Mt. Airy triathlete beats cancer, wins Ironman Hawaii slot

Michele Pollio, 40, qualified for the event's world championship without ever running a marathon

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Five days after securing a slot in the Ironman triathlon world championship, Michele Pollio glows with accomplishment, still wearing her I.D. bracelet from the Lake Placid, N.Y. event where she qualified on July 25.

"This was something I never thought I could do," Pollio, 40, of Mt. Airy, said of her first Ironman, a triathlon competition acknowledged by many as the most grueling and unforgiving event in the world of sports.

The Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile marathon run. Competitors must perform each stage in succession and have just 17 hours to complete the entire event.

Though Pollio had never run a marathon, she placed 7th in her age group, which had about 80 entrees, for the overall event in Lake Placid, N.Y. A veteran of Olympic distance races, Pollio had competed at Lake Placid twice before the July 25 Ironman in previous races.

In 2002, the location marked her return to racing after surviving thyroid cancer.

The Ironman presented new challenges. "The pain is less intense, but it last for a long time," she said. "I'm just happy to be walking right now." Ironman Hawaii is Oct. 16.

Pollio competed in her first International Triathlon Union (ITU) world championship in 1998, but briefly retired for two years after the birth of her son. She's traveled across the globe in the last four years, competing in Switzerland, Cancun, New Zealand and Portugal.

In 2001, she placed 9th in her age group at an ITU competition in Edmonton, Canada, despite suffering a bicycle crash. The race was her first since giving birth.

A self-described "drinking band-jock," Pollio competed in her first triathlon in 1984 as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, where she studied architecture. "It was awful," said Pollio, whose athletic activities were limited to lifeguarding.

Later, years of high-impact athletics resulted in damage to Pollio's iliotibial band, a long tendon that stretches from the pelvic bone, along the thigh and across the knee joint, to the shinbone. Doctors advised her against running, she said, but the pain and discomfort have not kept her from competing. Stretching and physical therapy help her manage chronically tight legs.

She first came to Philadelphia as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied architecture. She moved to Chicago after graduation, but moved back to the city in 1995, settling on a home with her husband Ken Barbee in Mt. Airy.

Surviving cancer

In 2001, Pollio went to her doctor after a neighbor said her neck appeared swollen. Though she was assured her biopsy returned negative, another doctor later said the growth carried a 30 percent chance of cancer.

Despite being diagnosed with a form of cancer that had a high treatment success rate (what Pollio refers to as "cancer light"), she was angry and scared. "When you get that diagnosis, your mind rewinds and you only hear the c-word," she said.

She underwent two operations, in which half of her thyroid gland was removed, and eliminated the cancer through a treatment that required her to drink a vial of radioactive iodine. She spent three days isolated in the attic of her Mt. Airy home because the radiation could have harmed her then-2-year-old son, Harper. Her husband, Ken, a professor of biomedical engineering at Drexel University, had to maintain a distance of 10 feet.

Seeing cancer as another competition, Pollio said she was determined to win. Last winter, tests revealed the treatment was successful.

Ironman, a big difference

Characterizing swimming as a "non-event," Pollio said biking is her strength, only managing to "grind through" the run.

The differences between ITU and Ironman triathlons are considerable. In ITU races, competitors must complete a 1.5-kilometer swim (almost 1 mile), a 40-kilometer-bike (about 25 miles) and a 10-kilometer run (a little more than 6 miles). For the Ironman, contestants face swimming 1.4 miles, biking another 80-some miles — more than four times the Olympic standard — and running a marathon, also more than four times the standard.

As for time, Pollio finished the Lake Placid Ironman in 11 hours and 36 minutes. ITU competitions generally last two and a half hours. In Hawaii, she hopes to finish in under 11 hours.

The event is intimidating to even the most well-trained athletes, an image that starts with its name: Ironman. Founded by a group of Navy Seals in 1978, the event has ballooned to 16 events worldwide with more than 20,000 participants.

In Lake Placid, nearly 2,000 contestants plunged into the swim at 7 a.m.

When competitors emerge from the water, race attendants, called "strippers," peel off the contestants' wetsuits for the biking. At times, Pollio said she was traveling 40 miles per hour downhill. "I was a hazard," she said. In the final run, Pollio felt like she was "hobbling the whole time."

With just three months of preparation, Pollio was surprised to have finished the race, let alone garner a chance to compete in the world championship. For Pollio, triathlons are as much about socializing as they are about competing. Hours-long events provide opportunities to hear others' life stories, she said. "There is a sense of getting through this together."

Costs

As a full-time architect and mother, Pollio struggles to find training time.

She's managed to get in a four-hour 100-mile ride and a 10-mile run each week. Swimming is more infrequent, she said.

Training is often a family affair. Pollio positions her four-year-old son's training wheels on blocks so the two can bike indoors.

The financial costs of the Ironman are also considerable. The Ironman Hawaii event carries a $450 entry fee, in addition to hotel accommodations, airfare and equipment expenses. Sponsorships with Cycles BiKyle in Bryn Mawr, Rittenhouse Sports Specialties in Center City, Active.com and Elfin Studio in Mt. Airy have helped to offset some of that cost, but Pollio is still looking for help.

Any raised funds and discounts benefit Pollio's T3 triathlon team, a training group named after the term for the final transition in a race. The team has 25 members with core members from Northwest Philadelphia. "With all the costs, triathlons become an elitist sport," she said. T3 softens the financial blow while providing a fellowship for area triathletes. It also claims the largest female membership for triathlon teams in the area, she said.

While Pollio tries not to be too competitive, a Lake Placid foe drew Pollio's ire last month when she broke an event rule during the bike race. Instead of dropping back when passed by another contestant, the competitor "sucked wheel," triathlete slang for following closely to keep momentum. "She's on my list," Pollio said, looking ahead to Hawaii. "You can't cheat."