Dan Semsel is the kind of guy who meets every challenge head-on.
After all, the 56-year-old responded to the second of three bouts with cancer by becoming a marathon runner, then an ultra-marathon competitor, and now an IRONMAN athlete.
“I love to challenge myself,” Semsel says. “I really need a goal to chase and I find that drives me. If I’ve got something I’m focused on, then I’ll put in the work to get through that goal.”
Semsel is returning to Sandusky on July 23 to compete in IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio.
“I can’t wait to come back up there,” says the 25-year veteran of the United States Air Force who is now deputy director of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Veterans Service Commission. “I have a teammate coming from Denver who rode with me last year, and we’re both very excited. We’re both using this as a training event for other events, but we both enjoyed it so much last year that we had to come back.”
Semsel has always been active, staying in shape to meet military qualifications. That led him to participate in weightlifting and rugby, along with a bit of mixed martial arts.
However, after facing down cancer for a second time, a colleague asked him to run a marathon.
“My operations officer challenged me when I was in the hospital,” he says. “He told me that the next year we were going to run the Honolulu Marathon. I told him he was nuts, but I started to train and finished the race. That was in December 2003, about 15 months after cancer surgery.”
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“I love pushing the boundaries, I love the competition. Medals are always nice, but it’s not what I’m in it for. I just want to see what I can still do.” (Photo/Courtesy of Dan Semsel)Semsel ended that race convinced he would never do it again, but it really was just the beginning. His race count currently stands at 108 marathons and ultra-marathons, including finishing eight of the 13 100-mile events he’s competed in.
“It got to the point where I enjoyed ultra marathons more than the regular marathons,” he said. “The challenge I’m fighting now is I have to get a full hip replacement in the fall, so I’m trying to get in everything I can before I have to shift my approach to staying healthy.”
Semsel added he’s also looking at knee replacement surgery on both knees.
“I didn’t start running after the first time I got sick, but after the second time, I felt like I needed to make a lifestyle change,” he says. “I coach runners down here and I tell them it’s not how fast you go a mile because a mile is a mile, whether you’re going at a 10-minute pace, a 14-minute pace, or a 6-minute pace. You go to the level of fitness that you want to push yourself to. It’s all about getting out there and moving.”
IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio is a half IRONMAN, with competitors making a 1.2-mile swim in Sandusky Bay, followed by a 56-mile bike through Erie and Sandusky counties, and a 13.1-mile run through the streets of Sandusky. Organizers are expecting more than 1,600 athletes to compete in this year’s race.
“I didn’t know if this race would fit into my schedule, but the way the town embraced us last year was fantastic,” Semsel says. “Seeing all the locals out there cheering on the athletes during the run portion of the course was amazing. They kept me fired up, and with the way my knees are now, that was important to me.”
While he’s definitely not expecting to be on the winner’s podium at the end of the day, he’s hoping to break the seven-hour mark that he achieved in the Sandusky race a year ago.
“I’m a back-of-the-packer. I know that,” he says. “I’m not racing the guys who will get on the podium, I’m racing me. It’s something that just pumps me up, so I put in the work and try to do hard things.
“I love pushing the boundaries, I love the competition. Medals are always nice, but it’s not what I’m in it for. I just want to see what I can still do.”
Semsel ultimately wants to compete in a full IRONMAN, which is a 2.4-mile swim, a full 26.22-mile marathon and a 112-mile bike.
“I want to be that guy who is 85 years old and still pushing myself to see what I can do,” he says. “I may get slower and I may get older, but to me, it’s all about staying active and seeing the world from a new perspective.”