"Some of us hate being defeated, Once we are, we have to fight back."
-- Andranik "Andy" Souvalian

This has been an exciting week for Andy Souvalian.
A product administrator at Amica Insurance in Lincoln, Souvalian, 33, and four of his co-workers are counting down the days to Sunday's inaugural Amica Insurance Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island -- a grueling competition that plans to draw over 1,600 competitors from around the world.
It's a special event for Souvalian, not only because Andy is one of close to 200 participants from the Ocean State, but also because his employer is sponsoring the race and his co-workers, family, and friends will be on hand to support him in his quest for a six-hour and 30-minute finish.
Souvalian and his good friend and training partner, Roupen Bastajian, have put several months of hard training and blood, sweat, and tears into this triathlon, and they know the obstacles that await them.
A 1.2-mile swim at 6 a.m. in the cold waters of Roger Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett. A 56-mile bike ride through Exeter, West Greenwich, Coventry, North Scituate, Johnston, and downtown Providence that features several challenging hills from miles 25-50.
And if the bike ride isn't tough enough, the half marathon (13.1 miles) offers nothing but rolling hills through Providence and travels through the historic East Side, continues through Brown University, and finishes in the city's downtown business district.     
"It's going to be tough," noted Souvalian. "I'll do OK on the swim and decent on the bike, but I'll get killed on the run. I've always loved swimming, but I always hated running. I guess I always will."
While the winner of the event is expected to complete it in less than four hours and earn a nice payday, Souvalian just wants a respectable finish. A 40-minute swim would be a great start, and if he could average 16-17 mph on his bike ride, he could gut out the half marathon in the neighborhood of 2:30 and hopefully nail down a time in the 6:30s.
While this sounds like an ordinary finish by another average Joe, it isn't. Five years ago, Souvalian nearly lost his life in a cycling accident in Burrillville while he and Bastajian were getting in an easy Monday night ride.
A van sped through a red light at the intersection of Route 102 and Central Street while they were crossing and struck both cyclists. Bastajian suffered several facial injuries and burns to his arms, but Souvalian, who landed head-first on the pavement, endured severe internal bleeding in his brain.
Rescue personnel did not think he would make it to the hospital, but Souvalian pulled through the ordeal and went on to make the biggest comeback of his life. 
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A NATIVE OF Armenia who immigrated to the United States in 1980, Souvalian was raised in Cranston and graduated from Cranston West High in 1993. After graduation, he spent time in the military and attended CCRI, the University of Maryland, and Bryant College.

Souvalian never played any team sports in high school or college, but he was involved in the martial arts and stayed fit by swimming and -- after serving in the military -- running.    
In the fall of 2001, his good friend Bastajian encouraged Souvalian to run the Ocean State Marathon (from Warwick to Providence) with him, and while Roupen finished the race in a 3:40:28 time, Souvalian was far behind him in 4:29:46.
"After doing that, I figured if he's going to make me run, I want to make him swim," Souvalian added with a grin. "So the following year, we did the "Save the Bay" swim in Narragansett, and after that, we figured if we're doing two of the three events (in a triathlon), we might have well jump into a triathlon."
But they never got around to competing in one. After a return run in the Ocean State Marathon that fall, they were going to take part in the ASE "Try the Tri" Triathlon in the following July at Colt State Park in Bristol, but because the fog was immense that day, the event was modified into a duathlon, with two 3.1-mile runs sandwiched around an 11-mile bike ride.
They were both disappointed, but they were back to the drawing board and talked about plans for a triathlon. While they discussed their next step, they continued to work out, and on a cool Monday night in the middle of the following month, they decided to go on an easy bike ride in Burrillville, one that they thought didn't require helmets for their protection.
"We were going down (Route) 102 and we were going pretty good," admitted Souvalian. "We had a pretty decent speed at the time, and all of a sudden, a van ran a red light perpendicular (to us). He collided directly into Roupen, took him under the van, and caused me to fly several feet."
Bastajian was trapped underneath the van and wasn't wedged from it until a few people who noticed the accident quickly rushed to his aide to lift the van and pull him out.
It appeared at the time that Bastajian endured the worse of the two cyclists. He suffered 22 broken bones in his face and burns on his right arm from the van's radiator.
Souvalian, meanwhile, landed on the sidewalk, but while his body fell on the grass and absorbed a few bruises and cuts, his head struck the cement.   
"I just remember a few different spots," he recalled. "I remember waking up and seeing my friend in somebody's lap and his face was all blood, and I think I dozed off after that and then woke up in the ambulance. Even to this day, I can't remember a whole lot of it."
One thing Souvalian can't remember is talking to a police officer and telling him that his name was Khoren, who was his brother, but fortunately, the officer was able to get Souvalian's facts straight and notified Khoren of the accident.
"I was sent to Rhode Island Hospital," said Souvalian. "The doctors did several different CAT scans on me and they were planning on drilling. They said, 'If the last CAT scan we do doesn't show that the bleeding has stopped, then we're going to have to drill in to release the pressure or else you're going to have permanent brain damage and potentially die.'
"They were prepping me to drill, but my brother convinced them to do one final CAT scan. They did, and the bleeding stopped."
Souvalian spent the next two days in the hospital for observation before returning home. He missed several months from his job at Cox Communcations and spent more time that he wanted to indoors as he tried to fully recuperate from his injury.
"A few months into my recovery time, I started using medical bands to begin strengthening my muscles again," added Souvalian. "I had muscular pain that kept me from doing many things during this time, so I had to keep it very simple and light. I also made the basement floor with no lights my refuge when my headaches were too severe, which was quite often. And with all of the hospital visits I had, it was almost like a full-time job by itself.
"I would say it was about eight months when I started really getting back into everything," continued Souvalian, who still suffers from migranes and headaches. "I remember the first time I came back on my bike and went through that intersection. I was expecting another van to come and run me over. It was difficult, but then after one or two rides, I guess I got used to the whole feeling."
***
While Souvalian was slowly making his comeback, so was Bastajian, and just 13 months after their accident, they found themselves taking part in the FirmMan Half Ironman in Narragansett.
"I had to come back from this," noted Souvalian. "Some of us hate being defeated, Once we are, we have to fight back."
They also competed in a handful of other events over the next three years, and now they have their sights set on Sunday.
Physically, Souvalian admits that he's in excellent shape, "but Roupen's shoulder is still messed up and he has welts all over his arms from trying to save his face from the burning radiator," he added.
And mentally?     
"I can't say that we really have any fear now that we're back on our bikes," Souvalian said. "We're much more cautious when we go through intersections. And now we're always wearing our helmets."
A big mental test for Souvalian on Sunday will be the bike ride and revisiting Route 102 where the 2003 accident took place, but he was quick to note that he won't have any flashbacks of his accident.
"It's amazing we're going to be riding that way," he added, "but I've been back on that intersection several times and I haven't had any problems."    
After this weekend's triathlon, Souvalian has no plans to slow down. On July 26, he plans to return to Narragansett Bay and take part in another "Save the Bay" swim, and he's already registered for the Amica Insurance Breakers Marathon on Oct. 18 in Newport.  
He's also looking into participating in an off-road triathlon, which encompasses a swim in a lake, a mountain bike ride, and a trail run.
"I love hiking and camping, so I think that will be right up my alley," he added.
Within the next couple of years, his top goal is to compete in a full triathlon (a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon), and he hopes to do it in Lake Placid, N.Y. because it's the closest qualifying event for the Hawaii Triathlon, considered by many as "the Boston Marathon of triathlons."
"That's a long-term goal of mine," he admitted. "But I just want to see how I do this weekend. I just want to take things one at a time."