On Nov. 1, 2000, Tillmon Bishop went under the knife for backsurgery.

Just seven months later, he was under water competing in thefirst leg of the Hub City Hustle triathlon in Hattiesburg.

Bishop, 46, completed the half-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride andthree-mile run in two hours, two minutes and 48 seconds.

It was certainly not the fastest time, but the situation was afar cry from a year earlier when the front part of Bishop’s rightleg was numb due to a bulging disc in his lower back. After havingpain off and on, a back twinge during a golf swing in March and theensuing leg numbness prompted Bishop to seek surgery.

“I got to where I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Bishopsaid.

As he recovered from the surgery, Bishop’s weight went from 215pounds to 236 pounds. Back at work half days, Lincoln County’schancery clerk said Judge Ed Patten suggested triathlon training asa way to get back in shape.

“I laughed at him,” Bishop recalled. “I’ve done 5Ks, but hadn’tswam more than the length of the pool. And I hadn’t ridden a bikemore than a mile.”

The judge, a triathlon veteran, questioned Bishop’sfortitude.

“That fired me up,” said Bishop, adding that Patten was helpfulduring the training process. “Having somebody to keep youaccountable and motivated is good.”

Also helping was Bishop’s wife Rosemary, a physical therapistwith King’s Daughters Therapy Center. She admitted to having somereservations about her husband’s new pursuit.

“I was hesitant because the training is especially rigorous,”she said.

However, she said a triathlon was something Tillmon wanted to doand back surgeon Dr. Greg Woods, of Jackson, gave him ago-ahead.

“He said his back would let him know when to stop, so he wentafter it,” Rosemary said.

Tillmon said he had no problems with his back during training.The biggest problem was simply finding time.

“You have to find time to workout,” he said. “And you literallyhave three events you have to workout for.”

Tillmon said he would workout after work, after church or justbefore bed. It included running on a treadmill, riding a stationarybike and stair-climber exercises.

“I ended up losing almost 40 pounds,” he said.

Rosemary said Tillmon handled the training in the correctmanner.

“He did it right,” she said. “He went about it with the rightmind, the right attitude and he had a good result.”

Tillmon’s next triathlon is in August in Louisiana, which issimilar in length to the Hub City Hustle in Hattiesburg.Ultimately, he’s looking to complete a triathlon that is more thantwice as long as his previous contests.

“My goal is the half Iron Man,” Bishop said.

That contest features a one-mile swim, 50-mile bike ride and a13-mile run.

Still a novice, Tillmon is adjusting to some of the triathlontransitions. After being horizontal for the swim, he said theupright shift to the bike is difficult and the change from bikingto running is painful because each uses different muscles.

And he’s discovered ways to take it a little easy in two of thethree challenges. Coasting on the bike is an option and there’salways walking instead of running.

“You can’t fake the swim,” Bishop said. “If you can’t swim, youalmost drown.”

Going from the operating table to the triathlon course may notbe everybody’s method of recovering from physical setbacks. ButBishop dismissed beliefs by some people that they can’t recoverfrom an injury or other physical impairment.

“That’s just not true. You can,” he said. “It just depends onwhether you want to do it.”