Pitt prof stays healthy and finds meaning in triathalon

When the starting gun sounds in the early morning hours of Oct. 18 in the Hawaiian town of… When the starting gun sounds in the early morning hours of Oct. 18 in the Hawaiian town of Kona, Joe Maroon will be competing in one of the most demanding endurance events on earth – the 25th annual Hawaiian Ironman Competition.

He will swim 2.4 miles in Kailua Bay, bike a 112-mile course that takes him through the mountains and lava fields of the Big Island and, finally, run 26.2 miles to the finish.

He’s not a professional athlete. He just operates on them.

You see, Joe is also known as Dr. Joseph C. Maroon, a professor and vice chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the Pitt’s Medical Center, as well as team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s also 63 years old.

Dr. Maroon has competed for the past 20 years in challenging endurance events, including five Ironman distance events in Canada, New Zealand, Germany and the 1993 Hawaiian competition.

He has been the team neurosurgeon for the Steelers since 1981, where he specializes in new methods of evaluating sports-related concussions. He said he’s received encouragement in his training this year by friends and patients like tight end Mark Bruener and quarterback Tommy Maddox.

According to IronmanLive.com, the official race Web site, athletes spend an average of 18 to 24 hours each week training for the race.

Over the past 8 months, Dr. Maroon has taken as much time as possible out of his work schedule, which also includes a private practice to train for this one day.

He spent a couple of hours every morning swimming at the local pools near his home in Sewickley. During lunch he’d try to get a few miles of running in. On the weekends he’d dedicate hours more, including taking long bike rides.

“When I started training eight months ago, I could run three miles, bike 20, and swim one,” he said. “After training, I can now run 20, bike 100, and swim three.”

The secret to his progress is training with what he calls “incremental consistency.”

“If I had started with the regimen I have now, it would have killed me,” Dr. Maroon said.

First organized 25 years ago by Navy Officer John Collins on the island of Oahu, the Hawaiian Triathlon has, according to the World Triathlon Corporation, become known as one of the ultimate one-day endurance events on earth. Men and women, ranging in age 18 to 80, come from more than 50 countries to compete.

The Hawaiian competition is also the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, with a $430,000 purse split among the overall top ten finishers. The event has grown from 15 people in February of 1978, with a winning time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, to 1,500 people last year, with a winning time of 8 hours, 29 minutes.

Dr. Maroon, who will compete in the 60 to 64 age group, said that as he has gotten older, such endurance events have taken on greater significance in maintaining his own health and the philosophical importance he’s placed on things in his life.

“It’s not about material things, unless it’s a new bike you can train with,” Dr. Maroon said. “You realize that it’s your relationships with God, family, friends, and colleagues that sustain you.”

Triathlon participants qualify through regional competitions held around the country throughout the year, and through a lottery that picks 150 more. The U.S. military also sends a 5-man, 1-woman team from each of its branches to compete in the event.

Dr. Maroon qualified by completing the Endurathon Half Ironman Race in Muncie, Indiana, where he finished with a time good enough to have him named an All-American Triathlete by the sport’s governing body, the National Triathlon Association.

But it almost didn’t happen.

According to Dr. Maroon, he wrecked his car on the way to Muncie the night before the race. Unhurt, but still a 45-minute drive from the starting line, he eventually flagged down a passing pick-up truck and hitched a ride with some Michigan State students who were also going to the event. After getting only three hours of sleep, Dr. Maroon found himself standing at the lakeside starting line with a bad case of nerves.

“There was a tremendous anxiety and apprehension for me before the race,” he said. “As I was standing by the lake watching the sun rise, I stopped and said a prayer to God to give me strength.”

“I ended up having my best Half Ironman finish time ever,” he added.

Asked what he plans to do when he crosses the finish line in Kona, Dr. Maroon said he wouldn’t be doing any immediate celebrating.

“I’ll head right over to the medical tent and get hooked up to a fluid I.V.,” he said.