East Valley Victories: Injury doesn’t dampen triathlete’s success

Scottsdale’s Marc Rubin is supposed to be in Panama City Beach, Fla., this week preparing to run Saturday’s Ford Ironman Florida. Unfortunately for Rubin, he’s still here in the Valley.

A crash during the bicycle segment of the U.S. Open Triathlon Oct. 5 in Dallas has left the 40-year-old Scottsdale attorney with a broken collarbone.

“I was cruising and yelling ‘on your left, on your left’ but the rider in front of me just sat in the middle of the lane. I yelled again ‘on your left’, he still didn’t move. … I started to pass on the right, then he moved right and took me into the curb,” Rubin said of the painful mishap.

“Right after the race I thought ‘Oh, I’ll be back in three weeks (for the Florida race),’ ” Rubin said. “But after I got back home and saw Nate (Koch, a physical therapist and director of rehabilitation at Endurance Rehabilitation in Scottsdale) he said ‘Uh, you may need to get that X-rayed’ and what I thought was just a separated shoulder …”

However, Rubin has already refocused on running the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon next year. His immediate goal is to be ready for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon on Jan. 13.

And even though he isn’t in Panama City Beach today, Rubin is not too disappointed, because there are other endeavors which have brought him joy.

Rubin, who weighed 325 pounds on Jan. 1, 2003 and couldn’t walk around the block, now weighs around 168 pounds with just 6 percent body fat.

Through Tri-Scottsdale, a foundation dedicated to promoting the sport of triathlon in the Valley and which you frequently read about in this column due to the number of athletes it sponsors, and his personal “well-being” Web site 10-Hours.com, Rubin has been helping others pursue health and wellness by lecturing at schools (elementary to college) and conducting seminars.

Tri-Scottsdale’s primary event is a Mother’s Day “Race for the Cure” outing for women only with proceeds benefiting breast cancer research. The inaugural race this year was held at Tempe Town Lake. Next year’s race is scheduled for April 20 at the more spectator-friendly confines of Chandler’s Arrowhead Park.

Rubin will also still “be” at Ironman Florida on Saturday through a Tri-Scottsdale athlete — Amanda Lovato.

Lovato is married to triathlete Michael Lovato, who has according to Rubin “won just about every Arizona Ironman he has competed in.”

Michael Lovato finished ninth overall at the Hawaii Ironman Oct. 13, and is also under the sponsorship umbrella of Tri-Scottsdale, as is Scottsdale professional triathlete Lewis Elliot.

“In finishing ninth with a smoking time of 8:33:28, Michael swam 53:27, he biked 4:41:31, and he ran 2:54:02,” Rubin reported in his blog.

Elliot also competed in Hawaii (54th professional finisher in a field of more than 2,300) and won Sunday’s Soma Quarterman in Tempe. He finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 58 seconds overall, completing the 1,000-meter swim in 15:54, the 29.2-mile bike segment in 1:11.29 and the 6.5-mile run in 40:18.

A little closer to home for Rubin and wife Suzanne is watching the blossoming racing success of two of their three sons.

In the kids’ race of Tri-Family Racing’s holiday classic triathlon Oct. 21 at Arrowhead Park, Nathan Rubin won the 6-8 age group with brother Joel Rubin coming in third. And I bet the youngest Rubin would be the one to beat in the 4-year-old age group.

“When I started all this … I did it so that I would see my kids grow up,” Rubin said. “What I did not consider at that time was that my kids were going to do the things that I do. … So the reward is seeing my kids developing healthy habits and lifestyles. I didn’t realize at the time that I was teaching them but I sure am glad they got the lesson.”

I’m not sure Rubin realizes it yet, but he is going to start seeing a lot more people who “got the lesson.”

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