As Murry crossed the finish line of her first Ironman, the clock read 17:21:22. But she had a smile across her face that lighted up the night.

Never mind that she was the last finisher. She finished. That was her goal.

Although Murry had been doing triathlons for 20 years, 2004 marked her first Ironman.

It did not begin well. Although she's a strong swimmer, during the 2.4-mile swim she was stung multiple times by Portuguese man-of-war tentacles, and probably other jellyfish as well. When she took off her mask at the end of the swim, she got toxin in her eye. She did the entire bike race with one eye swollen shut, but she still managed to come in 10 minutes under the cutoff time for the bike portion of the race. Volunteers forced her to see a doctor before she was allowed to begin the 26.2-mile run.

"For me to do the Ironman is nothing really special," she said. "What's special are the people who have to fight every day to do what they do."

Murry says she gets her inspiration from people like Sarah Reinertsen, the first woman to compete with a prosthesis in the Ironman in Kona. Reinertsen missed the bike cutoff time this year, but plans to go back in 2005.

Lifelong commitment

Murry has always made fitness a priority in her life. Holding a doctorate in public health, she is an acknowledged expert in Hansen's disease research. Her work has taken her to far-flung places, including Swaziland, Bhutan, Micronesia and Bangladesh. Yet she always finds a way to incorporate exercise into her daily life.

In Swaziland she ran on dirt roads and taught an aerobics class. The women took to the exercise, especially the dance influences, and loved it, though they had to work out in cumbersome cowskin skirts.

In Pohnpei and Thailand, she ran around a high school track, making sure to wear a sarong over her running shorts. "It was not culturally appropriate to show bare thighs," Murry explained.

Bangladesh was the most challenging, as women are expected to keep covered from head to toe at all times. She rode her bike to work wearing long shalwar kamiz (a tunic and full-legged pants) with a dupatta scarf so that her entire body was covered. She got accustomed to the stares, eventually.

Fitness and friends

Carol Murry of Honolulu finished 211th with a time of 3 hours, 34 minutes, 56 seconds in the Honu Triathlon on the Big Island on June 13. Murry has been competing in triathlons for 20 years.

She often has friends join her in shifts, running with her for an hour or so to keep her company.

Murry insists that exercise be fun. "No 'shoulds.' That's not the way to go about it. People need to do what they love to do and what makes them feel good. It's not about work — it's play. It's such a luxury to be able to do the things we do — dancing, walking, jumping, skating, hiking."

Of course she has a unique perspective, having lived in so many developing countries, where athletes must make sacrifices and perform in difficult environments, often under dire circumstances.

Murry grew up in a small town in California long before women's fitness was a trend or hobby. Backpacking was her only athletic outlet. "There were no sports for women when I was a girl. I started running alone around the high school track when my kids were little. I remember I couldn't find any running shoes in my town; I had to drive all the way to San Francisco to buy running shoes," she said.

As for the Ironman, she flinched a little when the announcer said over the loud speaker, "And here comes the last finisher in the race, Carol Murry of Honolulu." But she finished, grinning all the way.