I don't talk with them about it very often but when I do they typically say something like "I don't even want to drive my car 150 miles, why would you ride your bike that far?"

I thought she was your partner?

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"your horse is too high" - tigerchik

my parents think it is fine as long as it does not effect them and their glad it is keeping me out of trouble, my inlaws don't really care but also don't get in the way, and my brother can't understand how I can do anything for long periods of time (IM traina nd race) but then he has ADD - so the only thing he can do for more than fifteen minutes straight is play video games or watch cartoons.

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http://www.clevetriclub.com

rob reddy

"I thought she was your partner? "

We call ourselves husband and wife and consider ourselves as such due to our commitment to each other, just haven't bothered to sign a paper after seven years of living together. We've both been there before so don't consider it any big deal. If we ever do decide to officially remarry it'll be an under water scuba ceremony - no hall rental, quick ceremony and only a limited number of people can attend. We have a scuba diving minister friend who could do the ceremony.

My immediate family thinks I'm a freak because I don't golf. It's not as bad as when I was surfing, however.

My wife's family thinks that it's great that I'm still so athletic ... but then, they live in SD, so they have to say that.

D'Wife's opinion is well documented.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

It is a concept so alien to my in-laws that they can't even process what I am telling them. As far as my siblings, my brother and younger sister have both been cyclists and swimmers for a long time so they get it. My parents have both been sedentary for so long they are just stunned by it all.

i must be lucky - my family and my wife's family think it is great.

and both sets of my daughters grandparents live in town, so they get to come over at least once a week so i can go train. they probably wish i trained more - give them more grandma/grandpa time :)

My "little" brother has done at least a dozen marathons. He is supportive but I am sure that he thinks I took up triathlons in a feeble attempt to regain the unquestioned superiority which I held over him when we were kids. Rumor has it he has gotten back on his bike for the first time in years so I might have to face him down head to head someday. We did do a tri together about 20 years ago. I kicked his ass.

My sister has done 1 sprint tri and openly acknowledged my superiority after I finished my first half im this summer.

My wife comes from a large family and my inlaws are, by and large, jocks. No triathletes but I never have any trouble finding a running partner when with them.

Running has been part of the Faulds family culture forever. I have two younger brothers and we all won provincial medals in track and/or cross-country when we we younger. Our coach at school and in the local track club was my dad and the local track is named after him since he helped do a lot of fundraising and spearheaded its creation. So on my side of the family running (and they understand tris too) is just a normal thing to do. My wife's side of the family don't think that it is unusual either. In fact, the travelled out to Penticton with us in 1999 when I did my first ironman and my sister-in-law was part of my cheering crew in Kona this year. A few of my relatives thought it was odd when I started shaving my legs but they don't seem to think anything is wrong when they've dropped in for a visit and are at my place for 5 hours before I get home from a ride.

My parents like it when they're down here and they get a chance to see me race. They are Recovering Swim Parents. They oddly miss the days when family vacations were weekends spent at the Midland aquatic complex or Dearborn's 50M pool and I think triathlon race day gives them a bit of a nostalgia buzz even if they don't quite get the same chlorine high as back in the day. Mom says she can still pick me out of the open water pack 100 yards offshore because of my distinctive freestyle stroke.

Sister ran hurdles in high school, and got nicknamed "Crash". She also rowed for Georgetown. We respect each other's abilities even if the events sound a bit crazy sometimes.

Husband, after being convinced at a young age that he hates sports, has discovered he really likes to run 5Ks. (provided the hip pain stays under control) His biggest complaint is races that start before 9:00 am since he is very much not that sort of morning person.

Unlike most kids of Indian immigrant parents, my sister and I were athletic as kids and to some extent, both of our households today revolve around some level of adult and child sporting activity. My parents and relatives all think it is normal. If there is a marathon in town and I am not racing, their first question usually is, "How come your aren't racing, are you injured or something ?". They kind of expect me to be doing this craziness which they have lived with since I was 7 years old, so they kind of expect it. But my parents friends (ie other Indian immigrant parents) think that it is crazy that at age 39, I am still doing sport. In their culture, sport ends when you finish high school. After that, you become a PhD in math or science or you are nothing. In their culture, I get no credit for two masters degrees. You gotta be a PhD. Doing marathons and Ironmans is just a waste of time in their opinion.

Great question:

Parents: Not active in sports themselves, but very active in general. Have been supportive and very interested since the very beginning.

Son: Only seven years old, but loves soccer and running. Likes to mimic Bekele's sprint finish in the Olympic 10,000m final. Finished "second" at the underpants run at IMC last year!

Girlfriend: The number one ranked long distance triathlete in her age-group( 30 -34) in Canada and perhaps in the top 10 women overall in Canada in long distance triathlon.

Brother & Sister: Both were very good athletes in high school and university. My sister was a top ranked 100m hurdeler and my brother a 200m/400m sprinter. Both still run for fitness and take part in the odd 5k or 10K run.

