When Lori McCarney competes in an Ironman triathlon, an event that can last most of a day, her goal is to achieve the fastest time possible.

But on a recent climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, she had to do the opposite: go painstakingly slow.

While endurance is necessary for both activities, climbing the highest peak on the African continent taught McCarney a new level of patience. She had to shuffle at a snail’s pace so that her body had enough time to acclimate to the thinner oxygen found at high altitude.

Making it to the summit — Uhuru Peak, elevation 19,341 feet — was a one-of-a-kind experience. In all, the journey took five days in temperatures that dipped below 0 degrees Fahrenheit at times. The final 4,000-foot climb to the top took nine hours to complete but became a moment of accomplishment and beauty.

“It was an epic experience,” said McCarney, the 61-year-old CEO of Bikeshare Hawaii, a nonprofit organization that aims to launch a bike-sharing program in Hawaii. “The summit’s the reward. I heard the guide say, ‘Once you do this, then you know you can do anything.’ That fits in with my Ironman kind of thinking.”

The Kilimanjaro climb was an endurance detour for McCarney, whose love of triathlons has kept her fit for more than a decade.

McCarney didn’t start competing in triathlons until the age of 50. At the time, she was a marketing executive for Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. She didn’t own a bike or know how to swim. The farthest she’d ever run was about 2 miles.

For a year, friends and co-workers urged her to try one, and she finally gave in and joined Boca Hawaii’s triathlon training group in 2004. She fell in love with the sport from the start, inspired by training with others.

“I’m a social person,” she said. “When I would socialize after work, it would typically be, go have a drink. Now what I found was, if I do a long run with somebody, then you’re talking and running with them for two to three hours.”

Having always had a competitive, goal-oriented personality, McCarney found races to be a good outlet for her ambitions. She entered the Lanikai Triathlon, her first competition, just a few months after she started training.

Another motivation was a desire to stay healthy for her three sons, who were teenagers at the time.

She wasn’t overweight, but had enrolled in weight-loss programs — Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem — to slim down. She used to do Jazzercise and go to the gym a few times a week. Eventually, as triathlons became part of her lifestyle, she grew leaner and athletic, and weight no longer mattered.

McCarney is a go-getter who doesn’t quit.

Five years after she started triathlon training, she qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Kona but did not finish within the required 17-hour time limit. She completed the 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike portions of the race, but struggled during the 26.2-mile marathon run due to an injury. She was just half a mile from the finish line when time ran out.

She was devastated. The next day she made up her mind to someday return and finish the Kona race.

Even though she went on to complete nine Ironmans around the world, McCarney wasn’t able to qualify for Kona until 2014. In her second attempt she finished well under the time limit in 15 hours and 24 minutes.

With her goal accomplished, she initially planned to make it her last Ironman — then changed her mind. McCarney says she will continue to compete “until I can’t any longer, as long as it makes me feel good.”

She’s drawn to the challenge as much as the finish and plans to compete in an Ironman in Germany in July.

“There’s a power to finish lines,” she said. “Setting a goal for yourself that you might think is a little bit of a stretch and then achieving that goal could really empower you. I was proud of myself because I overcame all my doubts and had this opportunity to do something I didn’t think I could do.”

“Good Fit” spotlights inspiring fitness stories of change, self-discovery and challenge, and other fitness-related topics. Tell us what motivates you and how you stay fit and healthy by calling 529-4803 or emailing features@staradvertiser.com.