Meghan Creeley’s first sprint triathlon was on a dare.

She was working in marketing for Sobe in Boston and the company was sponsoring a race in Connecticut.

After some back and forth conversations with the race director, Doug Schwartz, the challenge was put in front of Creeley.

Creeley, being both athletic and competitive, took the dare, and her love affair with triathlons began.

“That was it,” said Creeley she said of her first race. “That was all I needed.”

Since then, she has run everything from a 5K to a marathon and is currently training for a Half Ironman in Syracuse, N.Y., in September. She also now works with Schwartz as part of Multi-Sport Partners, a training company he started.

Creeley, 31, of Peterborough, is stretched pretty thin these days. She trains athletes at Performance Health & Fitness in Peterborough and she is coaching numerous participants for the upcoming second annual Monadnock Challenge Series Sprint Triathlon. On top of that, she lives with and contributes to the care of her younger sister, Jo, who has a chromosome abnormality called Isodicentric 15.

“Meghan, number one, is a fantastic person and that doesn’t even scratch the surface,” said one of her athletes, Steve Towne of Temple.

Her enthusiasm for what she does is apparent by her beaming smile when she talks about her work.

“I didn’t want to look back at my life and think I didn’t do anything for other people,” she said.

Having been involved in sports almost her entire life, Creeley had a specific way in mind that she wants to help prepare athletes for the physical strain of a triathlon.

“We email back and forth a lot and just through the e-mails I’ve learned,” said Eric Tallberg, a Manchester resident who recently got in touch with Creeley and was talked into doing the recent mini-triathlon in Jaffrey. “The e-mails help a lot because while I’m home doing it on my own, I can practice what she preaches. She knows what she’s doing.”

Creeley never wants to be a coach that just stands there and orders her athletes around. She wants to be involved with them every step of the way, from the first practice to when they cross the finish line.

“She’s just the best coach I’ve been associated with,” said Towne. “She’s just always there. I’ve bombarded her with thousands of questions.”

Even though she is on her own training regimen, trying to prepare for the Half Ironman, which consists of a 1.2-mile swim, 56 miles on the bike and a half marathon of 13.1 miles, Creeley still gets out there and does the same workouts with her group.

“My personal philosophy, at work and as a coach, is that I’m not going to ask them to do something I wouldn’t do,” Creeley said.

The open training sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays are free to anyone looking to prepare for an upcoming race, but the focus is on the sprint triathlon next month.

“Anybody can do a [sprint] triathlon,” Creeley said. “The sprint distance is the most popular for people.”

Creeley played four years of softball at Saint Michael’s College in Burlington, Vt., but after that, something was missing.

“When college was over and softball was over, I needed a new way to stay busy and fit,” she said.

So she took up running.

At the end of 2008, Creeley became certified as a personal trainer. Her work in the field started with friends and family and eventually led to a job at Performance.
She became involved with the sprint triathlon when she approached race founder Erin Lyons about helping out with the inaugural event.

Last August, the two pulled off the biggest athletic competition the area has seen in quite some time — if not ever — and right there, Creeley knew she wanted to be even more involved.

“I love it. I think it’s fabulous,” said Creeley. “It lends itself to showing off what is here.”
Having grown up in Peterborough, Creeley would love to be able to compete in an event like this in her hometown, but her work with the race is of greater importance.

Following last year’s race, Creeley took the steps to become a certified USA Triathlon trainer. It took a few tries to get into one of the weekend clinics, but she finally did in March, traveling to Arizona.

“I had known I wanted to do this for a while,” she said.

During the preparation for this year’s sprint triathlon, Creeley has had as few as six people show up for the open training sessions and as many as 20.

The more the better, but the ultimate goal is to help each person get ready for what lies ahead.

“She has definitely stepped into my life and improved my quality of life,” Towne said. “I wish I could reward her for all her efforts.”

In a perfect world, Creeley said it takes 16 weeks for someone to be fully ready for a sprint triathlon, although for those in better physical condition, it can take significantly less time.

“Sixteen weeks is ideal,” said Creeley. “That’s literally from couch potato to sprint race.”

The feeling Creeley has when watching one of her athletes finish a race is that of pride.

“It’s a goal for them and it’s great to see them do it,” she said.

So as the Aug. 14 date of the sprint triathlon approaches, Creeley is putting on the finishing touches.

She is making sure everyone in her group knows what to expect on race day and from there, it is up to them to swim, bike and run. All she can do is watch as each one competes and eventually crosses the finish line, one trained athlete at a time.