When Grace Coller imagined competing in the World Aquathlon Championships for Team USA, she probably never pictured having to compete against jellyfish in a place called Middelfart. Then again, as you get to know the lively Northampton native and current Shelburne Falls resident, you might be hard-pressed to imagine her experience any other way.
Coller has been competing in races for about a decade — since deciding to get back into shape following the birth of her 13-year-old daughter, Rose. Her rise has been nothing short of inspirational and culminated with her wading into the waters of the Gamborg Fjord on July 12 in Middelfart, Denmark, which is located on the island of Fyn. Temperatures in Denmark at that time were the warmest in seven years, and the warm water caused the jellyfish to move in toward the shore. As Coller and the other competitors in the Sprint competition of the aquathlon (a 1,000-meter swim and 5-kilometer run) swam, they found themselves surrounded by the tentacled marine life.
The fact that Coller was competing for Team USA is an incredible story and starts about 11 years ago, when she began doing the First Step Fitness program at the Greenfield YMCA on Jan. 26, 2008. The program is a 12-week program designed to help people develop a regular exercise routine, and participants are encouraged to go two to three times a week. The program is also designed to provide realistic goals and not do “too much, too soon, too fast.” Coller said they don’t allow you to run, but want participants walking, biking and doing the elliptical.
“I was a heavier runner so I would get injured a lot,” she said. “You have to be really humble and be able to take the hits, because they are going to come. I got injured right away, but I went to physical therapy and kept going.”
Coller completed the “Couch to 5K” program on July 17, 2008, and continued working out at the YMCA. She said that despite struggling to give up time with her family, she continued to work out. If friends wanted to hang out with her, she asked if they wanted to swim, bike or run. She also joined running groups and became a member of the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club in order to help encourage her through her training.
“They (Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club) are so wonderful to new and old runners,” Coller said. “It can be a little intimidating because the people on these teams are really, really fast. I started out as the slowest runner on the track, and now I’m not.”
Her goal was to compete in triathlons, but she knew she couldn’t jump from running to all three, so after competing in road races, she moved on to aquathlons, which are running and swimming events. Coller said they are not nearly as prevalent as triathlons, so she was forced to travel to compete. On October 25, 2008, she drove to the Worcester YMCA to do an indoor aquathlon and was surprised when she got there.
“I was the only person who showed up,” she said. “They asked me if I wanted to do it and I said, ‘Yeah.’ I loved that it was weird. I loved that I was the only one doing it.”
After competing, the officials on hand told Coller that her swimming times would have beaten some of their lifeguards’. While she said that her running times still needed improving, she was surprised to hear how well she did in the swim. With that, she began training to compete in a triathlon. She used triathlete.com, which offers advice and other information, to help with training. She also found support in an online group dedicated to “athenas,” who are women runners who typically weigh more than 150 pounds, while “clydesdales” are men who weigh over 200 pounds. It was in the online group where she met Leslie Battle, who was previously a 300-pound athlete but is now a national champion in the athena division competing around 165 pounds.
“She is a hero of mine,” said Coller, who completed her first triathlon on May 3, 2009. “She was very inspiring.”
The two developed a friendship and on June 14, 2014, Coller was competing on a team relay in the athena division of one particular triathlon when she met Battle in person for the first time. The two have continued their friendship and Battle continues to be a source of inspiration.
“She encourages women who don’t look like typical athletes,” Coller said.
Simply becoming a triathlete after having a child is an inspirational accomplishment all on its own, but Coller’s story is more than that. The 40-year-old Coller is a former special needs teacher at Buckland/Shelburne Elementary School. During her time teaching, Coller said helping children with behavioral and emotional disorders became her identity. Unfortunately, Coller had to give up teaching due to chronic illnesses, specifically chronic migraines among others. Instead, Coller and her husband Casey Coller decided to do foster care, and while doing that they met their son Nikko, who is now 4. She is also 19 years sober. Completing races is far from the only obstacles that Coller has tackled in her life.
