Erin Collins, the daughter of Paul and Gail Steinweg of Manheim, said her family likes to tease about their competitiveness. "We call it the 'Steinweg gene," joked Erin, who now lives in Mount Joy. "We are all driven." She's not kidding. Erin has competed in a variety of athletic events over the past few years, including an Ironman race in Madison, Wis., in September.

For that race, she completed a triathlon of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. And she did it all in the pouring rain. "They told us it was the worst weather in the history of the competition," Erin recalled. "There were only about five minutes along the course when we didn't get rain."

Through it all, she said she thought about giving up "all the time," but then she'd glimpse her husband, Garrett, or other relatives along the route, and she'd feel renewed. "I had to tackle each mile one at a time," she said. "Physically, I knew I was in shape for it, but the race was a mental battle."

Erin said finishing the Ironman, the longest race she's ever completed, meant reaching a longtime goal. "It was always something on my bucket list," said the 2015 Manheim Central graduate, who started running in high school. "I am the kind of person who, if there's something great out there to achieve, I want to keep reaching for it."

She has quite a few athletic accomplishments under her belt. She competed in the Boston Marathon in 2018 (also in terrible weather, she noted) and has run a Tough Mudder - a 12-hour overnight course through obstacles - in Chicago. She credits her mentor, Jim Wilson, with encouraging her to explore cycling, and she's completed at least 20 century rides - that is, rides of 100 miles each.

Erin met her husband at a triathlon in Lititz in 2016, and they were married in 2020. Together, they have taken active roles in Lifecycles, a local nonprofit that encourages character development in youths through bike riding. The couple rode across America to raise funds for the organization. "I had always wanted to do a ride like that, but I didn't want it to be self-serving," Erin said. "I wanted to raise money to help others."

When she's not running, swimming or biking, Erin is busy interviewing for a job, having spent the past two years in graduate school to become a physician assistant. "I took the boards on Thursday, drove right out to Wisconsin to compete and found out I had passed the boards after finishing the Ironman," she said. "It was a big 72 hours for me."

Erin said she's always looking ahead to her next race. Currently, she's training to compete in a 50-mile ultramarathon. "I love the challenge of competing," she said. "I love the freeing feeling running gives me. It's hard to explain, but it's the best feeling."