Newswise — 2.4 miles swimming. 112 miles biking. 26.2 miles running.
Maria Simone is stoked—STOKED--for every last bit of it. That’s what training for the Ironman Triathlon—all 140.6 miles of it--does to you.
“The Ironman Triathlon is about doing things, feeling things, thinking things you never knew you could,” says Simone, a professor of communication studies at Rowan University. “It’s pushing past what you thought were your limitations, and becoming someone you didn’t know you could be.”
On July 25, Simone will compete in her very first Ironman—“I like to call it Ironwoman,” she laughs--in Lake Placid, N.Y. She will do so to challenge herself—to push herself. But she’ll also do so to assist—and, she hopes, in some way, to inspire—others…particularly Rowan students.
A Rowan professor since 2004, Simone has established the Iron Scholarship Fund. As she trains for the Ironman, she’s working to raise funds for the scholarship, which will benefit students in the Educational Opportunity Fund/Maximizing Academic Potential (EOF/MAP) program at Rowan. Her goal is to raise $5,000 for the fund, which would assist students with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Thus far, she’s raised $1,120.60
“I want to reward academic endurance in students who experience financial hardship,” the ebullient, 5-foot-3-inch Simone says. “I am dedicating all of the training and racing I do to the Iron Scholarship Fund. The EOF/MAP program has an inspirational history in the state of New Jersey and I have had personal experience teaching students who are members of this program. It requires commitment and hard work, while inspiring a love of learning and achievement.”
The EOF/MAP program at Rowan provides access, preparation, orientation and academic support programming for students who are among the first in their family to attend college, and for those who otherwise may face unique challenges in college due to economic, cultural or educational circumstances.
Simone, of Absecon, N.J., knows plenty about academic endurance. While an undergraduate at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, she worked a full-time job as a community newspaper reporter and editor to pay for her tuition.
“I know first-hand how stressful that juggling act can be,” she says. “I struggled a lot. When I attended graduate school, I benefitted from scholarship money that permitted me to attend school full time without the full-time job.
“I’m so grateful for those scholarship awards. They changed my life. Now, it’s time to give back. I want to help students who need the money. I might be able to buy their books or help them with tuition for a semester.”
Simone, who blogs about her training regimen at www.runningalife.com, has been training 15-20 hours a week for the Ironman, which all athletes must complete in less than 17 hours.
Always active, the former crew team member at Holy Spirit High School ran her first marathon in October of 2008. Since then she’s competed in a host of other races, including the New Jersey Devilman “Half Lite” Triathlon earlier this month. She trains alongside her husband, John Jenkins, who, she says, “came out of the womb a triathlete.” Simone has to work harder at it, she says. Last year, she started to compete in triathlons when a battle with hip bursitis forced her to stop running for a few weeks. So, she began biking and swimming.
“I never swam before and I grew up at the shore,” she laughs. In the Ironman, she’ll compete with 2,500 athletes, all of whom will be on Mirror Lake at the same time. As they push forward, athletes sometimes get kicked in the head, says Simone, who volunteered at the Lake Placid Ironman last year.
“I saw people coming out of the water with black eyes, bloody noses,” says Simone, who gets up daily at 5 a.m. to train and listens to the soundtrack of “Rocky” as she runs. “It’s not exactly glamorous.”
For Simone, who has done marathons and smaller triathlons, including a Half Ironman distance triathlon, the reason for competing is simple.
“I just like goals. For me, it’s really, ‘What am I made of? What can I handle? What can I take?’”
Most comfortable running—Simone currently is working to overcome her cycling fears after crashing her bike twice this spring—her journey to competing in the Ironman began with marathon running in 2008. During her first marathon, the Atlantic City Marathon, she realized that endurance events suited her.
“I knew somewhere around Mile 10 that I wanted to do another one,” she says. “I love the way I feel. I love the community. You can’t find better people than in the running and triathlon community. I’ve met some of the coolest people. The spectators are awesome. And runner’s ‘high’ definitely happens.”
Her training, which includes a diet of 30 percent protein and fat and 40 percent carbohydrates, has impacted her teaching as well, she says.
“In terms of my spirit, it makes me a better teacher,” says Simone, who also plans to compete in the Boston Marathon next year. “It makes me more compassionate. It gives me more energy. It reminds me that life is so very precious—that we need to connect and to help others.”
Before going to the “Big Show,” the Ironman, in July, Simone will compete in the Mooseman Half Ironman Triathlon in New Hampshire on June 6 and will attend the Fireman Ironman “training camp” in Lake Placid June 18-20. Her schedule after the Ironman is unclear at the moment.
“All of that depends,” she laughs, “on recovery from the Ironman. But I’m looking to do a marathon in the fall. After that—who knows?”
But in the back of her mind, there’s another goal, one which Simone will talk about only in hushed, reverential tones: the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii—the big kahuna of Ironman competition. Thousands of athletes vie for just 1,800 spots in that competition each fall.
“I’ve learned so much about myself since I started training for the Ironman,” says Simone. “And I’ve learned how wonderful my support system is. I’m so grateful for all of the support I’ve received from my family and my friends.
“They’ve been so generous with their encouragement and their donations to the scholarship,” she continues. “I hope the Iron Scholarship helps someone else to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities life presents us with.”
For information on contributing to the Iron Scholarship, visit http://www.runningalife.com/?page_id=374.
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