All of his

life he has dreamed of competing in the Ironman California triathlon,

and his dream is about to come true this spring. After many long hours

of training and preparation, Thorsen says he is ready for the grueling

competition.

"I used

to dream about doing the Ironman as a little kid. It's something I have

been thinking about doing for awhile now, so this year I decided to go

for it because there will never be a perfect time," Thorsen comments.

In order to

make it to the finish line, Thorsen will have to complete a 2.4-mile swim

in the Pacific Ocean, a 112-mile bike race, and a marathon run. In all,

the race will take about nine hours to finish.

Thorsen became

interested in running track while in high school. He joined the cross-country

team and won almost every award he went after. While attending college

at Auburn University, he continued to wow his coaches with is running

ability. Thorsen was headed for a professional career in track and field

when a motorcycle accident his junior year at Auburn suddenly ended it

all.

After the accident,

Thorsen concentrated on graduating from college and starting a career.

After graduation, he began working with people who suffered from alcohol

and substance abuse. He also got married and started a family. After some

time away from racing, Thorsen caught the competitive bug again and started

training for competition in 1999.

He says he

competed in 17 races in 2000, reaching the top 10 in 14 of them. His success

landed him on the cover of the February issue of Atlanta Sports and Fitness

magazine as one of the publication's athletes of the year.

"I am

very pleased with my comeback performance. I feel I have been very successful

my first year back," Thorsen says.

Thorsen, who

acts as his own trainer, manages to get in about 30-40 hours of training

per week. He stretches, lifts weights, rides a bike and swims to prepare

for his competitions.

While Thorsen

is a serious competitor, it is important for him to have a healthy balance

between work, family and training. He says he gets a tremendous amount

of support from his wife and children, which enables him to put the time

he needs into his training.

"I get

as many hours on the road on my bike as I can," Thorsen says. "Often

my 6-year-old son rides with me. This is something he wants to do, so

I let him and this gives us time together."

Thorsen, who

is in his first year of teaching at Whitewater, says training for the

Ironman is helping him to become a better teacher.

"To do

this type of training, you have to be very disciplined. I have learned

a lot about discipline in the past couple of years and that knowledge

is helping me with my job," he says.

Thorsen also

talks to his sixth, seventh and eighth graders about the Ironman competition

and finds ways to work it into their daily lessons.

If Thorsen

does well in the Ironman competition in May, he will have a shot at earning

a spot in the World Championship Ironman in Kona, Hawaii in November.

"My goal

is to finish the Ironman competition in California," he says. "If

I perform well enough for the world championship that will be great, but

if I don't it will still be a dream come true."