Katz continues in training mode

This month's Rocky Mountain Half Marathon in Denver went by without much drama.

The winner triumphed by more than 2 minutes, and the closest disparity between top-10 finishers was 21 seconds.

But more than 17 minutes after Bob Weiner won the race, Susan Katz rolled in.

The 30-year-old Colorado Springs resident tirelessly pushed her wheelchair through the 13.1-mile course. Although she was 27th of the 1,499 finishers, Katz, a paraplegic who has completed three marathons, admitted she was using this race as a tune-up for bigger events.

"I'm racing to try to qualify for the 2009 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, which will be in October," said Katz, who took part in the 1996 and 2004 Paralympics, where she competed in shot put, discus and javelin, with the culmination being winning a gold medal in basketball in '04.

In July, Katz will compete in the Sadler's Alaska Challenge, a six-day, 267-mile hand-cycling race across the state - the world's longest wheelchair and handcycle race.

Katz has been overachieving since she became a paraplegic in 1989.

Friday will mark the 20th anniversary of when an able-bodied Katz underwent surgery to relieve pressure on her spinal cord caused by spina bifida (an incomplete formation of the spinal cord). 

Barbara Katz, said seeing her daughter in a wheelchair was cumbersome. But Susan never dwelled on her situation and eventually conjured up the courage to play sports.

"When we were in Berkeley, (Calif.), she got in the chair and played basketball with 14-year-old boys and those boys wanted nothing to do with her," Barbara said. "She just pushed that chair back and forth and I don't think she ever touched the ball.

"So I thought we were going to go home and she was going to take piano lessons or something like that, but she came off the court and she was beaming. It was like she was in jail and was set free."

From that moment, Susan has dedicated herself to wheelchair sports. But as a disabled youth, it was difficult to find places to compete with able-bodied children, Barbara said.

Enter Jerry Link.

Link was Susan's chemistry teacher at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Md. He also served as the school's track and field coach. Link remembers the day when Katz approached him about joining the team.

"She walked up to me and said, ‘I want to be on the track and field team,'" Link said. "I said, ‘Good. 3:30. Be there'."

Link said he gave no thought to Katz's disability when giving her an opportunity to play - a shot other coaches were reluctant to offer.

"When you talk to Susan for more than 2 seconds you don't see the chair, you just see the person," he said.

After graduating high school, Katz was awarded a scholarship to the Illinois women's wheelchair basketball team.

Since then, Katz has served as a production assistant for "SportsCenter" and ESPNews and was the associate producer of ESPN's "Around the Horn".

Now she is a public relations manager for the Paralympic division of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

While Barbara and her husband, David, are proud of their daughter's accomplishments, they have come as no surprise.

"She came with a great spirit and determination," Barbara said. "And that was enough for us."