He was however aware that his training and various other obligations pulled him away from his family, so he tried to make it count when he was around.

Mirra also started a social media campaign called #BeADadNotAFad to encourage others to focus on their family instead of just work and play. And he was all over that and worked very hard to spread that word.

When I heard the news last night about his sudden death, I could not believe what I was reading, and certainly not that it could be suicide. In fact when a good friend of Dave Mirra and also a friend of mine sent me a message last night that said "This is hard to say but Dave killed himself tonight. I don't know what to say." My first thought was that he possibly drove too fast and died in an accident. But that turned out to be wrong.

It is very certain though that I will miss him and his great humble attitude.

He had a chance to get a special spot to race the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona but he wanted to earn that spot and not have it handed to him.

"Ellie at Ironman asked if I wanted to race if I did not make it, and I said no and she respected it and was cool with it. There are people who try forever and never make it. I qualified for 70.3 Worlds last year and when I was at the event I looked around and thought If I didn’t make it here on my own I wouldn’t want to be here racing. This is for people who made it and it is not just another race. It is the ultimate," said Dave Mirra in an interview as he got ready for the 2015 IRONMAN Lake Placid.