The Ironwoman of Gaithersburg

The first time Michele Potter tried to swim in open water, she was so terrified she almost drowned.

It was an inauspicious start to her very first triathlon some 10 years ago in Columbia, MD.

"I had to stop, just float on my back," she said. "I thought about swimming to shore a few times."

A strong runner and biker — the other two disciplines in a triathlon — Potter was on the verge of quitting before she even got started.

But her family had come to see her race, and something inside her wouldn't let her quit, she said.

Deep in oxygen debt, struggling to breathe, she moved agonizingly slow toward the transition zone.

"I fell into the barriers after I got out of the water, because I was so far in oxygen debt," she said, leaning back in her Gaithersburg office.

Michele Potter wears many hats — Director of Recreation, Parks and Culture for Gaithersburg, wife, swimmer, biker, runner.

But the one she's most proud of is Ironman.

Four times she has completed a full distance Ironman triathlon. That's a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run, all in the same day, all without stopping to take so much as a breather.

Merely completing an Ironman often ends up as an athlete's crowning achievement.

And on November 21 in Tempe, AZ, Potter will go for number five.

Why would anyone put him or herself through the punishment of a race that, even for the fastest athletes in the world, takes nine hours?

Because of what she gets out of it.

"I like being able to stay fit, I like the camaraderie with other triathletes, traveling, meeting up before a race, cooking together," she said. "I like preparing for the races."

She also likes her husband, whom she met two years ago while training.

They even worked a training schedule around their wedding, much to the delight of their triathlete friends who were loathe to miss a day of sweating.

Now he's her training partner, and competition.

"It's very competitive," she said with a laugh. "We're about the same on the swim, he beats me on the bike, but I cream him in the run."

And with both of them competing in the Tempe Ironman in November, "the world will be watching Potter vs. Potter."

"The world," is not an understatement. On the official Ironman website anyone with an Internet connection can watch the Potters square off via live streaming video, as the race unfolds.

Finding time for all the necessary training to compete on such a high level is not easy when heading up one of the City's largest departments.

As Director of Recreation, Parks and Culture — a post she's held since 2001 — Potter is responsible for providing affordable, quality programs and services for 65,000 residents, managing an $8 million dollar operating budget, 853 acres of parkland, a multi-million dollar Capital Improvement Projects budget, 11 facilities, 25 parks, 45 full time staff and 350 part-time and seasonal employees.

Finding time to get in the miles takes some creative thinking.

So she trains in the morning, before work, and in the evenings. When her husband rides to work, she rides with him half way before turning around and heading to her own job.

Then, of course, she trains more after work.

As for her first triathlon those many years ago, after dragging herself out of Centennial Lake, Potter made up so much time on the bike and run that she finished first in her division.

She credits personal discipline learned from a youth spent doing competitive gymnastics.

"I've always been extremely competitive," she said. "I was a straight A student, graduated with high honors from college. It's just who you are. I try to do everything to the extreme best of my ability."

In fact when she first started training long distances, she developed an injury from trying to run too fast for too long.

But speed and distance are not things that worry Potter.

Swimming and cycling are often described as lifetime sports — activities that can be done well into a person's old age.

"There are people at these races that are easily in their 80s," she said. "I'm going to keep going as long as I possibly, God willing, can."