08/28/2008

By JESSICA MARCY  / Associated Press

Kati Derrick runs with her shoulders back and her gaze ahead.

Her face is bright red and her dark brown ponytail bounces steadily as she circles the grounds of Raleigh Court Elementary School. As she runs, a large red tattoo on the back of her right ankle flashes up and down, revealing the symbol of the Ironman Louisville, an M shape with a dot on top and a fleur-de-lis.

Her tattoo is loud, but she loves it. It reminds her of how completely empowered and euphoric she felt when she completed the Ironman last August.

The 35-year-old Roanoke mother tries to remember such feelings as she thinks about the pain that awaits her on Sunday: leg cramps, all-over body aches, total exhaustion.

She is in the home stretch of eight months of training for her second trip to Louisville, Ky., for an Ironman, a mega-triathlon that consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run, to be done in 17 hours or less. Derrick could become one of just a few women in the region to complete two Ironman-length races.

On a recent Monday morning, she runs past her son Eli, 6, who plays on a slide and her daughter Anna, 8, who sits bored under a tree.

These days, she struggles to find the time for her intensive training as she recounts in "Kati's Blog: Just my thoughts & experiences as I try to balance being a mom, a triathlon coach and an Iron(wo)man."

As she runs, she thinks about a brown-haired boy named Garrett who died of a rare neurological disease before she had a chance to meet him. She will do the race in his memory, and he's the reason she's training so hard.

Derrick started exercising seriously five years ago, motivated to lose weight after giving birth.

She was 40 pounds heavier, out of shape and envious of husband Paul's long runs. She made a vow to herself: She would complete a 5K run before her son's first birthday.

Running became her time.

She became hooked on the adrenaline of competition. She soon added swimming and biking to the mix and began competing in triathlons. She went on to place first in the 2006 Virginia Triathlon Series 30- to 34-year-old age group.

Derrick is now a personal triathlon coach. Before that, she worked as the youth and education director at Christ Lutheran Church but stopped so that she could focus on coaching.

Derrick and her husband had done several short triathlons together when she had a crazy idea: Why not celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary by doing the mother of all triathlons — an Ironman — together?

The Ironman began in Hawaii in 1978, and, over the years, it has become famous as the world's most prestigious triathlon because of its unique challenges, including hot weather, strong crosswinds and an arduous landscape.

In 2007, there were 21 qualifying Ironman races throughout the world for the Ironman World Championship, including in Louisville.

Derrick and her husband were the only two Roanokers to compete in last year's Ironman Louisville.

"When I finished the Ironman, I said to myself, 'Never again in my life do I want to second-guess myself or shortchange myself,' because if I could accomplish that, I could really do anything that I set my mind to," she said.

Derrick imagines this year will be quite different. She now knows she can physically do the race. And she now has the best motivation in the world — Garrett Campbell — to help.

Garrett's mother, Renee Campbell, is one of Derrick's closest childhood friends; they grew up together in Harrisonburg. The two remained close through college and were bridesmaids in each other's weddings, but they drifted apart in recent years.

Then, Derrick learned that her friend's 2-year-old son was sick in November.

At 15 months, he began experiencing cerebral atrophy, and his development sharply digressed. He became like a newborn and, in a matter of weeks, he lost everything: his mobility, speech, sight, the use of his hands.

Garrett turned 2 years old July 19, 2007, and was diagnosed with infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses that August.

Campbell cared for Garrett full time until he died in December.

Shortly after his death, she and her husband, Scott, started Garrett's Wings, a nonprofit organization that supports research for infantile NCL and provide help and nonmedical care for terminally ill children and their families.

Derrick started training for the Ironman last winter before she came down with mononucleosis in mid-February. The sick time gave her a chance to reflect about her friend's situation. She wanted to help but didn't know how.

She decided to raise money for Garrett's Wings through the Janus Charity Challenge, a fundraising program for Ironman participants that awards $10,000 to the top fundraiser.

With a cause in tow, Derrick has stepped up her training and said she hopes to speed up her time from 14 hours and four minutes last year to closer to 12 hours this year.

She's also coaching two other Roanoke women this year — Robin Giordano, 41, and Michelle Hartman, 42 — to do the Ironman Louisville with her.

Derrick has even started training Renee Campbell for upcoming triathlons, and the two have talked of doing a half-Ironman together in the next year or two.

"There's a lot of hurt and anger, a lot of things that are toxic, and I think that exercise helps to get that out," Campbell said.

Still, Derrick has a lot ahead of her for this competition.

She's dreamed of racing in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, and there are two slots for her age group in the Ironman Louisville. But, for now, it's just a dream. She says that being a good mom while training is much more important than devoting the necessary training time to go to Hawaii.

___

Information from: The Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoketimes.com