Four months before Great Neck resident Sharon Levy was set to participate in her first Ironman competition, she broke her small toe after dropping a heavy box on it.
“I wasn’t thinking anything other than ‘oh, no Ironman,” Levy said. “Every single day you’re thinking about Ironman.”
A doctor who had done an X-ray on Levy’s foot had suggested she stop running and step out of the competition.
“I was devastated,” she said. “I couldn’t drop out of Ironman.”
But, Levy said, she wouldn’t let the injury stop her from completing her goal of finishing a full Ironman competition – a race that challenges participants to complete a swim, bike and run 140.6 miles in less than 17 hours.
She said she trained for the next four months despite the injury to her toe to ensure that she would be fit to race in the competition, dreaming of hearing famous broadcaster Mike Reilly say the words “Sharon Levy, you are an Ironman.”
That dream came true on July 27 when Levy completed the 2014 Lake Placid Ironman competition in 13 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds.
“There’s this buzz and electricity,” Levy said of crossing the finish line. “I wanted to stay in that final stride forever.”
Levy is no stranger to testing her body’s limits.
She owns and operates Excel Workout, a physical therapy gym at 1482 Northern Boulevard in Manhasset, and has participated in half Ironman triathlons in the past.
Levy said she’s been “toying with the idea” of doing a full Ironman competition for a few years.
“I was doing these half Ironmans and I would always have to defend myself,” she said. “I kept asking myself was it a real one?”
At the suggestion of her friends and family, Levy signed up for the 2014 competition in July of 2013.
Although she said she is “always training,” she didn’t hire a triathlon coach until January.
Up until the day of the competition, Levy was assigned daily workouts that began early in the morning and stretched into the late hours of the evening.
“I’d still be in bed, not fully awake and be checking my e-mail to see what I had to do for the day,” she said.
Levy said she worked on machines that simulated the swimming, biking and running courses and would sometimes be on a machine for more than five hours at a time.
“It was difficult because people would want to stop by and have a conversation with you and you can’t,” she said.
After recovering from her broken toe, Levy continued to train everyday for the competition.
“I knew that after that I couldn’t skip anything because it would only get easier and easier to skip on my training,” she said.
The night before the competition, Levy’s daughter showed her an animated video depicting Levy crossing the finish line.
“I started crying and after that she started crying,” Levy said.
On the day of the competition, heavy rainfall began to pour down over the course as Levy was finishing the swimming part of the race.
After completing the 2.4 mile swim, Levy went on to complete a 112-mile bike ride.
Levy said all was going well for her, until at about mile 30 when she got a flat-tire.
“It was a complicated disaster,” she said.
For an hour, Levy watched hundreds of riders pass her by until a fellow participant, who Levy said is also a Great Neck resident, stopped to help her inflate her tire.
“I kept looking back and thinking ‘oh no what if he doesn’t complete because of me,’” she said. “But he told me to just keep riding.”
Levy then got to the final part of the competition – a 26.2 mile marathon.
“The run was the biggest challenge for me,” Levy said.
But, Levy said, she was determined to finish the race and at about mile 23 performed a cartwheel to express her enthusiasm in nearing the finish line.
“All of a sudden I was upside down and I didn’t know if I’d land on my feet,” she said. “But I did and I just kept running.”
Less than an hour later, Levy crossed the finish line and was reunited with her family and friends.
“I just wanted to be with the people I loved the most,” she said.
Levy said she is contemplating competing in another Ironman competition sometime in the near future.
“Although I can’t get the good weather guarantee or flat-tire protection plan,” she said.
