By Lucero Sifuentes//Staff Writer

All photos courtesy of Karen Buxton

A world-renowned triathlete, who would put to shame anyone half her age, Karen is someone who never takes “no” for an answer.

Nothing has been able to stop Karen Buxton. Not her brother’s death due to colon cancer. Not her diagnosis of breast cancer. Not her husband’s and mother’s diagnoses of cancer. Not her radiation therapy, and definitely not her pelvic bone fracture. Karen’s unbreakable force of positivity and perseverance has helped her overcome all of these obstacles with grace.

Karen, 52, not only has her own coaching business at coachbuxton.com, but she also competes as an elite endurance athlete, most recently qualifying and competing in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, a grueling trifecta of swimming, cycling and running.

As if being an elite athlete isn’t enough, Buxton is also one of fewer than 20 coaches in the country who are certified as Level III USA Triathlon coaches. Karen, who has lived in Greensboro, N.C., for the past 21 years, coaches athletes all over the country and world by sending them personalized training plans and advice from her home, all while being a mother, a wife, a daughter and a friend—and a damn good one according to those around her.

“My coaching is largely Internet based. I make my client’s training schedules based on their goals, strengths and weaknesses. They each have a personalized account, and they can log into the account and see their workout for the week. I am always a text, email, and phone-call away as well,” Karen says.

Her daughter, Elizabeth says she admires her mother’s ability to compete at such an elite level while still balancing a life full of other priorities.

“What makes her so different is the way she is able to connect with people from all over the country and world. She has not only a love for competing but a fascination for food, beer, wine, staying up late, talking, and movies,” Elizabeth, 23, says. “She is so much more than a competitor. She’s a free-spirit and is down and ready for anything.”

Elizabeth has grown up watching her mother compete, but she and her brother Marty have always been the main priority.

“I see some of her clients live for competition, but my mom has dedicated her life to making my brother and me happy. I have never felt second to my mom’s training and coaching. It took me a very long time to realize how amazing that is.”

Karen Buxton’s sport trajectory began in her home state of New Jersey at The Pennington School, which she attended from seventh grade through 12th grade. Karen grew up in Harbourton, N.J., during a time when Title IX was coming into effect, and she didn’t hesitate to incorporate herself into sports that were considered to be for males. Karen joined the high school men’s soccer team and excelled, never giving importance to the fact that she was a female in a field of males. Not only that, but Karen soon became the first female to win the outstanding athlete award as a senior, as well as the first woman inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame.

“I was a bit of a tomboy. I was always playing sports, trying to keep up with the boys. Most of the guys knew me. I had to work a little bit harder, and some of the other teams were surprised to see a girl on the team, but I worked really hard, and after a while they accepted me and trusted me as a player,” says Karen.

Karen continued playing sports in college, where she was on the ski team at Johnston State College in Vermont.

After completing her studies in sports administration, Karen, who primarily did midsprinting distance sports, decided to start competing in endurance events, competing in duathlons, triathlons, and graduating to Ironman races.

“In high school I mostly ran to get in shape for other sports. After I finished college I decided to get back into shape, and I fell in love with triathlons,” Karen says.

Karen still recalls her first Ironman in Panama City, Florida. During a 2.5-mile swim, 112-mile bike run, and 26.2-mile run, one is bound to have the urge to use the restroom. It’s one of the unspoken challenges of endurance racing. When you have to go, you have to go.

During the biking portion of the race, Karen pulled her bike aside to use the restroom. As she put her hands on the ground for support, she felt an electric shock and looked down to realize she was amidst a mountain of fire ants. As she pulled up her bottoms, she felt the ants crawling around. She jumped on her bike hoping to avoid an epileptic shock. Luckily, she made it through the race with no major complications, just the minor discomfort of ants in her pants.

In other races, Karen forgoes restroom stops in order to save time in a race. Stopping to go to the restroom can be the difference between first and second place. When Karen qualified for the Iron Man World Championships by placing third in her age group at Iron Man Mount-Tremblant, it was by a mere 15 seconds. The going-on-the-fly method led her to triumph.

“I’ve had my fair share of embarrassing moments, but it’s all part of the sport,” Karen says.

As Karen began to advance in the endurance racing, travel naturally became a part of her competing. Karen turned every race into a mini family vacation, competing and then concentrating her time on immersing herself in the area and using it as a way to bond with her children.

Karen has traveled all over the United States and to Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico, France and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her favorite race to date is the 2004 World Championship race in Hawaii. She took the whole family on board and competed in the race, with her husband and children joining her at the last stretch and crossing the finish line hand-in-hand with her. It’s Karen’s most beloved competition because she was able to share it with her family. After the race, her family stayed in Hawaii, embracing the culture, the clear blue water, the residents and one another.

Her first international race, in Guernica, Spain, is also one of her favorite competitions. It was her first world duathlon championship. Of course, the experience wasn’t complete without family, so her husband came along for the ride. Karen stayed in Bilbao and trained on the hilly terrain there but made time for more leisurely activities, like bike tours with other members of the USA team, guided by local Spaniards.

The more one gets to know Karen Buxton, the more she seems to be the modern-day Superwoman, and she doesn’t even know it. Karen’s resume is endless. On top of her own athletic accomplishments she has led her daughter’s field hockey team to state finals, coached swim teams, taught classes at local colleges, published a book, been on the board of USA Triathlon and fought cancer. Her list of accomplishments can go on and on.

