At A Glance
- Athlete Lisa Delong, age-group triathlete
- Found the sport About 20 years ago, after a divorce, on a friend’s challenge
- Races Numerous IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events
- Qualified for Kona 2022 IRONMAN Chattanooga, 12th in the 55-59 age group (the last slot)
- IRONMAN World Championship 2023, Kona, Hawaiʻi, finished 15:54:03
- Races for The Carly Faye Foundation and GLO (Girls Lifting Others)
- In memory of Her daughter Carly, who died of leukemia at 15
Finding Triathlon At A Low Point
Twenty years ago Delong was a mother of three young kids, then 5, 8, and 11, coming out of a hard separation and divorce. Then she ran into a friend at her 25th high school reunion who was training for his first IRONMAN. “I did not know anything about triathlon at all,” she recalls. “When he explained what an IRONMAN was, I looked at him like he had two heads. I thought he was crazy.”
A few months later, when her friend planned an IRONMAN 70.3 as a test race, she signed up too rather than spectate. “I had never swum or biked that far, but I absolutely loved it,” she says. “I came across the finish line smiling and asked when I could sign up for my first full.” She has since raced numerous IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events. If a first race is calling you, our getting-started guide is a good place to begin.
Carly
Delong’s daughter Carly was, by every account, a special kid, a straight-A student, a volleyball player, and someone who always seemed to know the right thing to say. “She liked to set goals and had no doubt she was going to reach them,” Delong says. “When she was only 10, she decided she wanted to become a pediatric oncologist.”
At 12, Carly came up with an idea to provide makeup services and photo shoots for girls battling cancer. She built a website, created a logo, and found a few sponsors. Then the unthinkable happened.
The Diagnosis
At 14, Carly was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the turn of the new year. “Seven days later, Carly wrote a quote on her mirror that stayed there through all her treatments: you have been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved,” Delong recalls. “She kept going to volleyball practices and games. You never would have known the treatments were wreaking havoc on her body.”…