Next up is our sweet Laura Mackey Coppola. 

She grew up playing soccer and showing horses. Laura swam for one season in high school, she says “if you can consider a three person team with no coach a swim team” She ran track only because they needed someone to run the 1600 and 3200. She says she was awful (which I am sure she wasn’t) but that she was a body. Laura started running again when her three kids were young. She was homeschooling them and needed an outlet. Running turned into a half marathon which turned into an Olympic triathlon in 2016. She was 2nd in her age group and was instantly hooked. It escalated quickly after that, as it is for most of us in here she completed her first 70.3 in Chattanooga, raced Challenge Daytona, and then qualified for the Boston marathon the week before everything was shut down due to Covid at what was the Snickers marathon in Georgia. She finally got to run Boston in October of 2021. She was injured for the entire training cycle and most of her fitness came from swimming and pool running, but she made it to the finish line.

Laura completed her first full Ironman in Chattanooga in 2022 and qualified for Kona with a Women for Tri slot. Competing in Kona was beyond anything she could imagine and she is so thankful to have the opportunity. Currently Laura is in training for Sea 2 Summit in July and has her sights on Ironman 70.3 Louisville in August and Ironman California in October. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Laura. We love having you on the G3 Board with us and a member of the club.