“I had to leave my job because of my chronic illnesses, but we adopted a child and I’m on Team USA, so I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” she said.
In 2012, Coller undertook her most grueling feat when she ran the Patriot Half Ironman, which is 70.3 miles and consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run. After completing it, Coller said she would never run one again, but time has a way of changing a person’s mind, and earlier this summer she did indeed compete in the same event again.
As her career progressed, and at the urging of her friend Battle, Coller decided to take her competition to another level.
“Leslie told me, ‘Grace, you’re a great athlete. Pick a sport, get a coach and you’ll make Team USA,” Coller said.
Coller decided to pursue the aquathlon, and her goal was to qualify for the World Championships. One big reason was that if she was fortunate enough to qualify for Worlds, she would not need to ship a bike to Denmark, which was important for a family on a budget.
In August 2017, Coller began working with her first coach, Eric Kirouac. She had some trepidations about working with a coach, particularly because she was sensitive about being an athena, but those fears were alleviated right away.
“I decided before I met him that I was going to go to Nationals,” she said. “Right away, I was an athlete to him, not just an athena. He has always been that way.”
Coller began a rigorous training regime that included her working out three or four hours a day. She said she became close to no longer qualifying to be an athena, and by the time the U.S. Nationals in Austin, Texas, rolled around one year ago this month, Coller was ready to take a shot at the Worlds. While she did not have to qualify to compete at Nationals, she did have to finish in the top 16 to qualify for the Worlds. And because there is no athena division at Worlds, she had to qualify inside of her age group. On Oct. 1, one day after her birthday, Coller said she did not race as well as she would have liked, but she got a belated birthday present with a 13th-place finish in her age group, and a trip to Nationals.
“A lot went wrong, but I made it,” she recalled. “I beat the girl behind my by 10 minutes, but I raced 10 minutes slower than I hoped. I also learned at that time that I have exercise-induced asthma.”
In preparation for Worlds, Coller decided to again run the Patriot Half in June, which was a month before. It turned out to be a scary situation, as she became very sick while competing in the event, where she placed third in her division. She ended up in the hospital, where she lost some of the lining in her stomach and intestines.
“It was really scary, really awful. I was sick for a few days,” she said. “I was really scared that I wouldn’t be able to go to Worlds.”
Kirouac urged her to return to training. She decided to attempt a 5K on her treadmill, and she said that while running she stopped and cried three times. Eventually, her kids came downstairs and cheered her on. It was just what she needed.
One month later, Coller found herself immersed in the marina in Denmark, surrounded by jellyfish. Prior to the event, organizers taught the competitors how to push the jellyfish away without getting stung. On race day, participants were given Vasoline to put on their hands, feet and faces to help prevent getting stung.
“It didn’t help,” Coller recalled. “There were a lot of jellyfish. I wore a longsleeve wetsuit and I still got stung on the face at least 10 times. They have these little pink jellyfish, but they pack a wallop. At one point I looked at my husband and I said, ‘I’m not doing this.’”
Her husband was also there when she approached the finish line, which was fitting considering how much appreciation she has for the man she has been married to for 14 years.
“He has been incredibly supportive. He does not blink an eye about watching the kids so I can do my workout,” Coller said.
Coller did her country proud, as she finished 27th overall in the women’s 40-44 division. She swam the 1,000 meters in 17:48 and ran the 5K in 30:02. When she crossed the line, someone handed her an American flag, which really hammered home how she felt about her accomplishment.
“I was incredibly honored to do this. To be able to wear USA and Coller on my suit was unreal,” she said. “When my uniform came in the mail, I opened it, fell to my knees and cried. To be a mom, to have all the issues I have and to be able to do this, was more than I could ever imagine.”
An incredible journey over a decade in the making.
For more about Coller, visit her blog at triathamomblog.com. Her entries not only tell her story, but show the humor she possesses. One recent post is entitled, “I had an asthma attack and a cat peed on my head.”
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native and Recorder Sports Editor. His email address is jbutynski@recorder.com.