MONROE, Ohio — A high school teacher is now a top-ranked para triathlon athlete, and is now training for the next Paralympics.
What You Need To Know
- Kendra Herber is a teacher at Lakota West Freshman High School and is now training for the Paralympics
- She set her goals high after placing 13th in her first international competition
- She started doing triathlons nine months ago and plans to keep going to reach her goals
Kendra Herber has been swimming, biking and running miles on her way to the finish line in triathlons.
She’s doing it all on one leg and a prosthetic.
“I actually got my first prosthesis when I was 2 years old. That’s when they amputated, cause it was for a birth defect,” said Herber.
When she was younger, she says she didn’t really have any Olympic dreams. She says it was not until much later when someone said something that stuck with her.
“One of them was like ‘you should try triathlon,’ I was like ‘I don’t know, like running’s not really for me,’” said Herber.
Now 36 years old with two kids and a full-time teaching career at Lakota West Freshman School, she says she still thought little of the idea, but nine months ago, she tried it.
“I knew that it would be a challenge, but I didn’t know I’d be halfway decent at it, but I was just like let’s just see what I can do,” said Herber.
She says it was a painful start because of a special type of prosthetic she uses to race.
“At first I was like tripping all over the place cause it just seemed so tall,” said Herber.
She still kept going and ended up at a training camp where she competed in her first triathlon. She qualified for a national championship, placed third in the competition, and kept training to compete again.
“As for right now, training is really intense. It’s anywhere from one to three hours a day, and it’s six days a week,” said Herber.
She represented the U.S. in the para triathlon international competition and placed 13th in the world. She’s still not done yet.
“The goal is to make it to the Paralympics in 2024,” said Herber.