By Lauren Hsu ’24 and Sky Hinton ’26
Though we mostly see them teaching in the classroom, many Choate faculty members are accomplished athletes. Through rain, mountains, and woods, Choate faculty have braced many terrains in preparation for marathons and triathlons, including the notorious Ironman triathlon.
Physics teacher and Boys’ Varsity Crew Head Coach Mr. Pat Guelakis has had a packed triathlon race schedule. In July 2023, he competed in his first race, the Litchfield Hills Triathlon in New Hartford, Connecticut. The Olympic-length race consisted of a 0.93-mile open-water swim, 24.8-mile bike, and 6.2-mile run.
In late July, Mr. Guelakis finished an Ironman 70.3 in Augusta, Maine. The race consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run, which is half the length of a full Ironman race.
Next, he participated in a sprint triathlon (0.47-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, 3.1-mile run) in Madison, Connecticut in September of 2023. In the fall term of this academic year, he ran four road races and is currently preparing for a fifth.
Mr. Guelakis ran cross country in high school and rowed at Trinity College. After focusing on coaching crew for years, he recently got back into competing athletically. “I’ve been here [the School] 12 years; the first 10 years here, I wasn’t very active. Ahead of health concerns, I started getting into biking, and that turned into running, which turned into triathlon,” he explained.
Mr. Guelakis dedicates around two hours a day to training, sometimes going on bike rides with Chemistry teacher and Varsity Boys’ Squash Head Coach Mr. Will Morris.
According to Mr. Guelakis, a long-time triathlete, Mr. Morris first encouraged him to sign up for a Half Ironman in December 2022. Since then, he has served as a valuable source of support and information on triathlon training. On July 21, both teachers will compete in a full Ironman in Lake Placid, New York; this will be Mr. Guelakis’ first full Ironman race.
Growing up, Mr. Morris played many sports, such as soccer, squash, and lacrosse as a student at The Taft School. He watched his father compete in triathlons as a young child before enrolling in a physical education class on the sport of triathlons at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to fulfill degree requirements.
Since 2002, Mr. Morris has consistently competed in triathlons. With decades of experience under his belt, he is self-coached and occasionally trains with his brother and Mr. Guelakis.
In addition, Mr. Morris exercises with student-athletes to get more training. “For instance, the squash team did a slow 30-minute run. I did that with them,” he said. “That was part of their training for the squash team, but it also overlaps with some of my preparation for triathlon.”
Humanities teacher and Sixth-form Dean Ms. Amy Howland is also an avid athlete. Ms. Howland competes in trail half-marathons, which consists of running 13.1 miles in the woods on hiking trails, sometimes at high elevations. Although this is only her second year in the sport, Ms. Howland has a rich background in athletics.
In high school, Ms. Howland was involved in track and volleyball. After quitting track to get an after-school job, she ran and lifted weights for fun and has continued the activities ever since. As a college student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she rowed for two years.
After graduating college, Ms. Howland moved to Seattle and played on a women’s rugby team for eight years. In her 20s, she became interested in running marathons and triathlons and has since racked up 15 years of experience.
To prepare for competitions and maintain a strict training schedule, Ms. Howland uses a fitness app called TrainingPeaks, where she buys training plans that fit the duration of the race and how long she wants to train for.
Ms. Howland typically runs outside for one to three hours with her dog, and occasionally, a friend. She and French teacher Dr. Katie Jewett are preparing to run a half marathon road race in the spring.
Ms. Howland’s favorite part of the sport is spending time outside on the trails. “It’s just beautiful to be in the woods. I get to see the woods in different seasons and change throughout the course of the year, and it’s so peaceful,” she said.
Balancing her training with being a dean, teaching, and raising two children is challenging. Ms. Howland typically wakes up at 5 a.m. to run and credits her partner for supporting her athletic pursuits.
“I have a really amazing partner who is cool with me going on a Saturday and leaving him at the house all morning with the kids while I drive into a mountain and run for three hours,” she said.
Ms. Howland, who used to wake up early to rollerblade before school as a teenager, is not intimidated by her early training hours. “One of the keys is that if you have a busy life, you can’t put it off; if you put it off, something will always come up or get in the way,” she said.
However, the grueling nature of distance sports can trigger a wide range of feelings. Over a decade ago, Ms. Howland ran the Maine Half Marathon in Portland, Maine on a cold day in heavy rain. “The last mile or two, I was just crying; I wanted to stop,” she recalled. “I was so miserable because of the weather and my own headspace. Sometimes it’s brutal, and you just have to put one foot in front of the other.”
Mr. Guelakis experienced similarly intense emotions running the final portion of his first Half Ironman. With three more miles remaining at mile 10, he began to cry. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to finish this.’ It was going very well, and it was emotional,” he said. “All of that was pushing me to cross the finish line. And then I crossed the finish line, cried for a good three minutes, and then ate some food and went home.”
While crossing the finish line comes with pride and joy, the moments right before the start of a race are most special for Mr. Morris. “You’ve had this amazing journey that’s behind you that’s prepared you for it … I spend those moments before the race with one of the most profound senses of gratitude that I think you could ever feel,” he said.
