Windham triathlete to represent U.S. at world finals in Spain

By Ed Pierce

Known as one of the most grueling athletic competitions ever conceived, those who compete in the Ironman Triathlon are tested by a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run completed in that order for a total of 140.6 miles. Many of the top Ironman competitors internationally will gather for the 2023 World Triathlon Olympic finals in Pontevedra, Spain in September and among those elite athletes will be Dr. Denise Allen of Windham.

Dr. Denise Allen of Windham will compete in the 2023
World Triathlon Olympic finals in Pontevedra, Spain in
September as a first-time member of Team USA. She picked
up the sport after being involved in an accident 10 years ago.
COURTESY PHOTO   

Allen qualified as a participant for Team USA at the USAT Nationals in Milwaukee Wisconsin in August 2022 and it will be her first time competing as a member of Team USA.

How she came to be involved in Ironman and Triathlon competitions in the first place is an unusual story though.

“In 2013, I was hit by an SUV in Windham while out on a long training ride. The crash left me with a fractured sacrum, multiple soft tissue injuries and a mild traumatic brain injury,” Allen said. “After weeks in the hospital, months of brain rehab, surgery, and years of physical therapy, I was ready to race competitively again in 2020. The pandemic pushed pause on that plan but provided an opportunity to amplify joy in sport. In 2022, I launched an aggressive race season, resulting in the title of Ironman All World Athlete, qualifying for and racing in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah, as well as qualifying for Team USA.”

Born in Portland, Allen grew up on her family’s farm in West Cumberland, learning the core values of working hard, doing what you love and being of service to others at a young age. Her extended family still maintains the original Allen Farm off Swett Road in Windham. U.S. Marine Corp Sgt., Jim Allen, the first Windham resident killed in action during World War II and for whom the Field-Allen School was named, is a distant relative.

CAREER

She’s lived in Windham for the past 14 years. Previously, Allen graduated from Greely High School in Cumberland in 1989 and attended Columbia University in New York City, where she earned a Doctorate degree in Health Education specializing in health behavior and positive psychology. Allen has spent 25 years active duty as a call company and paid per diem national registry paramedic, and a ProBoard certified firefighter for the Towns of Windham, Naples, Cumberland, Falmouth. She’s wrapping up her 29th year as a National Board-Certified Health and Science Educator for students in grades 7 to 12 with 25 of those years teaching at Greely High School and four years as an American College of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer and Wellcoach.

Originally a marathon runner who competed in multiple Boston Marathons, Allen transitioned to triathlons in 2010 and that’s how she came to be involved in Ironman competitions.

“I compete in all triathlon distances, but prefer long course triathlon,” Allen said. “I have completed three full Ironmans, 15 half-Ironmans, and numerous sprint and Olympic- distance races. I am currently focusing on the 70.3 (half-Ironman) triathlon distance of 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 run. The 70.3 distance allows for work-life balance, and I can be competitive.”

She said that triathlon training is her keystone habit because it sets in motion a series of other health enhancing behaviors such as nutrition, sleep, and time spent outside.

“Training promotes the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. These neurotransmitters create the biology of joy that enables me to show up as my best self in work and with friends and family,” Allen said. “The most challenging aspect is time management. I often say work gets in the way of my workouts. Time training for a triathlon is the equivalent of a part-time job. Sometimes it's hard to find a balance. On those days I have to give myself the grace to say, ‘training may not be what I want today, but it's ‘good enough.’ I’ve learned to embrace the 80/20 rule when life gets busy and to complete 80 percent of the training goals for the week. The key to getting results is consistency and commitment to the small stuff and these two behaviors are not mutually exclusive. It is generally the attention to this small stuff, such as strength, physical therapy exercises, nutrition, and ice baths that help to keep me consistent in my training.’”

According to Allen, before her bike accident, she would have said that running was her favorite and her top strength of the three disciplines, but post-accident, ironically, biking has become her genuine strength as she is an average swimmer.

“80 percent of my training is completed on a treadmill, in a pool, and on a bike trainer,” she said. “It’s safer inside. Training inside means that I can focus on the workout, the metrics, and nutrition without the worry of getting hit by a distracted or agitated driver.”

WORKOUTS

Now in training for the 2023 World Triathlon Olympic finals in Spain, Allen starts each day at 3:30 a.m. completing her morning workouts in her basement before work.

“After work there may be a second workout,” she said. “I complete mobility exercises every day with strength and conditioning two to three times a week. Weekends are for long workouts and double or ‘brick’ workouts. I try to get outside on my bike before everyone gets on the roads. Windham roads are very busy, and many do not have bike or pedestrian-designated lanes. Fortunately, my peak training occurs during summer vacation, giving me the flexibility to train with others and in different locations.”

