Tulsa World: Ironman of Iraq

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Ironman of Iraq
Tulsan trained for the Super Bowl of triathlons, with heroes for inspiration

Maj. Bill Conner bikes around Camp Fallujah.

By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Published: 10/5/2008 2:10 AM
Last Modified: 10/5/2008 3:44 AM

Tulsan trained for the Super Bowl of triathlons, with heroes for inspiration

Iraq isn't Hawaii, but there are ways around that — there had to be. Maj. Bill Conner won the lottery, and he wasn't about to waste the ticket.

This wasn't your ordinary Powerball. Rather, it gave this Marine a shot at the Ford Ironman World Championship, Saturday in Hawaii. Otherwise known as the Super Bowl of triathlons.

More than 7,000 triathletes entered that lottery — just like Conner did almost every year since 1996. And, like all those years before, the Tulsan didn't expect to be one of the 150 Americans chosen. And, really, he didn't mind. He was kind of busy overseeing some 600 Marines in Fallujah.

Then, in mid-April, an e-mail found the veteran triathlete during his fourth tour of Iraq. It essentially said, "Major Bill, you better start training. You're going to Hawaii."

How exactly do you train for a triathlon in Iraq? More importantly, where do you swim in a hostile country full of sand?

Conner's a Marine. He found a way.

During his Tuesday interval training, he ran laps around Camp Fallujah's detention facility. On Wednesdays, he sped around the base's perimeter for two to three hours.

It's "much safer" in Iraq these days, Bill said. But in 2004, a rocket zipped past his head during one of his runs. The next day, a mortar landed on the other side of the wall.

Conner stopped running outside after that.

Swanky swim

To prepare for the Ironman's 112-mile bike ride, the 35-year-old Conner bought a $100 rig — a blue Skink, to be exact — at the base exchange. Saturday nights, he pedaled around the base until darkness forced him into his room. Inside, he'd turn the air-conditioner off to replicate Hawaii's intense heat and humidity. Then he mounted his stationary bike — the one a commanding officer lent him so he wouldn't hog the gym bikes. As he rode, Conner watched an Ironman video. It was a first-person view of the entire bike course.

Hawaii never seemed closer. But as for swimming

The base didn't have a pool, but Conner did get to swim a few times. He did it in style, because Saddam Hussein liked to swim and built a pool in his Baghdad palace.

Who knew the Americans would eventually turn the presidential pad into a U.S. Embassy? Or, for that matter, that a visiting Marine from Tulsa would train for an Ironman in the former dictator's swanky pool?

Although Conner didn't swim more than five times in Iraq, his rare strokes gave him "enough confidence to know I'm not going to drown" in Hawaii.

A safe place

Far away in Tulsa, Mary Ann Conner prayed for her son's safe trip home. After saying the rosary, she would often tell Jesus, Mary and Joseph: "I am grateful for all the blessings that you have given me. Please send my son, his battalion and all the troops home safely."

They listened — at least when it came to her boy.

In early September, Bill Conner safely made it to Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Soon after, he joined the camp's triathlon team to continue his Ironman training. He also ate a really good steak, which is about as hard to find in Iraq as a swimming pool.

Earlier this week, Conner and his mother boarded a plane for Hawaii. Now all that is left is to compete.

"You have 17 hours to finish," Conner said. "I guess my goal is to cross that finish line. I have had a very unique training regimen. I'm not trying to set any, per se, time records."

Bill's mother is a St. Francis nurse who worries about her overachieving son.

"I must confess, I'm a little nervous about this," Mary Ann said the day before she joined Bill in California. "I'm putting it in God's hands and praying that he can finish without medical problems."

Bill chuckled: "She worries too much. And you can quote me on that."

THE HONORED DEAD

Each night in Fallujah, Maj. Bill Conner offered up a prayer for three dead friends. The last thing he did before falling asleep was look at their pictures, each of them taped to a wall at the end of his bed.

This Saturday, when the Bishop Kelley graduate competes in the Ford Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, it won’t be for glory. He’ll be doing it to honor those who didn’t come home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

And for his three pals from the Naval Academy — Doug Zembiec, Erik Kristensen and Megan McClung.

“They will all be there in spirit,” he said. “They’ll be there rooting me on. At some point during the run, when I’m exhausted, they’ll get me through.”

MAJ. DOUGLAS A. ZEMBIEC, the legendary “Lion of Fallujah,” died attacking insurgent forces in 2007.

“He was a Marine’s Marine,” Conner recalled. “Physically, he was obviously one of the strongest people in our class. As a person, he had a big heart. He really would give you the shirt o7 his back. He was rough on the outside, but once you knew him, if he was your friend, there was no better friend.”

LT. CMDR. ERIK S. KRISTENSEN tried to rescue fellow SEALs in 2005. He didn’t make it. Afghan insurgents shot down his helicopter, killing all 16 onboard.

“I was probably closest to Erik,” Bill said of his fellow rowing teammate. “If anyone got too serious, he’d crack a joke to break the mood. A lot of people said he was like a big teddy bear. He was just a great guy.”

MAJ. MEGAN M. MCCLUNG died in 2006 when her Humvee struck an improvised explosive device in Iraq. She was the first female Marine officer killed in combat during the Iraq War.

“Megan was probably one of our best female athletes,” Bill said. “She was on the gymnastics team and on the power-lifting team.

“When she graduated, she got into triathlons. Megan did the Ironman in Hawaii a couple times.

“Everybody, pretty much, at the Naval Academy knew Megan because she had this bright red hair. You couldn’t miss her from across the room or even across the yard. She had a bubbly personality that you immediately noticed when she walked into a room.”

Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer

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