Cronin Competes In His 14th Ironman Competition At 61

Dan Cronin, renowned interventionist, businessman and support anchor for hundreds of clients over the years, is also an athletic aberration — at 61. Having completed multiple full distance ironman competitions and marathons as well as over 20 years in recovery, Dan has taken his competitive outlook on life to whole new level. Jonathan Gervasi slows down the marathon man himself to briefly discuss v02 max levels and the bet that changed his life.

Ok, so first off how many competitive events have you participated in?
Over a 100.

See now your lying for the press.
No, really…probably more than, but at least, a hundred.

Ok, lets break it down: how many Ironmans?
11 full distance Ironmans. Probably 15 half Ironmans.

Wow. How many Marathons?
5 Marathons.

That’s amazing….
At least 10 ½ Marathons, at least 20 Olympic distance races…and a few sprints.

How long have you been in recovery?
Over 20 years.

How old were you when you entered your first race?
I was 49 years old, on a bet…actually on a dare.

Really do tell?
It was a dare to myself really. It was a personal dare. I was at a meeting and heard a guy tell his wife that ever since he got sober he wanted to run a marathon, the LA marathon. He was about a year ahead of me. And finally, when he got 10 years, he still hadn’t run it. His wife got him a pair of tennis shoes and told him to get off his fat ass and do it. So he went out and did it, and did it in 5 hours. I said to myself if that guy can go do it in 5, I’m going to do it in 4 hours. And I did…did it in 4:10. My best time to date.

Do you think having gotten clean for all these years gives you any edge or provides a greater inner strength of some sort when competing?
(his assistant Mellie Walker interrupts him with a some paper work to sign…)

I tell people all the time, professional athletes, folks in music and entertainment, that being sober is like cheating. Because you never forget what you’ve done, your skills get better and you don’t have to worry about what you did the night before. You’re always up and functioning.

It makes your life simpler and allows you to focus even better. Sharper.

Yes it absolutely is.
It’s like having a bit of a head start.