http://christinekenney.blogspot.com/
Christine was an All American Division I lacrosse player at Penn State University. After graduating from PSU, she began running as a way to stay in shape and keep her competitive spirit alive, running three consecutive marathons in 2004/2005 (NYC 3:26, Boston 3:26, and Chicago 3:07). In 2005, she decided triathlon was a new challenge that she wanted to take on - she bought a bike, got in the pool for the first time, and participated a few weeks later at a local Olympic distance race - the Montauk Triathlon. After finishing in 2:19/6th in AG with zero training, she was hooked and two years later participated in her first 70.3 race, Ironman Florida 70.3 and qualified for the Inaugural 70.3 World Championship in Clearwater. In August 2007 while training for her 2nd 70.3 World Championship she was hit by a car and sustained injuries that required 200 stitches to her face, arm and hand. She was out of work and living with her parents for six weeks as she was unable to use her left arm or right hand. Christine also suffered stress fractures in her femur as a result of the impact and spent the majority of 2008 unable to train or race.
Christine's long term goal was to compete in a full ironman and she dreamed of qualifying for the World championships in Hawaii. Once she was healthy and able to train again she decided to stop putting this dream on hold. She signed up for the inaugural Ironman Cozumel in November 2009. She finished in a time of 10:25, 2nd in AG, 3rd Amateur overall and qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. In August 2010 while training for the WC, she had another bike crash and suffered a distal clavicle fracture that required surgery 10 weeks out from the race. Christine was given little hope from surgeons that she would be able to compete. But Christine's determination and positive attitude got her to the start line and she ended up having an unbelievable day given her lack of training for eight weeks leading into the race and finished in 10:47, with a 3:22 marathon time.
Returning to Ironman Cozumel in November 2011, Christine finished in a time of 9:57, 1st Overall Amateur and qualified once again for the Ironman World Championships. She kicked off the 2012 season with an Overall win at the Carlsbad Marathon in January in a personal best time of 2:53. She returns to Kona in October for the Ironman World Championships in hopes of getting to the start line healthy and improving on her time from 2010.
Christine strives to inspire others to achieve their dreams and demonstrate that with hard work, determination and a positive attitude anything is possible and obstacles and setbacks can create opportunities.
Christine attempts to juggle training and racing triathlons & marathons with her full time job in Equity Capital Markets where she often works 70+ hour weeks. When Christine is not working or training, she enjoys spending time with her adorable Pups, P&R (Peanut & Riley), catching up on sleep, going to the beach, travelling, and hanging out with family and friends.