Brother-in-law: Former top ranked football player in the Canadian University system. Was recruited to play in the CFL. Went into teaching and is now the head Football Coach at St. Andrews College, who have been the provicial high school football champions several times in the past few years. He runs for fitness and has clocked a 3:30 marathon. Not bad for a guy who is 6'4" and 225 pounds.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Everyone was supportive when I did a few sprint triathlons. When I did an Olympic triathlon (a year later) my brother was impressed. In contrast,t my wife and parents were a bit concerned, but very proud afterwards.

Three years after I felt that Olympic is not really that hard and I wanted a real challenge – I paid the M-DOT guys lots of money and entered a Half IM. My wife and my mom thought I would probably die or get some heart attack. 56 mile riding?!! But when they saw I ride nearly everyday 34 miles and 60-90 miles every Sunday (club ride) they became more relaxed.

My more recent Ironman status changed the picture. None of them is happy with my Ironman training and racing. They think that I am obsessed, I might damage my body and that it is completely crazy. Also I have excellent bike splits, but poor running. They always go on about why I don't just road race and TT. To other people they go on how fit and mentally strong I am, but to me? Just grief and total lack of support.

My brother is still impressed.

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Parents are very athletic, dad rides a road bike every night plus kayaks, skis, hikes. Mom rides both days on the weeked and skiis.

Little bro is a very good triathlete and ex-track runner, also a serious skier.

Girlfriend is a tri-geek and adventure racer. Her family is sport crazy from N.Z. and think it's great.

So they're all pretty supportive. Though my brother thinks it somewhat comical that I signed up for IMC before I'd ever done a tri of any sort, or could swim or run.

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"Oh man, it's going to take days to kill all these people!" - Jens Voigt

My parents probably think I'm crazy. But they are impressed that I have "stuck with" the exercise thing (there's a real difference between people who actually enjoy exercise and people for whom it is always a chore!).

My kid thinks it's cool. My ex-husband is jealous (with a second kid, a wife and a fat mortgage, he "doesn't have time" to workout much any more)

My boyfriend is a competitive swimmer (and beginning cyclist!) so he is very supportive. Can't imagine having a man in my life who didn't live an active lifestyle.

My grandmother can't remember whether it's cycling or horseback riding (which I haven't done since I was 12) that I'm into...and just doesn't understand it.

My coworkers all workout, many do tris so not only do they understand, I have workout buddies at work!

Shouldn't it be, "my ex-husband is jealous (with a second kid, a fat wife and a mortgage)"?

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"Oh man, it's going to take days to kill all these people!" - Jens Voigt

She's not fat, she's a lovely woman and a good stepmom to my son.

He's kinda fat now though....

Sorry, it was what I expected to hear after the "ex-husband" part.

Bad Jsivvy.

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"Oh man, it's going to take days to kill all these people!" - Jens Voigt

My former college basketball star dad loves it. My mega-fast cycling brother and great triathlete sister both love it. My beer drinking, snuff dipping brother and horse loving sister think grown men should not run around in tight shorts, both think it's fruitty. My kids both participate and my wife is still considering it.

I did the USMC thing to. They think I am a idiot.


The dirtball

"She's not fat,"

But my ex wife is. She didn't used to be. Revenge is sweet.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!

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"Oh man, it's going to take days to kill all these people!" - Jens Voigt

Mom and dad have been to 6 of my 8 IM races (willingly). They love it. Dad tells everyone about it. Last month we had a party for their 50th wedding anniversary and there were over 250 people there and pretty much every one of them came up to ask me about "that tri-ath-a-lon thing".

Bro and nephew are very proud and ask about training/racing, especially about the bike, but are more in to their cars, though they did come to one race once.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

The 2nd time I did an IM my mom thought it was crazy. She called me up to warn me about permanent damange to my body and then told me "if it starts to get hard, you can just stop. Everyone is a winner just for trying"... ha! I told her if it wasn't hard i wouldn't do it.

Now she follows on ironmanlive (well sometimes a day late since she got the web address wrong last time). Each time i finish she sends an email out to everyone in her address book (i'm sure some of them are like "iron-what??? is that some kind of cooking contest?". I did the Chesapeak Bay Swim a couple years ago and she sent me the online photos before I even got home (i didn't even know they were on-line)

They are more supportive now then they were - but still think it's rediculous to work out this much. I'm going to try and get them to come watch IM-Wisco next year. I think they would like it.

met my wife though Triathlon....it was great training together and going to races until she blew out her knee at Wildflower [still pr'd by 6 minutes] 6 knee surgeries later and she won't race tri's again which sucks. We did find another sport that we can both share. Endurance horseback racing doing 6-12 hour [25-50 mile races] as the flank of the horse keeps her knee from collapsing inward. hard work riding at a trot for 6+ hours doing constant squats [thats what you do riding at a posting trot] My quads have never been in this good a shape before, hill climbs on my bike are so much easier

My relatives and family are amazed...of course all of the adults are sedentary and couldn't walk a mile to save their lives...some of their kids have promise though...they all think we are crazy and have a death wish. we just laugh and watch as they eat themselves to death.

most of my co workers rock climb, ski, adventure race, do tri's so they think I'm normal....ok so I work at REI LOL

my wife is an accountant and her co-workers think she is out of her freaking mind

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"on your Left"