Intel officer wins Air Force female athlete of the year Published Dec. 10, 2010 By Senior Airman C.J. Hatch 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Starting with a background of basketball and golf, 1st Lt. Kathy Rakel, 56th Operations Group chief of intel readiness, never thought a suggestion from a friend at the Air Force Academy would point her to a sport that would take her to professional status with a shot at the Olympics. "I grew up playing basketball and golf, and I can play a mad game of ping pong as well," Lieutenant Rakel said about her beginnings. "I played basketball every day in high school, even everyday in the summer. I was a die-hard basketball player." After her graduation from high school she entered the Air Force Academy, where in her freshman year she got her first introduction to triathlons. "A friend, for whatever reason, suggested I should try out for the triathlon team," Lieutenant Rakel said. "I turned down her suggestion because I didn't swim, bike or run." In the spring semester of her sophomore year a friend asked her if she was trying out for the triathlon team. "At that time they had tryouts to make it to the collegiate nationals to represent the academy there," she said. "She told me I should just try out and see if I could make the team. Again I told her I didn't do swimming or biking. I did a bit or running to stay fit for the fit test." Lieutenant Rakel tried to excuse her way out as well by saying she didn't own a bike. "After telling my friend I didn't have a bike she told me I could borrow hers," Lieutenant Rakel said. "So being out of excuses, I tried out." The try outs, included a sprint distance triathlon, half-mile swim, 10-mile bike and three-mile run. Despite it being her first time on a road bike she made the team, earning second in the bike portion over those who were on the team. Before joining she asked the team captain what the distances were for the races at nationals. "He told me nationals would be an Olympic distance event, which is about a mile swim, a 25-mile bike and a 6.2-mile run," she said. "After hearing the distances I told him 'no way.' So I had the slot but turned it down. I thought it was too long, and I had never done any of those events individually much less together." For Lieutenant Rakel this was a missed opportunity, but the sport had caught her attention again during the summer of 2005 when she competed in her first triathlon in Burnet, Texas, near her parent's home. "I didn't know what I was doing," she said. "I think I stopped in the middle of the bike portion to eat some Fig Newtons and walked most of the run portion after dying from trying to ride the bike. But the sport and the challenge appealed to me." During the fall of 2005 she did a semester exchange program taking her to West Point, New York. She was a beginner to triathlons but she learned a lot about the sport and how to train for it. "At West Point I was still slow in the pool and an average runner," she said. "But during my time there something interesting happened with the cycling. I had my first road bike and I was just learning to ride it. By the end of the semester and after competing in four races, I had the fastest bike split on the team." But on her return to the academy, triathlons fell by the wayside. She didn't see the appeal in the triathlon. She wanted to see where cycling could take her, so she did a lot of bike racing the rest of the semester. Then in 2006, after a summer of intense running in the Marine Officer Candidates School, she entered the Soma half-ironman. "So I did this half-ironman which is a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and a 13-mile run," she said. "Then I did another triathlon and some training with the academy triathlon team before coming to Ironman Arizona in 2007." She competed in the ironman not really knowing much about the sport. But she had friends from the academy triathlon team who were competing with her and helped her along. "I had no real expectations going into the race," she said. "I finished the ironman in 11:46:42 and set the female cadet ironman record at the academy." At this point a mentor, the academy nutritionist, Capt. Jim Winesten, pulled her aside and said, "Kathy you have no idea what you're doing and you don't know how to train. But if you got a coach you could be very good in the sport. You have a lot of potential you just don't know what you're doing." She found a coach, Maj. Brian Grasky, and began working with him while doing her masters degree program at the University of Arizona. "Tucson is a training haven for triathletes," she said. "There are great running trails and many places to swim and Mount Lemon is a 26-mile bike ride uphill." In May 2009 she qualified to turn pro, but due to her schedule and being between trainings and moving to Luke she didn't have time. She received the opportunity to turn pro again in January of 2010 and accepted and finished out this year as a pro triathlete. "This year was a good year," she said. "I was on the Air Force triathlon team in June when we took gold in the male and female categories." After accomplishing so much Lieutenant Rakel still plans and is making goals to achieve more. "My short term goal is to be the first American to get gold at the July 2011 Military World Games in Brazil," she said. "After that my goal will be winning gold at the 2016 Olympics."