawn was killed while on a training
ride less than five miles from their San
Diego home June 10. He was coming
down a hill at 9:30 on a Sunday when a
motorist didn't see him.
Christine, who was registering for a
half-Ironman in Mexico when the accident
happened, didn't hear about it until 1:30
p.m. The international boundaries made
it difficult for her to be reached, but with
the help of the San Diego Police
Department, she made it back to her
husband's side in less than two hours.
A witness to the accident, a trauma
physician, told Christine that Shawn never
woke up from the collision.
Lake Placid was the last time the
Harrisons competed in a full Ironman
event, but that won't stop Christine from
racing in the Florida Ironman in two
weeks.
Like most of their triathlon-filled years
together, the Harrisons spent the winter
relaxing and recuperating. They'd go for
bike rides in the mornings and ski,
snowboard or golf in the afternoons.
They spent their nights with friends,
eating and laughing, and morne that eight
years after marrying in Hawaii, Shawn,
37, still took Christine, 12 years his
senior, out on dates to the movies.
That is why Shawn's death hasn't yet hit
home for her.
"Ironmans are tough alone, but if your
spous is with you, and if you love doing it
together, that's part of your relationship,"
she said.
"That was half our year and then the
other half you do something else."
When Ironman Florida begins in the
water behind the Boardwalk Beach
Resort on November 3rd, Christine will
be wearing Shawn's bib number in the
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2
mile run.
By the time Christine, a respiratory
therapist on a transport team, decided to
enter the event with Shawn, the field was
sold out. A decision by Ironman Florida
allowed her to take his place.
"I felt like he would want me to finish the
race for him," she said. "I fee like if I gave
up training and Ironman, he would be
really upset and disappointed with me.
He knew that was a big part of my life,
Ironmans and triathlons. I think he would
tell me to go do it for him."
"The goal for this race is to finish. The
goal for this race isn't for time, fut it's to
finish for him."
Christine will compete in Ironman
Florida with a handful of Shawn's friends.
Their company and the flat course are the
main reasons she thinks she can finish
this race.
"I'm a little worried about the emotional
part of being there," she said. "I hope it's
going to feel good to race for him. I think
the whole Ironman experience was a part
of him and I doing it together, training
together. I don't think it will be the same
experience. I won't know until Ironman
Florida."
"He was my partner, he was my
husband and my training partner and my
best friend. Hew was always at the finish
line.

Story by: Josh Weinfuss, News Herald