One of her clients, Kathy Medford, says part of Karen’s success in coaching is her vast experience competing. Medford is a physician’s assistant who took up triathlons at age 60, and, with Karen’s help, qualified to the World Championships, finishing ninth in her age group.

“I’m 60 years old, and years ago we didn’t have the Internet and access to technique coaches of her caliber on a public level. I appreciated feeling like she has the same knowledge as Olympic coaches,” says Medford.

“She’s a bucketful of advice. I felt confident with her that I would succeed.”

Part of Karen’s vast array of knowledge comes from her experiences. She’s a fighter. She’s had to fight her entire life. She’s had to fight against sexism. She’s had to fight against stereotypes. She’s had to fight against pain. She’s had to fight against cancer.

Karen has always excelled beyond all odds. Despite her cancer diagnosis, she continued training while she received radiation therapy, competing in a half Ironman shortly after her treatment was over.

“She was skinny and weak and the doctors didn’t want her to race, but she did. She was determined. It was her fight against cancer,” Elizabeth says.

It was not only a fight against her own battle with cancer, but her brother’s, her mother’s, and her husband’s battle. It was her way of proving that cancer didn’t have to be debilitating.

After radiation, she had to slowly build back her strength and endurance only to be knocked on the floor again, this time from a bike pileup accident during training that caused her pelvis to fracture, meaning she was confined to a wheelchair.

“I hate to say this, but I think my mom breaking her pelvis was worse than cancer because at least with cancer she could train, even if it was on a less-intense level,” Elizabeth says. “She’s a powerful athletic force and the wheelchair put a stop to it.”

Despite Karen’s active lifestyle and need for speed, she sang a more optimistic tune than her daughter. “I knew that I would be able to run again, so I just decided to give my body a break to fully recover. I just had to put my energy elsewhere. I was just grateful the injury hadn’t been worse,” she says.

In fact, Karen tried to find humor despite her misfortune.

“I remember my mom being in the hospital and sending me gross, bloody pictures of her injury along with funny faces. I was like, ‘I don’t want to see your bloody leg mom,’ but she’s just so goofy and positive that instead of sulking she sent me pictures from her hospital bed,” Elizabeth says.

Karen spent her time with limited mobility cooking elaborate meals, drinking Guinness beer, reading Stephen King and spending time with family, friends and her two dogs and cat, her positivity never wavering.

As Karen’s injury healed, she started slowly incorporating swimming into her daily routine, strengthening her muscles. When she first began running, Karen could barely run 20 minutes without stopping, a far cry from her miles and miles of training for endurance events.

Karen’s client and friend Bill Bruffey recalls the period after Karen’s injury being one of the few times he saw his coach lagging behind and struggling.

“There were a few times where Karen had to be picked up in group runs and you could see the pain in her face,” says Bruffey. “She preaches patience. She was still in touch with that athletic force she was prior to being diagnosed [with cancer] and her big injury, and it is a process to get back.”

Karen’s recovery from her injury was physically demanding, but she showed a renewed mental strength. She became more motivated to excel.

“Before the injury, if I was hurting badly, I would slow down, but after dealing with cancer and this pelvic injury, I know I can do anything, so I talk myself out of the pain,” says Karen.

That mindset led Karen to qualify for the world championship Ironman competition in Kona, Hawaii, for the first time since she had crossed the finish line with her family 10 years earlier. This time her children are grown and living out their own dreams, but instead of running with them, she ran for them. She was accompanied by Bill Bruffey, who had earned a spot in the race, not by qualifying, but by raising more than $46,000 for Multiple Myeloma. Both Bill and Karen were running the race against cancer and supporting each other along the way.

“She’s just such a quality person, and she gets invested in her people. She doesn’t have 100 clients. She gives personalized attention. She’s always willing to give and puts others ahead of herself. If you’re looking for someone to push you, to be inspired, and for someone to hold you accountable, it’s her, and she’ll never be mean about it. She has a gentle approach,” says Bruffey.

When asked what she thinks about during the long course and how she handles the discomfort, Karen says she uses the people she loves most as motivation to do better for herself and for them.

“Competing is a choice. We choose to do it. Even though the Kona course was a really, really difficult course, I kept saying to myself, ‘I am so lucky to be here after my injury and my brother’s passing from colon cancer and my mom’s and husband’s battle as well,’ and I think of them and how strong they were with that,” Karen says.

It’s this type of optimism that helps Karen gain respect from those around her, especially her daughter.

“The most contagious thing about my mom is her resilience. Everyone can be negative, and I can be so pessimistic, and my mom has always had this ability to set that aside and push through. That really inspires people. She has this energy about her that she can do it and she believes it, and you want to do it with her.”

Despite Karen’s countless accomplishments, those closest to her praise her for her selflessness and her characteristics beyond her athletic triumphs. Her daughter Elizabeth recalls always wondering why her mom was such a tomboy and why she had Ken hair instead of Barbie hair like all the other moms. Elizabeth would beg her mom to grow out her hair longer and Karen did so, taking into account her daughter’s feelings but never caring what anyone else thought about her. She’s not afraid to be Ken. She’s fearless.

Training and traveling are a hobby of Karen’s, and it’s led her to meet those closest to her and share memories with her family, but when she’s not training you can find her on her porch sipping on beer, laughing with her friends, enjoying a delicious meal and relaxing before her next big adventure.