When Gayle Horton set out to start losing weight in early 2008 the idea of running a mile sounded impossible.

At the time, Horton, 44, senior executive director for the YMCA of Greater Dayton, weighed in at 234 pounds — 42 percent of that body fat. By the end of the year Horton weighed 90 pounds less and registered in at just 17 percent body fat.

A little more than four years later the West Alexandria resident has tackled that mile and then some.

And this month Horton hit a new milestone: an individual Ironman competition completed as a fundraiser for the downtown YMCA branch she helms.

Her Ironman — a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile marathon — was all completed in her YMCA location.

“I have aspired to do an Ironman since watching the women in the ’80s setting the world record,” she said. She said she was particularly inspired when one of the women racing fell down and crawled across the finish line after being passed to place second.

Last year Horton assembled a team to ride in a daylong bike-a-thon to help spread awareness of the YMCA’s Strong kids campaign.

“People thought about the fact that we had been there all day and were interested. They became aware of our Strong Kids campaign, where we raise money to financial assist families to acquire a membership or have their children participate in a program including day camp, child care or swim lessons,” Horton said. “People are having a hard time today financially, and we want to serve the community. After completing my first marathon in 2009 and continuing my running, I started to bike. After the 16-hour bicycle event in 2012 I knew I could complete an Ironman.”

She knew she needed to do something bigger, better and bolder than last year to achieve her 10.5 percent member giving goal and total goal of $42,500.

“I brought the idea to my team in October, and they thought I was crazy,” said Horton, who says they eventually warmed up to the idea. “We figured out that I would swim with one of our longtime board members at 4 a.m. Anne Frayne is the coach for the Stivers (School for the Arts) swim team … . She was there in the beginning to get me started on the right leg.”

Horton said, “The bicycle was the hardest. I had not had much time on my bike with this winter. I then had Commercial Fitness Solution bring a treadmill into our lobby to make sure that people could not miss the event,” said Horton. “Our community is amazing and strong and supportive. My staff team and board were there for every step. Without them I would have not made it.”

All the support she felt made the difference.

“During the event I had so much support from everyone. It was a true team effort. People always telling you, “Go girl” We had it on our website and also gave updates through the day to everyone to let them know my progress,” Horton said. “We all need great encouragement in life and this was a true example of community. I have referenced the movie ‘Akeelah and the Bee.’ She (the girl in the movie) has hundreds of people from her community from all walks of life that helped her win that spelling bee. I feel the same way. We did the Ironman!”