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THURSDAY AUGUST 11, 2005 Last modified: Friday, July 29, 2005 12:07 PM CDT Already a winner: Declo woman celebrates victories By LAURIE WELCH South Idaho Press
Each July Cherise Gentry watched Spudman bicyclists speed past the Declo home she shares with her husband Glade and their four children. "I use to just watch them go by and think 'hmmm...' someday that would be fun to do,'" Gentry said. Two years ago Gentry, who rode a mountain bike during college, began competing in the bicycle portion of the Spudman. A little seed was planted. Once in a while, Gentry would think about what it would be like to complete all three portions of the event. So at the end of last year's race when Marden Plant, a man Gentry bicycles with, asked her if she had ever though of entering as an individual, the desire that had casually taken up residence in her mind caught in her throat. "I'd thought about it, but it hadn't been voiced. I couldn't even answer him," Gentry said. Training for a triathlon is grueling, even for athletes in top form. During the Spudman competitors must swim a mile, bicycle for 25 miles and run 6.2 miles. "And I'm no athlete," Gentry said. Conditioning to swim a mile in the river is one thing, but Gentry did not even know how to swim. She started by going to the racquetball club where a friend taught her a basic stroke. "Then I got on the Internet and learned how my hands were suppose to enter the water," Gentry said. After weeks of hard work Gentry found her efforts had been only a baby step compared to the next task at hand, swimming in the Snake River. Gentry's friends rode in a safety boat while she practiced the required mile. "The first time I swam in the river it was not a healthy thing. I was used to swimming in a pool with nice clean water where you could see the bottom. I did about three strokes and came up out of the water. I'm claustrophobic and I couldn't see anything. I've never had my head in mucky water. It was all green. I couldn't calm myself down. I had my heart rate up so high and I wasn't even moving," Gentry said. "I figured out the reason why they wear those orange caps, it's so they can find the ones that don't make it. That comes back to haunt me," Gentry said. But she didn't stop. Not able to see anything in front of her or to the sides Gentry began to move through the water as she made her way toward the take-out point. Lying in bed at night images of the dark Snake River still creep in. "I begin to go to sleep at night and do that little jerk that wakes you up and see my hand going through that green water," Gentry said. But the images did not deter her. Because she already knew how to bike, Gentry had conquered two-thirds of the events and now began to condition her body for the run. "I've never been much of a runner," she said. During high school track one day Gentry's sister watched a race as Cherise came into view in the lead of the pack. "My sister was jumping up and down and yelling ' That's my sister, go Cherise", then everyone else stopped and I finished my last lap. I wasn't in the lead, they had all lapped me. My sister was so embarrassed," Gentry said. Gentry said she started going to the track where she would run a while and then walk. "I would run to the weed patch and then walk to the telephone pole," Gentry said. Training almost everyday Gentry developed shin splints and began taping her calves to relieve the pain and to prevent further injury. One defining moment that helped strengthen her resolve came when a fellow competitor asked if she was really planning to compete in all three Spudman events. She did not think Gentry was ready. "I wrote that down in my journal and I went hmmm...I guess I needed her to doubt me. That did it for me, I started getting serious," Gentry said. Gentry said there are a lot of "real" athletes who will compete Saturday. "I'm not like the others. I just want to finish the event and do it without the aid of oxygen," Gentry said. Gentry, who entered the contest in the women's 150 pound plus "Athenian" weight category completed one of her goals during training. She dropped 31 pounds. She will now have to compete in a lighter category. "When I signed up, one of my goals was to get get out of the Athenian category and the other was to be able to complete it without an oxygen tank," Gentry said. Along with accomplishing her goals Gentry said the camaraderie of the people she has met has been one of the best benefits. "You get to meet people who have that same sick feeling and want to go out and ride 26 miles instead of going to the movies and getting popcorn," Gentry said. The last battle Gentry is fighting is her nerves as race day rolls closer. "My stomach turns when I think about Saturday. I am telling myself that this is just a good day to go out and exercise I'm just going to go out and try to do my best," Gentry said. "Actually I already feel like I've done it, I've come so far." Many would agree.
Link to South Idaho Press |
A Declo woman has already won her own personal race as she prepares to compete in Saturday's Spudman Triathlon.