Bethesda native Steuart Martens sat on the curb and cried near the end of his first half-Ironman race (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike race and 13.1-mile run) in 2006.
“I was bawling tears of pain,” he says. “I had never quit anything before, but I couldn’t walk.”
A fellow athlete told Martens to walk if that’s what it took to complete the race. “That day I learned to shut off my brain, and that’s what separates an endurance athlete [from other athletes],” says Martens, 26, who this year will enter a triple Ironman (7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike race and 78.6-mile run over three days).
Endurance athletes are the folks who cover incredibly long distances in all kinds of weather nearly every day of the year. They keep reaching for the next goal—a better time, a longer distance, a new sport to master. They push body and mind to the limit by competing in events that take hours—and sometimes days—to complete.
These athletes sometimes are viewed as unusual or eccentric—and maybe a little bit crazy—but they say the benefits of training touch all aspects of their lives, and they’re better for it. “It’s physical and mental conditioning,” says 62-year-old Chevy Chase resident and long-distance runner Jim Durham. Adds Rockville resident and Ironman veteran Michele Laur, 57: “You develop an inner strength; you take lessons [from competing] and apply them to life.”
All those benefits come at a cost, however, and competing isn’t cheap. Race entry fees can range from $15 to more than $500 for Ironmans and as much as $1,500 for elite-level events. For out-of-town races, tack on travel and lodging costs, and don’t forget equipment and maintenance costs. In 2008, Laur spent around $5,000, while mountain biker Emily McDonald of Silver Spring shelled out $3,000 for her sport. And while sponsorship is available for elite-level athletes like Martens, it’s hard to come by for amateurs. Martens’ main sponsor is Austin, Texas-based wetsuit maker Rocket Science Sports; he is sponsored locally by Washington, D.C.-based CycleLife USA. Here are four Bethesda-area athletes ranging in age from 25 to 62, who day after day test the limits of their own capabilities.
