Tom Rincaks: "You are an Ironman!"

Tom Rinkacs (far left) has had Crohn's disease since he was 13, and an ostomy since he was 16. The ostomy became permanent after complications from an earlier reversal. It took Tom a long while to accept his ostomy and to try new things. He usually stuck with goals that he knew he could achieve. About 5 years ago, after the birth of Tom's first child, he became tired of feeling sorry for himself and didn't think his wife or child deserved someone who was afraid of trying. So one year later, he signed up for a type of "team-in-training" through the hospital he worked for. In exchange for raising money for their Cancer Center, they taught Tom how to run a 10 kilometre race.

Later that summer Tom did his first sprint triathlon and a 10 kilometre running race through his hometown of Pittsburgh. The following year, he did a half marathon, he was "sick as a dog the evening and night before, and poured water out of my ostomy but was able to get 10 miles before the cramps hit me and I had to run/walk the last 3."

That year Tom did two more sprint races and one Olympic distance triathlon. Then in 2006, he did a full marathon, the half Ironman and a couple short triathlons. That's when he decided to submit his story to Great Comebacks. Tom was chosen last fall as a regional award winner for the prize. This past February, Tom had the pleasure of meeting Rob Hill, Rick Ellison and Charlie Grotevant, all featured in the active ostomates section of this website.

After Tom completed that half ironman in 5/06, he decided to try to train for a full. Tom set his sights on Ironman Florida. Tom quickly found out that this race sells out in one hour each year so he'd have to wait till November of 2006 to register for the 2007 event. Tom registered and this past year flew by. He did the Disney Marathon in January 2007, hung out with all the GreatComeBacks people in February, and in March he and his wife welcomed their second child. He also did his second half Ironman in May of 2007, then decided to replace his bike and get training for the 112 miles of cycling ahead of him at Ironman Florida. Tom successfully finished Ironman Florida in a very respectable 13 hours 23 minutes and 6 seconds. Tom is most proud of his marathon time of 4:48.

Here's a link to Tom's blog www.crohnsironman.blogspot.com and a link to a story the local paper did on him Thanksgiving Day of 2006.