"font-family:">FOLEY, Alabama — Few people possess the stamina

required to be an athlete. Long hours spent training take away from

family time, vacations, personal relaxation and entertainment with

friends. While many spend weekends cheering from living rooms for

favorite players, teams or cars, those on the other side of the

television cameras face sweat, injury — and possibly,

glory.

"font-family:">Darrel Williams of Foley recently traveled to North

Carolina to take part in

"color: black">Beach2Battleship, a 140.6-mile triathlon, and he,

for one, found his glory on those shores. He won first place

overall at the fifth Best Iron Distance Event in the

World.

"font-family:">Williams spoke about his

experience.

"font-family:">“With around an eight-week gap from Ironman

Louisville, it was hard to recover, then train, then taper for

B2B,” he said. “I almost would have preferred it to have been

closer so at least that way I wouldn’t have had to squeeze in too

many long training days.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“I picked up a small overuse injury after

Louisville, just a little tendinitis by my shin close to my right

ankle but … I was able to hold it back and train around the problem

allowing it to recover enough for me to race.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“A good diet and supplement intake was also

important for my quick turn around.”

"font-family:">

"font-family:">He explained that traveling, and too much or too

little training, takes a toll on the mind and

body.

"font-family:">“I didn't feel as confident as I would have liked to

going into the race because I hadn’t been able to train much on the

run, and even though I know I can pull a good run out of the bag

with minimal training, it still played on my mind,” he said. “On

the 12-and-a-half-hour drive up to Wilmington, N.C., I checked the

weather on my phone as often as I could and it didn’t look

promising.

"font-family:">“Come race day we had a stroke of luck in that the

current was in full strength and we would be swimming with it. The

race started as a pod of about 50 dolphins came past the swim

start, pretty cool I thought as long as it’s not sharks. As soon as

I got out there the current pushed me along making me feel like an

awesome swimmer, and I know that's not true. I finished the swim in

47 minutes, beating my wetsuit training swim time a few weeks

earlier by 17 minutes, so I was very happy. I felt good getting out

the water and picked off maybe 20 people running to my

bike.”

"font-family:">He tried to save a few minutes between the swim and

the ride by not putting on his warm gear — a decision that nearly

cost him the race since the bike ride made him so cold that he

shook violently and couldn’t even squeeze his nutrition bottle or

water, he said.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“Then to top it all, the headwind picked up to

around 35 miles per hour I’m told, and the rain appeared to turn

into sleet,” he said. “I kept telling myself just a few more

minutes to see if conditions change and then you can quit. I told

myself that over and over for a few more hours until about mile 90

when we seemed to loop around and actually get some

tailwind.

"font-family:">“The sun came out a bit at that time and the fact

that the wind was with me warmed me up a little. I wanted to push

hard with the tailwind to make up for the damage that had been done

during most of the ride, but I was so exhausted from shivering that

I knew the only chance I had to do well was to loosen up and try

and get comfortable ready to do something on the

run.”

"font-family:">His inability to take in proper nutrients on the

ride began to catch up with him, he explained.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“I took off on the run — I looked at my watch which

said 6:05 so I knew to break 9 hours, which was my goal, I would

need to do a sub 2.55 marathon,” he said. “Not being able to stick

to my nutrition plan on the bike meant that my body was seriously

running low on calories, electrolytes and salt.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“I immediately felt it in my hamstrings, which were

cramping badly, and I had to stop and stretch a few

times.”

"font-family:">But things started to look up after

that.

"font-family:">“By the half-marathon point I had loaded up with

calories and started to feel better and for the first time was able

to push hard on the run,” he said. “I looked at my watch and

realized a 2.55 marathon was over.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“As I ran through the downtown section, one of the

officials told me I was fourth overall and second and third were

only two minutes ahead.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“I started pushing harder than I had all day, and

was closing quickly. With five miles to go I had caught him and

took the lead,” he spoke with excitement. “I wanted to make sure he

knew there was no chance of coming back on me so I picked up the

pace to go past.

"font-family:">“When I did it gave me an extra adrenaline rush, and

I was able to maintain that same speed so went with it. It was

really cool having the leader bike with me; he would ask what I

needed and go ahead at each aid station so my drinks and nutrition

were prepared.”

"font-family:">

"font-family:">Wife Jenny Williams said she’s proud of Darrel since

she’s seen his progress from the very beginning.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“Darrel began doing triathlons soon after I met him

five years ago, and it amazes me how far he’s come since then. He’s

always been very fit and accustomed to competing in running races,

but when I swam with him while training for his first triathlon, he

was doggie-paddling,” she said. “I swam competitively for several

years, so I helped him as much as I could — he has improved

tremendously and is now a great freestyler.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“Since he’s learned a lot of it on his own and from

other athletes, he’s really good at teaching people freestyle,

especially for triathlons. Many triathletes are learning to swim

later in life and are starting from scratch, as he did, so he can

relate to them and coach everything step by step. Swimming takes a

lot of time and patience; it’s not as easy as perfecting your run

and cycling techniques and gaining speed.”

"font-family:">

"font-family:">She admitted, however, that the journey can be less

than a sea, ride and run of roses.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“It can be difficult dating or being married to a

dedicated, super-competitive triathlete,” she divulged. “It’s a

very time-consuming, expensive hobby, but with Darrel’s natural

talent and drive, he continues to excel and has a chance to turn

this passion into a full-time career.”

"font-family:">

"font-family:">She said Darrel has found a way to help others while

enjoying that passion.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“This experience has already helped him in his

current career as a personal trainer, and should aid in his

aspiration to become a firefighter,” she said. “Clients respect him

for his athletic abilities and trust his advice on training and

proper nutrition.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“He’s also really good at pushing people to their

limits while making workouts fun and opening clients up to new

challenges, such as running races and triathlons. It’s inspiring

how many of his clients have completed races they would have never

considered before. My dad rarely exercised before training with

Darrel, and now he’s hooked on running, cycling, swimming and

various workouts. He continues to lose weight and loves exercising,

all because of Darrel.”

"font-family:">

"font-family:">While she may not share her husband’s drive, she’s

thrilled to take part in a variety of new experiences with new

friends, she said.

"font-family:">

"font-family:">“I haven’t caught the ‘bug’ yet — I’ve done a couple

races for fun and really enjoyed them, but I’m not competitive

about athletics, so it’s hard for me to comprehend how so many

people are obsessed with triathlons, with all the time, sweat and

pain involved,” she admitted. “I keep reminding myself that there

are much worse addictions, and I’m in awe of Darrel and his

accomplishments.

"font-family:">“I’m so happy for him and also love to be a part of

the triathlete community. Whether it’s here, in Austin, Texas or

Australia, triathletes seem to be very friendly, supportive,

awesome people.”