What would you do if you were not afraid to fail? For Geist stay-at-home-mom Laura Phillips, the answer would shock her family.

After the birth of her fourth child three years ago, Laura suddenly announced to her husband, Chris, (during a car trip home from St. Louis) that she was going to compete in a triathlon.

It was a seed that had been planted back in high school by her swim coach. A strong swimmer and cyclist — but not an avid runner — Laura shelved the idea. But after having four kids in about six years, Laura was ready to take her body back. While most moms would decide to join a gym or take an aerobics class, Laura aimed higher. This stay-at-home-mom is now a “triatha-mom”!

She started training and competed in her first event in June of 2006 in Shelbyville, where she placed second in her division. She worked her way up to the Ironman competition in Louisville last summer, where she finished in 14 hours, 9 minutes, easily breaking her goal of 15 hours.

“I am completely hooked,” she says.

Now Laura is training again for Ironman Louisville (Aug. 31, 2008) and raising funds for Creating Hope, a Geist-based charity which gives hope to cancer patients by encouraging creative expression. (To donate, visit Laura’s blog at www.go-mom-go.blogspot.com and click on the “Creating Hope” link).

She’s also helping get the “Healthy Kids” program up and running at St. Simon School, where students will engage in 12 miles of activity prior the Geist Half Marathon and then complete the final mile at the Geist Half.

For Laura, running in the Geist Half in May fits right in with her training schedule. She’ll gradually be increasing the longevity of her daily runs throughout the summer. Laura usually runs on Saturday mornings when Chris can watch the kids, but she’s added a new challenge to her schedule. She recently launched the “Go with Jesus” program at St. Simon — an opportunity for those in the St. Simon community to meet on Saturday mornings for prayer, Bible study and then a short walk or run.

“No, I am not sure how this will really fit in with Ironman training, but somehow it will!” Laura said.

While Laura says she’s “just a normal mom,” she definitely has the added challenge of juggling intense physical training with family life. Her alarm goes off at 4:45 a.m., and she jokes that she trains “mostly in the dark” — running on the treadmill or riding the stationary bike in the basement before the kids wake up and after they go to bed.

She calls Chris her “sherpa,” a term triathletes often use for their race helpers. Although Chris had fleeting thoughts of joining Laura in Ironman, he knows the family would not survive two parents in training!

“I’ll sacrifice for her,” says Chris, who helped the kids– Jack, 9; Sam, 7; Will, 5; and Kate, 3 — fill a huge shadow box with Ironman memorabilia as a Christmas present to their “Iron-Mom.”

Laura only hopes her story will inspire other moms to follow their dreams.

“What would you do if you knew you would not fail?” she asks. “I want each person to know that they can go after whatever it is that they dream about.”

To see a video Laura made with the help of Fishers-based Cantaloupe TV in hopes of securing a sponsorship from Evotri, visit www.atGeist.com.

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