The seed of her passion for an athletic lifestyle was planted in Allen at a young age, growing up on the family farm.

“Farm life gave me a strong sense of why functional health and fitness are so important and an abundant appreciation for nature. I was my absolute happiest running around barefoot in nature. This passion fueled my participation in cross-country running in middle and high school,” she said. “Later, this same passion inspired me to explore studies in natural sciences, health education, health behavior and positive psychology. These studies put into context what I had inherently known since childhood: an active, natural-life style is medicine that heals, facilitates joy, and promotes longevity.”

She says she’s excited to travel to Spain representing the U.S. in the 2023 World Triathlon Olympic finals. The athletes who will represent the U.S. in Spain have to pay their own expenses, and so Allen is now actively raising funds for travel, lodging, bike transport, uniforms, nutrition, insurance, and the Team USA and World Triathlon fees. Anyone wishing to help can contact Allen at drdeniseallen@gmail. com for a link about how to contribute, as a gofundme has been set up. Search Team USA - Triathlete to find the link. People can also follow her journey to Spain on Instagram at drdeniseallen.

But most of all, Allen says she’s grateful to have the opportunity to compete.

The triathlon community is full of high frequency humans that inspire me. It works because we share a similar training and sleep schedule, early to bed, early to rise,” she said. “Racing is an opportunity to meet people from all over the world and make new friends. I have met so many amazing people during my travels. I am inspired by all of them. I also love exploring and racing in the variety of natural landscapes.” <

Windham author drawing national attention for her inspired storytelling

Windham resident Kristine Delano's unpublished short story
'Glimpse of Lace' has been chosen as a finalist for the 2021
Cascade Awards for literary work. Delano also has written
three novels since retiring from a high-powered Wall
Street career and moving with her family to Maine.
COURTESY PHOTO  

By Ed Pierce

A Windham author is about to make a splash nationally for her writing, but Kristine Delano’s own life story is nearly as compelling as the stories and novels she hopes to tell. 

Delano’s new short story, “Glimpse of Lace,” has just been selected as a finalist in the Short Story category for the Cascade Awards, a writing competition open to any author nationwide. She’s also working on three different novels she hopes to publish while appreciating family life at home on the shores of Highland Lake in Windham.

Life these days is vastly different and somewhat slower from the hectic 20-plus years she spent as working for Wall Street companies before retiring, giving up her panoramic view of New York City and moving north to Maine to pursue her passion for writing.     

Growing up as a military dependent, Delano became a voracious reader as she frequently had to pack up and relocate as a child with her family and having to make new friends wherever the family moved to. It left her with many untold stories in her head she always wanted to tell, but as she progressed in her financial services career, finding the time to devote expressing herself creatively through her writing posed a problem.

“When I worked on Wall Street, I used my writing in more of a technical way,” Delano said. “When I retired, my family was surprised with what I wanted to do because they expected me to go into consulting or to open a small business.”

While working for financial companies, she often mentored young staff members about their careers, but paid attention to what they had to share with her about their lives. It became the inspiration for some of her future stories.

“They spoke to me about their fears and their lives,” Delano said. “They shared their experiences. It was a good genesis for me as a writer.”  

Married to an architect and the mother of three children with one in college, one starting college in the fall and the other a freshman in high school, Delano also continues to sit on the global board of a 6,000-member financial services organization focused on women’s empowerment. She also is active as a speaker, mentor, and strategic planner for many businesses, churches, and parachurch organizations, but writing and developing ideas for stories is now front and center for Delano.

“I typically get four or five ideas a day and then have to figure out which one can stand the test of time,” she said. “I kind of write it in my head and before putting pen to paper I’ve already kind of worked out the character’s voice.”

She says that she’s found that writing is a world away from her former Wall Street career.

“It’s surprising for me. I thought I had a thick skin. I worked on Wall Street and always succeeded,” Delano said. “Writing is very different. Sometimes you don’t know that you don’t like what you’ve done. It’s overly complicated or pedantic or subjective. I’ve found though that you can’t write to please everybody.”   

The ability to connect with readers though is what inspires and motivates Delano’s writing.

“The best impact I can have on one person is through their eyes or how they see themselves with what I write,” she said. “I’m trying to find an authentic voice that will speak to somebody.”

The plot of her short story selected as one of three finalists for the 2021 Cascade Awards is as genuine as it gets and Delano’s keeping her fingers crossed for when the award recipients are announced in August.

In “Glimpse of Lace,” Annabelle has a unique blessing, or perhaps it’s a curse. For almost five years, since 10th grade, she’s gotten glimpses of the end of her romantic relationships before they’ve even begun. This has made her weary of men. While sipping hot chocolates before their last runs on the mountain, Brian, a recent finance graduate from Bates, brushes up against Annabelle. She glimpses herself in lace and Brian next to her in a tux. Brian is exactly the kind of guy Tara, her best friend, would choose for her, so why can’t Annabelle believe this glimpse got it right?

