Page 53 - HCPVitalityChronicles

“Take on the Challenge, and Feel Powerful:” Iron Man Finisher

Geri Bonde Pushes Herself to Complete a Race Per Month

Several years ago, Geri E. Bonde, OD, set a Tempe, Arizona—comple/ng it in 14
goal for herself: to complete a marathon be- hours and 38 minutes. “What an incredi-
fore she turned 50. “I’ve always been fasci- ble experience it was!” she said. The Iron
nated by marathon runners,” said Bonde, of Man consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-
HCP Del Amo Specialty Building, Region 3. “It mile bike race and a marathon (26.2-mile
seemed an impossible feat to be able to run run). “Some say that the fourth part of
26.2 miles.” This was in 2005, when the Iron Man is nutri/on,” Bonde said.
coworker Sharlene Gee, OD, had just com- “You have to have the correct nutri/on
pleted the Los Angeles Marathon. “She told and consume the appropriate number of
me if she could do it, I could do it. I wasn’t so calories during the bike and run. I
sure,” Bonde said. She ended up running thought that I would be exhausted dur-
two marathons just before turning 50, and ing the marathon, but I felt fine!”
to date, she has run a total of 14 of them.
The hardest part, of course, is finding the
As o en happens, the ela/on from this suc- /me to train. But Bonde is not one to let
cess led to an interest in star/ng addi/onal anything prevent her from achieving a
types of athle/c training. Bonde began using goal. “I had a lot of injuries in the first
a road bike to cross train. “I started thinking three years of running, but I couldn’t give
about triathlons,” she recalled. “I was fasci- Geri Bonde during the bicycling portion of up what I loved to do,” she said. Her
nated by the athletes in their wetsuits get- the Iron Man in November 2012. prepara/on on the weekends leading up
/ng ready to jump in the water and then to the Iron Man—five hours of workouts
bike and run.” She started one step at a /me; at first, she could on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays—was fun. “My experi-
only swim one lap at a /me. Steadily she built up from there, ences showed me that even if there is something that seems in-
and her first sprint triathlon race was in 2008. “I was very nerv- surmountable, with the right prepara/on and the right a1tude, I
ous, but when I finished, I was elated!” can do it, whatever it might be. The only limits that exist are
those which I create.”
One thing led to another, and Bonde trained for a half Iron Man.
Years before, watching an Iron Man compe//on on TV le her To get mo/vated, she suggests joining a club, such as a running,
teary-eyed, seeing the last people cross the finish line in the biking or triathlon group, to surround yourself with like-minded
dark, just before the 17-hour cut-off /me. “I thought I could people who want to exercise. This year, she plans to do a 10K,
never do that,” said Bonde. “When I finished the half Iron Man, I two half marathons, two sprint marathons, one aquabike (a 1.2-
said, ‘never again!’” mile swim and 56-mile bike ride), two Olympic triathlons or a
half Iron Man, one marathon and her first ultramarathon, which
But you can never say never. A couple of years later, a few of her is 31 miles. “I like to do a race a month because not only are
friends did an Iron Man. “I started thinking that I too could be they exci/ng, they keep me mo/vated to train,” Bonde said. As
successful and finish if I trained properly for it,” Bonde said. an Extraordinary Achievement recipient, Bonde will be awarded
“Every single day for more than a year, I thought about the Iron 700 Vitality points.
Man race. I swam, biked, and ran regularly for seven months,
and then started a five-month training program.” Reaching one goal leads her to the next. “You can accomplish
much more than you think you can,” Bonde said. “My mo0o is
On November 18, 2012, Bonde competed in the Iron Man in never give up. Take on the challenge, and feel powerful.”

Do you know someone who has completed an extreme physical fitness ac/vity or healthy living event within the last year?
If you would like to nominate their Extraordinary Achievement, please contact Catherine Crow, Janelle Howe or Janet Galli.