Winston-Salem woman swaps Ironman rights for title of good Samaritan

The results from the Ironman Cozumel triathlon include the dreaded letters "DNF" next to Marie Plummer's name.

But "did not finish" doesn't begin to tell the story of what happened to Plummer during that grueling race in Mexico.

Plummer, 29, is a health teacher and swim coach at West Stokes High School. She and her husband, Justin, a personal trainer, live in Winston-Salem.

More than a year ago, Marie Plummer, in an attempt to rehabilitate an injured shoulder and get in shape, began training for an Ironman, the gold standard for endurance competitions. It involves swimming 2.4 miles, bicycling 112 miles and running 26.2 miles.

Plummer played softball at Appalachian State University, which she said prepared her for the punishing workouts and mental grit needed to train for and finish such a race.

Still, her workout schedule, under the guidance of trainer April Hartsook, was rigorous. For more than a year, her life revolved around squeezing in a daily two-hour workout, whether it was before sunrise or after sunset. During peak training periods, she worked out six to eight hours a day, all the while dreaming of crossing the finishing line.

She sacrificed financially as well, shelling out $550 for the Ironman entry fee, $300 to ship her bicycle and nearly $1,000 in travel expenses. Her husband came along for moral support, which added to the costs.

The race got off to a painful start when Plummer swam through swarms of jellyfish in the Caribbean Sea, sustaining so many stings to her face that it swelled, causing her goggles to tighten.

"It felt like you were touching an electric horse fence," Plummer said of the jellyfish stings.

Still, Plummer was pleased with her swim time and set off on her bike, battling a fierce crosswind on the backside of the island. Near mile 60, she heard a man crying out for help. A tire on his bike was blown, and he was unable to keep it inflated.

Plummer got off her bike and tried to help the man, an Australian, but his tire would not hold air. She caught sight of a small computer on his bike that indicated he had just 10 miles left before beginning the run. Distraught, he told Plummer that he would have to drop out.

"You came here from Australia?" she asked him. "Look, dude. Take my bike."

"I can't do that," he said.

"Yeah, you can. But I want you to remember two things: I'm only here because God put me here, and we Americans are nice," Plummer said.

The man took off on her bike, leaving Plummer to push his bike on a remote stretch of the bicycle course. She had hoped her bike would be returned to her so that she could resume the race, but those instructions apparently got lost in the confusion.

Under a relentless sun, with no water and wearing cycling shoes, Plummer pushed the bike for three hours, covering 15 miles. By the time she got to the nearest station, she had missed the cutoff time (participants had to be finished with the bicycle portion 10 hours and 30 minutes after the start of the race), eliminating her from the race.

Her husband found her in the area where competitors make the transition from bicycling to running.

"When she told me what happened, I thought, 'That's my girl. That's why I love her,' " Justin Plummer said. "Yeah, those races are about pushing yourself, but to sacrifice something for the benefit of that gentleman, that's a real inspiration."

Plummer left Cozumel without being called an "Ironman," a coveted distinction that is bestowed upon each competitor who crosses the finish line.

But she has experienced a deeper, more soul-satisfying reward. Criticized by some of her friends and acquaintances within the local Ironman community for not sticking to her goal, Plummer said she has no regrets.

"My self-worth is not determined by a clock or whether I finished," Plummer said. "The look I got from that man when I gave him my bike? There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that I had done the right thing."

As for how that man finished, Plummer has no idea. Nor does it matter.

"He could've finished dead last or gotten a DNF," she said. "I don't care."

Plummer hasn't given up on becoming an Ironman. After taking a few weeks off, she plans to resume her training for the Louisville Ironman in August.