West Wendover High School teacher and Cross country Coach Kim Reamer achieved Iron Man status Saturday in Couer d’Alene Idaho.
An Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile run, raced in that order and without a break. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events.
Reamer completed the race in 16 hours 49 minutes and 59 seconds during the third honest Ironman in History. Temperatures peaked at 107 degrees and well over a third of contestants dropped out before the finish line.
“This race is now in the top three of the hottest Ironmans in North America. Mike Reilly said out of the 140 races he’s announced, this was the hottest he’s ever done (yes, including Kona). There was almost a 25% DNF (Did not finish) rate.” Reamer wrote in her blog. “31% of participants ended up in the Medical Tent during or after the race. To say I became an Ironman at Coeur D’Alene in 2015 gives me bragging rights for life! Ha! I am truly humbled and grateful that I survived and triumphed on a day like Sunday, June 28!”
A self described nerd during her own high school and college years the only relationship Reamer had with organized school sports was as the girl friend and then wife of high school and college athlete Jerome Reamer.
Coming to West Wendover with the opening of the High School in 1996 for almost a decade Kim Reamer was the coach’s Mrs. as Jerome did stints on the school’s football, basketball and softball teams.
It was only in 2005 that Kim Reamer became Mrs. Coach.
“I began getting serious about running when we moved out here,” Reamer said in a 2009 interview with the High Desert Advocate. “But I had no inclination to coach cross country back then.”
The fact that the Reamer got the job reflects on the regard the sport was given in West Wendover.
With the Cross Country season falling at the same time as the marquee team sports of football and volleyball, Cross Country with its stress on individual performance and dearth of spectator opportunities teenage long distance runners not only have to deal with the physical rigors of training but also loneliness.
At a time in their lives where running with a pack is the be all and end all for most teenagers, Cross Country athletes seek to run away from it.
“The mental toughness is probably is the hardest part about Cross Country,” Reamer said. “Running for a lot of kids is easy but keeping your head, running with discipline is really tough.”
Over the last ten years Reamer’s teams have dominated Cross Country and last weekend she proved that she is as mentally tough as they come. More than that she is an Iron Man.