Imagine trying to do everyday chores, like driving a car or caring for a toddler, with a broken shoulder.

Now imagine swimming, biking and running 24 miles with that same injury. That’s what Marti Reimer-Reiss did in December during the International Triathlon Union World Championships for Olympic distance triathlon in Queenstown, New Zealand on Dec. 6.

Reimer-reiss, a Clinton resident, had planned to cap a breakout season in which she won seven races and placed high at the U.S. national championship by taking a shot at one of the top places in the world in her age group. After training into the miserable early months of a Whidbey Island winter, she was in shape and tough enough to take on the big race down under.

But just two days before the race, while training in New Zealand, a car load of Kiwis nearly ended her race plans.

Riding with another triathlete on the race’s bicycle course, she saw a car full of people pull beside her, then felt someone give her hard shove to the ground.

“I went straight down, hard on my left shoulder,” Reimer-Reiss said

The force of the crash was so great that it shattered her helmet when her head and body hit the ground. A passing motorist witnessed the incident and got a partial plate identification of the car carrying the people who assaulted her. The motorist drove Reimer-Reiss to where she could get medical attention, then tracked down the car and identified the driver for police.

Upon an initial examination, the U.S. triathlon team doctor told Reimer-Reiss she had a dislocated shoulder. Later, when she returned home, she was told she also suffered broken bones. Surgery and pins will be required to get it to heal.

Either way, in New Zealand, Reimer-Reiss’s doctor said her chances of competing were gone.

“He told me I had zero percent chance of competing,” she said. “I was devastated.”

In a year of racing that was supposed to be the big one for the 34-year-old triathlete, Reimer-Reiss found herself at the end her own story without a satisfying conclusion. She returned to the athletes’ village to pack her things. Then events became even more bleak when she learned her grandmother had just died back in the United States. Reimer-Reiss’ parents, who had travelled to New Zealand to watch the race, left immediately. Reimer-Reiss was prepared to do the same. Her husband, Nate Reiss, e-mailed dozens of his wife’s training partners on Whidbey Island to let them know she was out of the race.

But the next morning, the swelling was down in the injured shoulder. Reimer-Reiss went back to the team doctor to try to get a go-ahead to race. He didn’t give it, saying that the race might cause permanent damage. Reimer-Reiss didn’t listen.

“But I had to try, otherwise I would always wonder, ‘Could I have done it?’” she said.

The next day, she started a 1-kilometer open water swim in pain. Swimming with one arm, she lost more ground in the water than she had all year. Yet, she still beat 15 other international competitors out of the water. Getting out to make her way to her bicycle, she struggled to doff her wetsuit and was greeted by the unusual sight — for her — of seeing most of her competitors’ bikes already gone.

During the 25-mile bike ride, she was able to place both hands on the handle bars, but was not able to stand up for extra climbing power on hills. She passed scores of racers as she made her way through the competition. Then, transitioning off the bike and into the race’s 6.2-mile run, she found that the hills were no longer the problem — but her free-hanging broken shoulder was.

“The running was extremely painful with one arm held in front of me next to my body for the entire 6 miles,” she said.

Distracted by pain, she doesn’t remember a lot about her finish. But her husband, her biggest fan, did.

“Nate said I had tears streaming down my face during the run and bike … I don’t remember that. But I know it was because of the pain,” Reimer-Reiss said.

One of 301 Americans among the 1,800 athletes who finished the race, Reimer-Reiss finished in a better position than many unencumbered by broken bones. Shooting for the top five in the 30- to 34-year-old women’s division, she placed 19th in 2 hours, 30 minutes.

There will be other races and more wins for Reimer-Reiss. She will compete in the 2005 World Championship Triathlon in Maui, where she will get a chance to do what she could not in New Zealand.

“I just wish I could have put it out there to see what I could do with two arms,” she said.

The assault that injured Reimer-Reiss remains under investigation in New Zealand.