Cila Attacks Kona.
Posted by Shauna Culhane, January 31, 2011

Sam Cila joined the New York National Guard right after 9/11. His unit was deployed in October 2004. Sam was finishing his year long tour when he was injured by an IED blast on July 4, 2005. Sam survived the blast due to the quick response of his medic and unit. Since the injury, Sam has received over 40 surgeries and suffered devastating injuries to his left arm. Because of the amount of nerve loss to his upper arm, Sam's hand was considered a secondary injury. He spent three years fighting a never-ending battle and eventually received an amputation. Sam competed in the 2010 Ironman World Championship this past October in Kona, Hawaii and shares his experience of overcoming adversity on his way to the finish line.

Since I was a kid competition flowed through my blood. I was competitive about everything I did. After I lost my hand, my competitive streak only grew larger. My injury created a fear that I would never be able to compete at as high a level as I once did and this fear only made my drive that much greater. I realized that I had not only lost something physically, but mentally as well and challenged myself to not only get back to the athlete I was before my injury but to surpass it.

Part of my rehabilitation involved running so I began to train for 5Ks and 10Ks. As I was able to properly train and compete in these races, my confidence grew and I set my sights higher and higher. I began racing in Sprint and Olympic triathlons and eventually it was a gradual build up to the point where I set my sights on the ultimate challenge of competing at Kona. I race with a prosthetic "biking hand," although if there were a prosthetic I could wear to make me run faster, trust me, I would wear it! With every race I competed in, I had two goals in mind: compete against myself and beat as many able bodied athletes as I could. Kona was a special experience. It was an amazing feeling to be at the biggest endurance venue in the world amongst the greatest athletes, I honestly felt privileged to be counted among them. Standing on the beach in Hawaii, I thought to myself "You couldn't kill me in the streets of Baghdad and you certainly aren't going to kill me here."

I was confident in my training and knew that my dream of one day competing at the World Championships was going to be fulfilled and I had my family to thank for that. One of the greatest challenges of the Ironman is the sacrifice that I have to ask my family to make. The training is long, which means a lot of hours, especially on the weekends that are spent away from home. In a way, competing at Kona was a way to say thank you to my family who had been with me through my injury, the rehabilitation and the training.

I was not nervous at the start of the race. I knew that I had properly prepared greatly in part to my wife and kids and my teammates and coaches. I did what I do before every race and crumpled up my race bib- there is something wrong with having a perfectly pressed number in my opinion. For the race, I wore The Program logo on my chest. It served as a constant reminder of what I was there to complete. So many thoughts cross your mind when you are racing but I was always brought back to the Spartan shield on my chest, which kept me going and reminded me to keep fighting.

The emotions I felt at the end of the race were overwhelming. It was amazing to think of how far I had come since my injuries in 2005 and it was an unbelievable feeling to cross the finish line. It was a victory for so many things and most importantly I was able to prove to myself that no challenge will stand in my way. And for the record, I didn't cry.

- Sam Cila