According to Delano, the reactions she’s received so far about her storytelling keep her motivated to write more.

“In the beginning my goal was to get stories out of my head and onto paper,” she said. “Now I want feedback about my writing. I want to get better at my craft.”

Writing her first novel gave Delano great practice of the discipline, patience and time required for writing.

“I had a misconception that as soon as you finish a novel you should publish it,” she said. “To gain the attention of an agent is a long process and now I believe you shouldn’t publish anything until you know that it’s the best that you can do.”  

She’s just completed writing a second novel and a third one while she continues looking to get them published.   

Her writing regimen for a short story is a bit quicker.

“I can finish a first draft of a 2,000-word story in about three hours,” Delano said. “It can then take weeks and months though to work through the voice of the story and pieces of the plot.”

On any given day, Delano can be found finding ideas for stories or sitting down at her computer to write. Compared to the hustle and bustle of her Wall Street career, her new lifestyle evolves at a slower pace, but she’s able to derive a great amount of satisfaction from turning an idea into a literary expression and in much different surroundings.   

“We live in such an amazing place and Maine’s life is sometimes hard,” she said. “There are beautiful people and families here and great stories to tell. I’m available to listen.”

If you would like to follow her writing journey, like her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KristineDelano.Writer <

Homemade 'Christmas Star' illuminates Raymond backyard

Cheryl Blanchard of Raymond created a Christmas
Star for her backyard to remind us all how blessed
we are in this time of year. SUBMITTED PHOTO 

By Ed Pierce

In one of the most enduring stories of the Bible, the three wise men known as the “Magi” travel to Bethlehem for the birth of the infant Jesus and are led to his doorstep by a shining celestial light known as the “Christmas Star.”

The tale of the “Christmas Star” and the Magi has been depicted for more than 12 centuries as part of Nativity pageants in churches and portrayed by generations of schoolchildren and in films and television programs. Partly inspired by the Bible story and using her creative ability, a local woman has made her own “Christmas Star” for this year for everyone driving by her home on Route 85 in Raymond to see.

“I created a star to represent us all far and near,” said Cheryl Blanchard of Raymond. “It’s to help remind us all of how blessed we are in this time of year.”

Blanchard said she’s always been very creative and engaged in a variety of arts and that her homemade star is an expression of what she is feeling for everyone this Christmas season.

“It's been a very emotionally hard year for all who I know and my dear loved ones,” she said. “There
are so many memories that are not happening this year due to the pandemic. I was thinking it would be so nice if I could send out a special message to everyone.”

She said that she drew inspiration for the star from having performed for the past 15 years in the production Christmas Nativity/Christmas Pageant with the City of Portland at First Parish Church on Congress Street. She’s also been involved through the years with holiday community dinners, horse and buggy sleigh rides up around the Christmas Tree at Monument Square in Portland, caroling with her sisters and sharing her special Christmas memories with her grandchildren.

“I'm truly blessed. I'm so grateful, Blanchard said. “I often drive through the streets and see so many people in the lines at local food pantries and so many children who sure could use a nice warm coat. Christmas brings back memories that I wrote about in my book 236 Cumberland Avenue Portland Maine. I created a star to send out a very special message of hope for you all this Christmas. 

“I made this star with some coat hangers and light silver tinsel,” Blanchard said. “But where was I going to put this very big star so it could be seen by all.”

Her husband, Moe Blanchard, who works at First Baptist Church, had an idea.

The Christmas Star created by Cheryl 
Blanchard can be viewed about three
miles north of Raymond on Route 85.
SUBMITTED PHOTO 

“He thought we should put it up as high as we can,” she said. “He boosted my star up in the sky as high as he could, and when he did that, we stood back and saw the most amazingly beautiful creative star.”

Since her husband first put the star up in the couple’s back yard between some tall trees around Thanksgiving, there have been two serious storms, one was a significant windstorm with gusts reaching 60 mph and the other was a snowstorm last weekend accompanied by strong winds that knocked out power in the area for many and toppled trees.

Yet despite the destructive winds and snowfall, Blanchard’s “Christmas Star” has stayed put.

“Can you believe it, it’s up in the open air where the wind can blow really hard and believe me it did,” Blanchard said. “So maybe it's a message for all to see in our beautiful holiday season. It serves to remind us just remember how truly blessed we are. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and to hold your loved ones and to reach out to those less fortunate with kindness and love in your heart.”

If driving, Blanchard’s “Christmas Star” can be viewed three miles north on the left side of Route 85 from Raymond. <