By Bob Klapisch

Photo by Greg Pallante

It was 10 years ago that Mike Kelly found himself staring at that wide-open space called the rest of his life. It wasn’t exactly a pretty vista – not after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Franklin Lakes surgeon, then 46, figured he had two choices. Succumb to an inert life of self-pity, or help his body defeat the disease through exercise.

To say Kelly chose Door No. 2 is like saying Bill Gates has a checking account. Today, the doctor is a diehard triathlete who competes in multiple events a year, and is setting his sights on the Iron Man – a 2.4-mile swim, 115-mile bike and 26.2-mile run that, even to gym rats, would seem like a buffet table of pain.

No, Kelly says, he’s not a masochist – just deeply committed to a sport he’s convinced has kept him alive for the last decade.

“It’s actually the mental part that’s so important to me,” he explains. “When you’re out there, you’re not thinking about the stock market, the economy. You’re focused on finishing, on getting that incredible sense of accomplishment. I guarantee you that’s what’s keeping me on this planet.”

Kelly is still managing his life around chemotherapy treatments – that, and his family and his practice, of course. But running triathlons makes him part of a special (and growing) breed. There’s been a noticeable uptick in the number of triathletes in Bergen, measured by the active roster of the Glen Rock Triathlon Club. They’re up to 200-plus members, making it the largest such community in the tri-state area. One of the club’s founders, Tom Begg, says the wide footprint is seen in the Wyckoff Triathlon in June.

Four years ago, Begg sent 13 of his troops to the event. A year later, that number increased to 40; it nearly doubled in 2006. Last year, 113 members took part, and in 2009 Begg expects 130 to show up – almost 70 percent of the club’s overall membership. Not bad, he says, for a collection of ordinary people looking for a healthy pastime.

“This sort of thing has a wide appeal, and not just to those who are necessarily great swimmers or great bikers,” Begg notes. “Now, everyone and their mother can say they’ve done a triathlon. In our club, we have world-class athletes, people just starting and everyone else in between.”

Ironclad commitment
To those who still can’t grasp the appeal of a daylong calorie-burn, Begg and Kelly offer this simple explanation: Triathlons are not races, they are events. The victory isn’t in finishing first, it’s in finishing. Besides, not all triathlons are created equal. The Iron Man, which was hatched in California in the mid-1970s, may be the gold standard of endurance, but there are more reasonable distances for beginners and weekend exercise warriors. The Olympic, for example, requires .93 miles of swimming, 24.8 miles of biking and a 6.2-mile run. And the Sprint sounds downright gentle: less than half a mile of swimming, 12.4 miles on the bike and a mere 3.1-mile run.

Everyone finds their comfort level, which is the philosophy that holds the Glen Rock club together. The members don’t just train – they socialize, too. A Saturday morning group bike ride, lasting 90 minutes or so, usually ends with a trip to the health food store for smoothies. The club otherwise meets once a month to talk about upcoming events, exchange training tips, or to just hang out. It’s a safe, non-threatening atmosphere, which accounts for the popularity.

The club’s ranks, notes Begg, have swelled without advertising or the hard sell. It’s all word of mouth. “People come to a meeting, nervous about getting started, and they realize everyone’s in the same boat,” he says. “Every one of us started out the same way – they heard triathlons are fun, they’re kind of cool, so they signed up for their first race. You do one, and then 90 percent of them become addicted.”

It helps that Begg, a 44-year-old sales consultant, is no Superman. He stands 6-0, 200 pounds, and says, “if you looked at me, you wouldn’t know” he was a tri-athlete. Without embarrassment, Begg adds, “I was cut from my high school baseball team. I was a swimmer at Marist, a decent swimmer, but that’s it. I’m of average ability.”

Kelly, a member of the rival, Ridgewood-based Team Excel, is 12 years older than Begg, but no less immersed in the lifestyle. It’s ironic that an orthopedic surgeon – Kelly’s specialty is repairing torn-up knees – would embrace a nonstop assault on the joints, ligaments and tendons.  

But the beauty of triathlons, he says, is that its cross-training philosophy is actually good for the body. “I ran the New York Marathon, and I was more injured doing that, beating up on the same body parts,” he says. “This is a lot healthier.”

Long-distance runaround
Good health is a precious commodity to a cancer survivor like Kelly, who’s still undergoing chemotherapy. But diet and exercise are still his best medicine. In fact, he’s strong enough to reach for the ultimate prize: the finish line at the Hawaiian Iron Man. Kelly vows to complete this grueling event, having nearly done so in 2005. But 40 miles into the bike race, the doctor flipped over his handlebars, breaking his shoulder and his thumb.

Turns out, the injuries were just a tease, stoking Kelly’s desire to try again. “I’m going to do this, maybe when I’m 58 or 60, one of these years,” he says, at which point he can retire in peace. Even retirement, however, is a relative term. Triathletes never really stop; the adrenaline rush becomes a lifetime phenomenon – or, like Begg says, an addiction.

The hard part for Kelly is finding time to train between treating patients and acting as traffic cop to his teenage children.

“The Iron Man lifestyle is more difficult on the people around the triathlete than on the triathlete itself,” he says. “If you have the mindset, you can embrace the discipline. But if you’re a father, there isn’t a minute of the day where there isn’t pressure on your time.”

No doubt it’s tough to duck out for a one-hour swim or a two-hour bike ride. Somehow, über-competitors like Kelly and Begg always make room in their world, which usually boils down to three essentials: food, water and training. Just not always in that order.