American Sherry Coons had been racing as a professional for three years when, in Kona, she suffered acute renal failure after the race and was hospitalized. Her body wasn't processing fluids effectively as her kidneys had essentially shut down. She was given lots of fluid her body couldn't use, with a somewhat predictable result: "I looked like the Michelin man the next day," she said.

She smiles about it now, but the problems were more serious than that and it would be years before Coons was able to return to a steady diet of training and racing.

Coons now believes that part of her problem that day was that she'd come into the race on the knife edge of fitness—perhaps too sharp as she'd put so much stress on her system that it couldn't take the added stress of one of the toughest endurance events in the world.

"My mind is just so incredibly strong," she said. "I was in trouble halfway through the bike." Somehow she soldiered on to the finish, completely spent and body shutting down by the end.

That was 1995. Now, Coons, 38, is back on the start line after a long road to recovery, then health, then fitness and a return to scary-fast speed—the kind of speed that makes her a strong favorite to take her age group. We're pretty sure some of the pro women will be watching their rear-view mirrors for Coons on the bike, too.

After her illness, Coons said, her kidneys returned to normal on their own and she decided that perhaps she wasn't cut out for long-course racing anymore, so she turned to the International Triathlon Union circuit. But she made an unsettling discovery: Every time she attempted to push herself beyond her aerobic zone in training she'd get sick. And there began what would become several years of other health problems—herniated disks in her back, the removal of a polyp from her colon—that had her wondering if she'd ever be able to train again, let alone race.

So she laid low, but longed for her triathlon lifestyle. "I missed it terribly," she said. Eventually she returned to the water, and then to the bike and run.

Ironically, it was a work-related move out of the heartland of triathlon—California—and to the heartland of America—Kansas City, Mo.—that renewed her desire to return to competition. The USA Triathlon national championships were held in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1999, and Coons decided to train. She wound up fifth, then traveled to the ITU World Championships in Perth, Australia, where she was sixth.

That gave Coons the confidence to keep working, adding distance training each year until she was back racing half-Ironmans. And she didn't pick wimpy ones, either: She started with Buffalo Springs Lake in Texas, then hit the long course at Wildflower. Nearly two years ago she was able to return to California and continue her medical studies to become a chiropractor. In 2000, she also returned to Kona as an ART practitioner, helping other athletes get their bodies in top shape for the race.

"It was really a whole new life for me, coming back to California," she said, and she's anxious to graduate from chiropractic school and hang out her own shingle soon.

Coons has had a good year this year, as both the first amateur at the Ralphs California Half-Ironman in May and as the overall winner of the Olympic-distance race at Wildflower. Later this summer she traveled to the USA Triathlon National Championships in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where she placed third overall and won her age group by two minutes. It was her first-ever national championship, and it of course earned her a spot on the U.S. team to the ITU World Championships in New Zealand next year. (She's already got her place on the team for worlds next month in Cancun.)

"This year has been a dream year for me," she said. In Oceanside she had "a stellar day" that included a group of age-group men trailing her on the bike course as she motored through the twists and turns of Camp Pendleton. She turned in a 4:34—not far off of her PR of 4:19 and a great bike ride.

Now, she's got one big race left in her stellar year. And if things go well, she said, she's not willing to rule out making a comeback to the pro ranks. "I would love to go back and recapture a few years of racing pro," she said.

But before that, she'll also be racing in Cancun at the ITU World Championships just three weeks later. It's safe to say she's back on track.