For Greg Mernick, Shelburne's only entrant in the Lake Placid (N.Y.) Ironman this weekend, it's the journey that matters, not the result. "Life's a journey and as a teacher, I look to learn new things and see how far I can push myself," said Mernick, a special educator at Essex Town Middle School. It's something he tries to instill in his students, but for him, the Ironman also is a personal dream and challenge.

A former three-sport high school athlete in Needham, Mass., and self-proclaimed "weekend warrior," Mernick said, "Back in high school, I thought (the Ironman) would be a unique challenge." A few years back, he moved from marathons - he's done a 3:40 in the Vermont City Marathon - into triathlons, but, "I trained inappropriately and wound up with chronic fatigue syndrome. It took me 10 years to get over that."

Still, triathlons had him hooked and he participated in the local Vermont Sun Series. Most are "sprint" triathlons consisting of a 500-yard swim, a 15-mile bike ride and a 3-mile run. He also competed in "Tinman" triathlons, which have a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile cycling leg and a half-marathon (13.1 miles).

For the Ironman, everything is double the Tinman: 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run. "My hopes are that I can finish in 13, 14 hours," said Mernick, who will have a support team of his wife, Ute Talley, and children Garrett Mernick, Brendan Mernick, Kristen Talley and Mark Talley. "I usually set three goals: One, where everything goes correctly and I exceed expectations; Two, everything's average and I meet expectations; and Three, what I consider the life's journey and the process has been valuable," he said.

Mernick said his biking is the strongest of the three disciplines and swimming presents the greatest challenge. "Swimming in a straight line is more difficult than you think," he said, especially in an open lake without the lane markers that decorate pools. With nearly 3,000 competitors lining up for the mass start to the swim, "Swimming is almost a contact sport, kicking and hitting each other," said Mernick.

Lake Placid also offers a thrilling bicycle ride through the Cascades from Lake Placid to Keene, a downhill segment that Mernick labels "scary." "My chances of finishing are good. Time wise, I think it all depends on how warm it is when I get to the run. Body temperature will have an awful lot do with how I do in that final 13 miles," said the 6-foot, 210-pound Mernick.

Mernick, who has had three "not terribly serious" heart surgeries to treat an occasional rapid heartbeat he's had since he was 15, expects he will switch to the shorter Tinman series after Lake Placid. After retirement in a few years, he intends to chase another dream: biking across America.

For now, though, his focus is squarely on Sunday's Lake Placid Ironman.