By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — For your average aspiring marathoner, 26.2 miles sounds like a long way. For Ironman World Championships veteran Jesse Du Bey, well, it's a bit shorter than the average race.
Chelsea resident Du Bey, 34, who will compete in the ING New York City Marathon's elite division this Sunday, started running as a kid, struggling to keep up with his father in road races around Seattle, Wash.
Today, his accomplishments include being the seventh fastest American to finish the 2009 Ironman World Championships, a 140-mile triathlon held annually in Hawaii.
But less-experienced runners, take heart; Du Bey believes the Ironman (which stacks a marathon atop a 112-mile bike race and 2.4-mile swim) is, in one sense, an easier event.
"It's more comfortable at any given moment," said Du Bey, who works as a principal at a financial equity firm. "But it's more of a mental battle, because it goes on so much longer…it's a different kind of pain."
Du Bey started training for triathlons in 2005, as a member of Chelsea Piers' Full Throttle Endurance Racing Team.
"I had been working really long hours in the finance industry, letting myself get out of shape," Du Bey said.
But now, another major life change is driving Du Bey's transition from triathlons to marathons — in March, he and his wife are expecting twins.
And while getting ready for the marathon still requires a hefty, 75-mile a week training regime, Du Bey said it takes only half the time he needed for the triathlon (about 13 hours per week).
"That's the whole point," he said.
Family matters will also push Du Bey across the finish line Sunday for another reason. Five years ago, he and his wife created a fundraising organization, Tri4Life.
Each year, they participate in an athletic event in order to raise money for an uninsured family facing a medical crisis.
This year, they are running for the Ray family of Cincinnati, Ohio. Heather, a single mother, sadly lost her battle with breast cancer. But five-year-old daughter Mackenzie is still suffering from neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic disorder that leads to tumor growth behind the eyes, near the ears, and inside the chest and brain.
"We know this is not the best fundraising year, but we desperately need your help," Du Bey wrote on Tri4Life's website.
The Du Beys are currently searching for a new family to support in 2011.
