Becoming an Ironman: An Illustration of Positive Psychology In Practice

This capstone contains a comprehensive book proposal, which I intend to publish with a mass market publishing company. This book is tentatively titled “Becoming an Athlete: My Journey to Ironman” and will be narrative non-fiction. Rather than describe research studies regarding the positive psychology concepts, this story will illustrate what these positive psychology concepts look like in practice, during actual application, as they were embodied by me. The story will be told in the first person, and will document my four year journey to completing an Ironman triathlon. This event consisted of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run. The narrative chapters will describe my training, my practice races, and the entire spectrum of physical and emotional changes I experienced. The emotional and mental challenges will prove to be much more significant than the physical challenges. The reason I will write and publish this book is to share a powerful story that demonstrates and illustrates the principles of positive psychology in order to generate hope and action in others.