Destined for Ironman

Through Michele Landry’s eyes, Hawaii is much more than a cool place for a vacation.

Hawaii, specifically Kona, has always been special for Landry, a Newport Beach resident. On Oct. 11, it will actually become even more cherished.

Landry, one of 150 U.S. triathletes selected from a lottery, will compete in the Ford Ironman World Championship. The event is like the Super Bowl for triathletes. If the competitors had a resume for the top races they’ve finished, the Ironman World Championship would be at the top of the list.

Soon, Landry plans to complete what will be just her fourth Ironman race and say she’s done the race known to all as Kona.

She’s been training for Kona since she found out she was a lottery winner in April, yet Landry’s entry into the competition seems to be a story of destiny that began when she was 9.

As a child, 25 years ago, Landry handed out water to the athletes in Kona. She also cheered for her father, Jim, who competed in the race and finished it in 1982 and ’83.

“It was really exciting to be in that environment as a young child and I never let go of that,” Landry said. “To watch him do Kona when I was 9, that stayed with me forever. It’s such a magical place.”

Landry spent several weekends with her family, traveling from New Jersey to New York to Boston and along the East Coast to watch her father compete in triathlons. But it wasn’t until five years ago that she actually became truly hooked on the sport.

She began with long distance running and then delved into triathlon.

For the past four years, she entered the lottery for Kona, hoping to land a spot. Now she’s wanting to write a book about a thirty-something interior designer/Newport Beach wife who finished Kona, swimming in the ocean water for 2.4 miles, biking for 112 miles and running a 26.2 marathon.

She’s already set up a website, www.2genim.com, that works as a biography. The website address stands for second generation Ironman.

Next weekend, she’ll add journal entries about Kona and photos that will most likely include her father, who booked his flight and hotel before his daughter did.

Jim Muehe, 63, who is retired in Arizona, is thrilled for his daughter and excited to return to Kona. He was last there in 1991 to watch his brother compete.

“It’s just fantastic,” Muehe (pronounced Me) said of his daughter competing in Kona. “It’s going to be a great experience for her. We’re all going to go see her. It will certainly bring back a lot of memories for me.”

Just training for the triathlon has been a memorable experience for Landry. Running along the Back Bay and training at the Newport Beach YMCA became like a job. One week, she trained for up to 29 hours.

She does not have a set time to reach as a goal. She merely wants to finish Kona. Perhaps she would like to finish under her best time in an Ironman, which is 12 hours, 23 minutes, 51 seconds, completed at the Ironman Coeur d’Alene in Idaho this past June.

She must finish the race within 17 hours. The triathlon begins at 7 a.m and ends at midnight.

There are 1,800 competitors, 150 of them U.S. lottery triathletes and 50 others internationally who were also picked from a lottery.

“I am so ready to do this,” Landry said last week. “I want to be on the course with all the other athletes … I know it’s going to be very emotional. I just can’t believe that I’m going.”