CEDAR FALLS - Kent Larsen stared at his reflection in the mirror. He saw a skeleton instead of a human being.

Emaciated. Pale. Bags beneath his eyes.

It was April, and he remembered a promise made six years ago when diagnosed with Lyme disease. He vowed to fight.

"I would … indeed become an athlete … to compete … to thrive, once again," Larsen later wrote on a networking site, www.lymenet.org.

The 45-year-old Cedar Falls resident set his sights on track events in late July at the Iowa Games in Ames.

Larsen had neglected his health too long, he says, working like a "mad man" since becoming a branch manager for United First Financial last fall. And like a weed, the disease seized the freedom, overrunning his body.

The potentially debilitating infection is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium most commonly transferred by a tick bite. It can target joints, the heart and the nervous system.

By spring, Larsen's 6-foot-1 frame carried a mere 147 pounds.

Larsen presented a unique challenge to employees at Snap Fitness in Cedar Falls, where he has been a member since the health club opened in February 2007. He lacks the ability to recover physically like most people, and boosting energy levels is difficult. He has trouble gaining weight. It even hurts to sweat, Larsen says.

"I came in here and I could only bench press 90 pounds. Now I can do 220 pounds."

Judith Weeg, president of the Lyme Disease United Coalition, calls Larsen a success story. She must use a wheelchair because of Lyme disease and applauds Larsen for what he is doing.

"It's very rare for a late-stage Lyme disease patient to get to this level where they can be athletic at all," Weeg says.

Larsen eventually built up his overall strength from two workouts a week to every other day.

"We have to modify some of the movements, just to still get the muscle activations, still get the results that we want without inflaming some injuries or inflaming any of his conditions," says Tyson Burton, a trainer who works with Larsen.

Burton must be especially sensitive to rest time and hydration.

"That keeps it pretty interesting," Burton says. "He has good days, and he has bad days."

More than 20 pounds heavier, Larsen was raring to go by July. But he faced a serious setback.

The day before competition, Larsen was bedridden with pain and diarrhea and, consequently, dehydration. He lost about 6 pounds.

"My theory is that God puts just so much misery in the world for a reason, and there's certain people he chooses to carry the bulk of it," Larsen says. "If he chooses me to carry it, that's what I'll do."

He stuck to the plan. His two daughters were away at dance team camp and his wife worked an overnight shift. So without fanfare, he drove to Ames.

Going alone would be his weakest moment, but also his strongest.

"It was always God and I that walked through the hardest times that I went through," Larsen says. "I had to travel this battle with my own strength, determination and belief in him."

The temperature was 90 degrees and the humidity reached 95 percent, pushing the heat index to 115 degrees on the track. He spent nearly three hours in the medical tent recovering between events and canceled his 400-meter run.

"There was no breeze. I kept passing out. Every time I looked around things were all blurry."

Abandoning his dream wasn't an option.

"Heck, no, man," he says.

Larsen brought home a fourth-place finish in the 100 meters and in the 200 meters. He placed third in the long jump and was part of the winning 4x100-meter relay team, qualifying for nationals in both events.

Mission accomplished.

Larsen physically was unable to compete at nationals this year, but hopes to enter a U.S.A. Masters Track and Field event in 2009.

"The moment of glory was for you, my friends," Larsen later wrote. "I overcame, and so will you."

Contact Tina Hinz

at (319) 291-1484 or

tina.hinz@wcfcourier.com.