POULSBO —— “I was 15 hours and 42 minutes in … I had four and a half miles left,” Brian Whelan of Poulsbo recalled of his third Ironman.

“There were medical tents with cots every other mile. I wanted those cots. I wanted to lay down so bad.

“Every time I stopped, I was acutely aware of how easy it would be to not go any farther. At that point I really had to process that despite giving it my absolute best, I just might not finish again.”

But this 140.6-mile race was different. It was Whelan’s chance to raise money for a cure for Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that’s affected him since 2004. And it was a chance for him to finish what he started nearly six years ago.

“I remember watching Ironman from my couch in 1982,” Whelan said. “Julie Moss, a competitor, was struggling to finish. She had a quarter-mile left. Her body was shutting down — she was crawling to the finish line. I asked myself, what is it that those folks tap into to push them on?”

In Whelan’s journey to understand that drive, he attempted Cozumel Ironman in 2010. In the Ironman, participants must complete the entire race within 17 hours from their start time.

“I trained for a year and a half,” he said. “But I didn’t know a lot about triathlons then.”

Whelan was more anxious than focused when he attempted Cozumel, and this poorly affected his performance.

“The first time, I got scared,” he said. “All I could think about was, ‘I can’t not finish the first leg of this.’ I was swimming really hard and really bad.”

After making the cutoff by minutes, he proceeded to bike.

“I maxed out my body badly,” said Whelan. “I was already starting to cramp. It became detrimental.”

On Whelan’s second lap his body locked up. Exhausted and cramped, he decided to stop.

“I realized it wasn’t looking good,” Whelan said. “It was a terrible feeling. I was surrounded by amazingly fit people. Before I felt so apart of that community. At that moment, I couldn’t look anyone in the eye. I’ve never felt so not like them. ”

There are no gray areas in Ironman, Whelan said, “It’s black and white. You either are or you’re not.”

He added, “You will want to deal with this demon at some point, my coach told me. He sent me a list of openings for upcoming Ironmans.”

Two days after Cozumel, Whelan began training at B.A.S.E. Training in Bremerton in preparation for the Ironman Coeur d’Alene.

“It forces you to start from scratch,” Whelan said. “We found when I kicked harder in the water, I was actually moving backwards. It was freaky.”

With his new two-beat kick technique, Whelan was able to swim faster with ease.

“I was training at the NK Pool and Wildcat Lake,” he said. “Bad technique at Wildcat Lake is one thing. But bad technique in Cozumel against a current is another.”

He trained over 30 hours a week on top of his 50 hour work week.

“It takes a lot out of you, physically and mentally,” he said.

Whelan completed the Coeur d’Alene Ironman in 2011 and returned to Cozumel in 2015.

Along with 2,300 other participants — 500 of them professional athletes — participating in the Ironman on Nov. 29, Whelan said, “I was off to a rolling start.”

“The most important thing for me during the day was to keep calm and not stress. Stressed is not the mindset you want. Managing your energy levels over a long distance is not enough. You can’t get freaked out.”

He realized halfway through that his watch reset itself to zero. “That was bad,” Whelan said. “A watch is so important, but I decided not to stress about it and just let it go. I never felt rushed.”

Whelan’s 1 hour 38 minute swim time was “great,” he said. “There were brightly colored fish, I was swimming over coral, it was beautiful.”

Whelan hit the bike to continue on his 112-mile cycle over the three-lap course.

“I needed regular calories, regular electrolytes, and regular water. And it was hot,” he said. “There were 12,000 calories in the center tank on my bike … I had enough, but you always expend more than you take in.”

He said, “The first lap on the bike was great, the second was a little slower but I still felt terrific.”

“Between MS, multiple disc disorders, plus the fact that I’m not young, those things start to wear on you over time, they start to define you … I was on a bike for seven hours, but it’s not supposed to be easy.”

As Whelan completed the bike, he began the 26.2- mile run.

“The second lap was just brutal,” he said. “I decided to run 10 minutes, walk four. But at that point I was spent.

“I took one step at a time. When I was really starting to struggle, my family would read me messages of support and prayer that encouraged me,” he said.

“I just kept going until I didn’t have to go forward anymore. Three miles from the end, I was able to walk a little faster … Soon my whole family was there. I started running again.

“I took a left, down the final shoot. They announced the guy right ahead of me, he didn’t make his cutoff … To get so close and not finish is tough. I grappled with that while running earlier. My heart dropped for him.”

With a final time of 16:54:43, the announcer broadcasted, “Brian Whelan, you are an Ironman!”

“I can’t overestimate the value of my wife and kids. Especially my wife. It was hard for her to see me struggle, yet she supports me. I finally recognized what that meant; she fundamentally didn’t agree with what I was doing to myself, but she still said, ‘You can do it.’

“It’s to my benefit with MS to lead a healthy lifestyle and keep a good mental approach. With any type of obstacle, you can choose to stop, or you can choose to keep going. I think folks who are able to look for the best, things will go better for you.

“Since my diagnosis in 2004, I’ve had five relapses. I need to be more cautious when running, because my foot is part dead I need to really focus on picking up my feet. I’ve taken some falls because of it.”

To commemorate his achievement, Whelan got a tattoo on Dec. 12; the design is a mix of the Ironman logo and his faith.

“I’ve always wanted to find out what I had inside,” Whelan said. “Those extreme physical things have the same spirit even if you just watch someone do it. What happens when my body is done — can I do it? I got to experience that feeling for four hours, just existing to keep going. It was worth it.”

Whelan, grandfather of six, added, “I found climbing Mount Rainier was like that too … I’ll do some half marathons, but I don’t think I have another Ironman  left in my body.

“People have this persona of ‘the Ironman’ — I love Krispy Kreams. I can eat six before I take my first breath. I’ve always struggled with my weight. It takes those life experiences to knock us back a peg and remind us we’re just human.”

His advice: Figure out what you can do, and do that. Just grab on and walk forward.

Whelan raised just under $12,000 for Multiple Sclerosis.

“It’s a huge cause. Donate. So many people are affected. Please join me in raising $25,000 for the fight against Multiple Sclerosis,” Whelan said.

Visit his fund page at: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/brian.whelan