As a young Patrick Mitchell sat with his buddies in Tug’s Tavern, a famous San Diego restaurant and bar owned by 1979 IRONMAN World Champion, Tom Warren, a dramatic moment being played on television caught his attention.
“I remember being in my 20s and watching my first IRONMAN on this old television they had in there,” Mitchell said. “Julie Moss was struggling to get across the finish line and I was just completely mesmerized. I thought that it was the coolest thing ever. My buddies on the other hand, thought I was nuts for thinking that.”
Watching Julie Moss’ amazing display of human will had left a lasting impression on Mitchell, who already excelled at running, biking and surfing from his active childhood, and he felt compelled to challenge himself at the new sport.
Mitchell said that he began doing smaller, shorter-distance triathlons from Mexico to Lake Tahoe and everything in between. Thus, it provided the perfect outlet for him to keep healthy and active during his adult life as both his father and brother passed at an early age.
“My dad became paralyzed when I was a one-year-old and I never saw him walk,” Mitchell said. “He later died in his late 40s. I also had a brother that was born without a top layer of skin which made him look like he had third degree burns, and he too, died early in his late 40s. And so I realized at a really young age that if you are given good health then you shouldn’t take it for granted. So trying to be active and constantly doing things was important to me.”
But working full time as a general contractor in San Diego and trying to train for triathlons while raising his family of four young children, finally took its toll. Mitchell decided that he needed to let go of his want to do triathlons and just stick to his first love, running.
“I was an angry bird if I didn’t run,” Mitchell said with a laugh. “Running gave me such a high. But then my knees started to go during construction. I tore my meniscus and had six surgeries to just cut it out. Next thing I knew, it was basically just bone on bone and my doctor told me that I needed to quit running. Running was the hardest thing to let go of – people who don’t run just don’t understand how good it makes you feel.”
Without having running as an outlet, Mitchell shared that his life took a different direction as he began to “party more.” After spending all day grinding it out on the construction site, Mitchell often found himself staying late after work to drink a few beers with his co-workers. Years went by before his wife, Rena, told him; “What are you doing to yourself?”
“I finally quit drinking as we were raising the kids through high school,” Mitchell said. “Then we moved to Georgia where I saw the Tour of Georgia cycling race which got me motivated into riding my bike again. I found that it was easier on my knees and I could get my endorphin high again.”
At that time, Mitchell was also faced with a major crossroad in his life. He had been heavily thinking of moving to Costa Rica, a place that he’s always loved. While his wife, who often traveled to Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island for work, eventually fell in love with Kona.
“We could’ve moved to Costa Rica,” he said. “But everything else pointed to coming to Hawaii. My son, Kirk, was at Brigham Young University on Oahu and my wife was offered a job in Kona while we were on vacation there visiting him. So in 2003, we decided to move to Kona.”
Once in Kona, and having the IRONMAN World Championships basically in his backyard, Mitchell found himself returning to triathlon by competing in Lavaman Waikoloa’s Olympic Distance relay division with his youngest daughter, Somer. And it wasn’t long after, that Mitchell found himself competing in Lavaman and IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii on his own.
The next thing he knew, he was dropping his name into the Big Island IRONMAN World Championships entry drawing.
“I was ecstatic after finding out my name was picked as I’ve tried for it twice before,” he said. “But then I felt apprehensive after thinking of how I would be able to accomplish it all. Right now I have three plumbing contract jobs, and my wife and I both manage our two restaurants — and then I try to train on top of that. To be honest, training is maybe 15 hours a week, with the restaurants and construction totaling about 60 hours.”
Mitchell and his wife, Rena, opened Patricio’s Mexican Taqueria located in Kona Coast Shopping Center four years ago, a casual family restaurant offering locals and island visitors a wide variety of authentic Mexican cuisine made from fresh and healthy ingredients at a reasonable price.
The popularity of Patricio’s soon evolved to the couple opening up a second restaurant in Matsuyama’s Shopping Center at Pine Trees.
Despite his hectic work schedule, Mitchell says that he doesn’t take anything for granted, has no complaints even if he doesn’t have the adequate time to train, and feels proud to be the owner of a restaurant where “people come because they really like the food.”
Mitchell also feels happy to have the opportunity to race in his hometown, especially after having heart surgery just 18 months ago.
“If it weren’t for my son, Aaron, I’d be dead,” the 61-year old said of his son, who is a paramedic. “I was out riding one day when I became really dizzy. I thought to myself that it must be really hot, I’m tired anyway and I must be getting old. And then same thing would happen when I was at home, I’d get these dizzy spells just getting up from the couch. I was in denial for about six months.”
“Then one day after coming back from a ride, I was going up Makala hill, above Sports Authority, and I knew I was going to pass out. So I just shot to the right and literally passed out on the sidewalk. After laying there for awhile, I rode to the parking lot in front of Patricio’s when I saw Aaron parked there. I asked my son for a ride home. My son being a paramedic knew that it was something serious and got me in to see the doctor right away.”
What Mitchell had was a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib or AF, which is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.
He immediately had a surgical procedure done that made a world of a difference to how he felt, and again, brought him to thinking of his dad, who had two strokes before passing away.
Mitchell says that he is now more motivated than ever to pay attention to his health, and also draws inspiration to keep an active lifestyle from watching the Paralympic Games – a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a wide range of disabilities.
“One thing that I’m really impressed by is the Paralympics,” he said. “It’s so inspiring to see these people out there and I think how incredible it is. And so I always wonder why, if someone has the physical ability to do something that they don’t use it?”
As for the IRONMAN World Championships happening on Oct. 8, Mitchell says that he can’t wait for the day to finally come as he will have much to celebrate.
It will mark the day his Patricio’s restaurant opened four years ago and also the day he is looking forward to hearing Mike Reilly’s famous words, “You are an IRONMAN!”
“I know it’s going to be a long day for me but it’s a real advantage living here and knowing everyone out there will be cheering for you. So many people travel from all over the world just to do IRONMAN here. To be honest I’m feeling some nervousness but the biggest boosters for me are my sons and family. They are really excited for me and excited to see that their dad is in IRONMAN.”