Anna Sitar Nearly Quit Her First Ironman After Losing a Toenail — Then Vomited During the Race and Still Finished Copenhagen in Under 13 Hours

Anna Sitar nearly quit her first full Ironman before she even made it to the starting line.

Three months before IRONMAN Copenhagen, Sitar competed in a 70.3 — a half Ironman meant to gauge whether she was ready for the full-distance race. Instead, Sitar says the race "kicked my butt," leaving her questioning whether she could handle twice the distance.

She took two weeks off from training and seriously considered skipping Copenhagen altogether. Then, just two and a half weeks before race day, she suffered another setback: She accidentally kicked a rock, lost a toenail and needed shots in her foot before having the damaged nail removed.

Despite the setbacks — and later vomiting during the race — Sitar pushed through the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile marathon to finish her first full Ironman in just under 13 hours.

In an exclusive interview with OK!, the 26-year-old opens up about nearly quitting, losing her toenail, falling off her bike, throwing up during the marathon and why she ultimately decided she had nothing to lose by trying.

"When you're kind of in that predicament where I'm like, 'I can either never try at all, and I know the answer or try and maybe be surprised by myself,' I am so, so, so grateful I took that chance and tried because I had the best day," Sitar tells OK!.

Sitar had already competed in several marathons before getting into triathlons, but the full Ironman presented an entirely different challenge.

After the 70.3 left her feeling defeated, she began questioning whether Copenhagen was worth attempting.

"I left that race a little bit mortified about doing a full," Sitar recalls. "When I finished, I was like, 'That was a lot harder than I was anticipating.'"

The doubts continued after the race.

"If I can't handle like half the pain, how will I handle all of it?" Sitar reflects of the mindset she had at the time.

For two weeks, she didn't do any fitness training and instead "kind of just freaked out for a little while."

Eventually, Sitar realized there was only one way to know whether she could finish: actually try.

"I know that the outcome is that I have to go to Copenhagen that day and just watch my brother and be like, 'Okay. I didn't even try,'" she says. "Or if I try, even if the chance is small, there's a chance that I finish."

From that point on, her goal wasn't speed. It was survival.

"My goal wasn't about speed," the influencer explains. "It was about survival a little bit and getting to make it to the end of the race day."

The content creator's final weeks of preparation didn't exactly go according to plan.

About two and a half weeks before the race, she accidentally kicked a rock and injured her foot, ultimately losing a toenail.

"I had to go in and get like shots in my foot and have it removed," she shares. "It was like a very not-fun experience."

The timing was particularly unfortunate because the injury happened during what was supposed to be her peak training week — when she would have completed her longest bike rides and runs and done her most swimming.

But instead of panicking, Sitar says the injury oddly relieved some of the pressure she had been putting on herself.

"There was a part of me that was like, 'I'm kind of going into this with not having that last little push of training,'" the social media star admits. "And it kind of made me feel this weird sense of relief that there was no pressure, except for just get it done."

She carried that mentality into Copenhagen. During the swim, another unexpected challenge tested her nerves when seaweed rose to eye level.

"I was like, 'Do not panic. You have a whole day ahead of you,'" Sitar remembers.

Rather than thinking about the hours still ahead, she broke the race into smaller pieces — five more minutes, the next aid station, the next milestone.

One of her mantras was simple: She had swum two miles before, so she could swim two miles again.

Even after everything that happened before race day, Sitar still had plenty of unexpected moments during the Ironman itself.

She fell over on her bike while getting off at the transition area. Later, during the marathon portion of the race, she threw up.

But neither mishap stopped her.

"There were things about — I fell over on my bike getting off of it at transition. I fully tipped over in front of everyone. I did throw up during my run at one point," Sitar spills. "Things like that went wrong, and I still was like, 'Best day ever.' Like, thriving."

She also made a conscious decision to experience the marathon differently than she had during previous races.

During the London Marathon, she became so focused on how difficult the race felt that she spent much of it looking down at her feet.

"I missed Big Ben. I missed the London Eye. I hardly saw my family because I was so worked up and in my head about things that are hard, which is running," Sitar mentions.

This time, Sitar looked up.

She says she smiled for approximately 90 percent of the Copenhagen marathon, even as spectators questioned how she was still smiling during the fourth lap.

The course took her through Copenhagen four times, passing colorful buildings and landmarks throughout the city. The bike portion took her into the countryside, where she saw horses and even found herself talking to cows.

The atmosphere ultimately made the marathon portion her favorite marathon she has ever run.

"I think the end of the Ironman Copenhagen Marathon is my favorite marathon I've ever run," she gushes, noting that she has previously run the New York City, London and Honolulu marathons.

"There were so many people and some of the best energy," she adds. "It was really, it was beautiful. It was such a win."

Sitar's experience comes as IRONMAN continues to see younger athletes embrace the sport.

More than 50 percent of the athletes competing at IRONMAN Copenhagen are between the ages of 18 and 34, bringing the race's average age to 35. The event has been dubbed "Europe's Youngest Start Line," with Sitar among the younger athletes contributing to the shift.

The trend reflects a broader youth boom in IRONMAN. Since 2019, the number of first-time athletes under 30 competing in full-distance IRONMAN races has more than doubled.

For Sitar, though, the experience is less about being part of a demographic trend and more about proving something to herself.

She wasn't sure she could finish when she arrived in Copenhagen. By the time she crossed the finish line, she had survived everything the race threw at her.

Sitar's fiancé, Josh "Bru" Brubaker, and her dad followed her throughout the nearly 13-hour race on electric bikes, trying to catch her at different points along the course.

At one point, she actually managed to bike past them.

"I biked past them and they got on their electric bikes and they couldn't catch me," Sitar jokes. "And that's my biggest flex. It was like, I out-biked them on my normal bike, but they had electric bikes."

Her younger brother, who had previously completed an Ironman himself, finished Copenhagen in under 10 hours.

But seeing her parents at the finish line was perhaps the most emotional part of the experience.

"My mom and dad were both, like, crying at the finish line when I saw them," Sitar tells OK!.

The experience has also strengthened the family's shared love of endurance sports. Sitar and her siblings are continuing the tradition with another super-sprint triathlon, while she and Brew have discussed creating more family traditions around races.

"Like, we've really — it's become something that's really brought my family together," she says.

If anyone expected Sitar's first Ironman to scare her away from the sport, they were mistaken.

She's already considering another 70.3 — this time with the goal of getting some "revenge" after the race that initially made her doubt herself.

"I also kind of want a revenge tour with a 70.3," Sitar confesses. "Honestly, the next thing on my radar is the 70.3. So maybe that'll be happening."

For now, Sitar is taking the biggest lesson from Copenhagen with her: Sometimes the hardest part is simply deciding to try.

She went into the race unsure if she could finish. She came out having lost a toenail, fallen off her bike and thrown up during the marathon — and still crossed the finish line in under 13 hours.

And somehow, after all of it, she still calls it the "best day ever."