Ironman looking forward to World event

Lisa Billings/Chesterfield Observer Bob Flanigan is training for two upcoming Ironman competitions, including the world championships in Florida.

Soon, Chester area resident and triathlete Bob Flanigan is going to spend a leisurely afternoon swimming, riding a bike and running.

He's going to start with a simple 2.4 mile swim, follow immediately with a bike jaunt of 112 miles and then cap his day with a 26.2 mile run. That's just pure, normal, Ironman suck-it-up stuff.

And it's heady stuff for a self-described nonathlete as a child. Flanigan overcame an early slow athletic start and is now on his way to a major world event in a grueling discipline.

The 32-year-old Pittsburgh native is doing the 140.6 mile combined distance Ford Ironman World event Aug. 31 in Louisville as a tune-up for his real goal. He has qualified for the Ironman 70.3 mile World Championships in Clearwater, Fla. this November.

His athletic beginning was not promising. "I was very, very uncoordinated and very unsuccessful at sports, especially the team sports world. And it wasn't until my junior year of high school that I fell into distance running."

"I started with cross-country and track and field. My junior year of high school, I was an absolute, stumbling, bumbling idiot with it. I went into my senior year and found a passion for it…Not necessarily doing well, but I was doing a heckuva lot better," he recalled.

Flanigan went to college at West Virginia Wesleyan, a Division II school in Buckhannon. He wasn't recruited and received no scholarships. He just used his desire to improve every time he ran as leverage to make the team.

"At the end of my freshman year, I ended up being red-shirted due to my experience level," he said. That left him as a true freshman in his second college year, and he said it was a blessing in disguise.

"I ended up winning the team MVP. I qualifi ed for NCAA's [national championships]. It was just, I had stuck with the sport out of pure love for it and just happened to be a late bloomer, and just happened to explode on the scene in college," Flanigan recollected.

In track and field he was a 3,000-meter steeplechaser and 5K runner. Those are prime endurance events, and they tested him. He was up to the task.

"I had a lot of success. I won quite a few allconference awards throughout college, made it to the NCAA finals in cross country. At that point in my life, it was the definition of who I was. It was just wonderful," he said.

As many athletes who have no professional opportunities, Flanigan left college, began a career, got married and fathered a kid. But most instructive, according to him, he got really fat.

"I'm not kidding, I gained an unbelievable amount of weight and just absolutely stepped away from sports altogether other than being a fan," recalled Flanigan. "It wasn't until my daughter was about two years old that I found myself so disgusted as I chased her around the yard and was absolutely out of breath that I said to myself, 'Something has to change.'"

Flanigan was home alone one weekend, not liking what he saw in the mirror. He saw a flier for a sprint triathlon and decided then to get a bike and get back in shape for triathlons.

"I had such a good time doing it that I was just going to stick with the sport. I shed an incredible amount of weight getting back into it, and it ended up gaining its own life. I went from just wanting to get in shape to, all of a sudden, I was winning my age group in races, and I qualified for U.S. National Championships a few times," he said.

He moved on to Ironman, and captured a coveted spot for the Clearwater Worlds by performing well at a Rhode Island qualifier.

It was nearly three years ago, after business travels and relocations, that Flanigan, wife Mindy and daughter Madison settled in this area.

Now, the Chesterfield County running star is chasing another dream. Don't count him out - after all, he came from nowhere athletically. A World title just may be in his grasp.

For more information about the world of triathlon, visit www.teamnaturespath.com.