'Iron Mom'

COEUR d'ALENE - The license plates on her car say "IRONMOM," but Connie Price is really an Iron everything.

From her Hayden home's triathlon-themed decor to the Ironman-logo earrings dangling from her ears to the tattoo on her back, there's no doubting the love Price has for Ironman. She doesn't just love it, she lives it.

The walls of her home are like a giant scrapbook. There's a large photo mural of Ironman swimmers, an Ironman beach towel-turned-art on the dining room wall, a collection of cowbells, numerous large photos of Price competing and a shadowbox filled with souvenirs from each of her seven Ironman races.

Foot-tall letters are perched atop her kitchen cupboards, fireplace mantel and the tops of bookshelves, a colorful alphabet spelling IRONMOM, FINISH STRONG, SWIM and KONA.

"It's a good energy," she said. "It's a super-good energy in this house."

Come Sunday, 43-year-old Price will compete in her eighth Ironman. Her ultimate goal is to be the first gastric bypass patient to finish the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Not even a year had passed after life-changing gastric bypass surgery in 2006 when the Hayden mother of five decided she was going to compete in triathlons. Doctors advised against it, but Price was determined to prove them wrong.

"I didn't even know what Ironman was until 2008," said her husband, Ted Price. "She volunteered and said it's awesome and she was going to sign up. She didn't even know how to swim."

That didn't sink Price. For her first triathlon leading up to her Ironman debut, the newly svelte Price rented a wetsuit and floated the entire course on her back.

In 2009, she completed her first Ironman race.

"I'm super-slow," she said. Her best time is 15 hours and 57 minutes, but what she lacks in speed she compensates in heart.

She's a Coeur d'Alene Ironman three times over and has finished Canada Ironman races in Whistler and Penticton. Price found out right before last August's race in Whistler that her foot was broken.

She put on a plastic boot and competed anyway, finishing in 16 hours, 24 minutes.

Only once did she not make it to the finish line.

In 2012, she kept passing out while training for Ironman. She promised her doctor she would pull out of the race the first time she passed out. Instead, she pushed herself, passing out multiple times before calling it quits on the bike course.

"That was the year she won 'Volunteer of the Year,'" Ted Price said. "She came back and volunteered, staying at the finish line until the last finisher."

Doctors diagnosed Price with non-insulinoma pancreatogenous hypogylcemia syndrome - a complication of gastric bypass surgery that causes blood sugar levels to plummet dangerously. They advised Price to stop competing in Ironman.

But she's no quitter.

Compounding her doctor's concerns, Price has also developed "hypogylcemic unawareness." Her body doesn't sense the cues that warn her she is in the danger zone. She relies on a blood monitor now that goes "batty beeping" in warning.

"My blood sugar often drops into the low 40s - 38 is the lowest," she said. "Typically, you don't want it to go below 70."

Price said her levels dip into the 40s about three times a day - even lower when she's biking. When she competes in the bike and run for Ironman, Price can monitor her blood sugar and eat accordingly.

She can't wear her monitor in the swim, though. Her plan is to eat three to four times during the 2.4-mile swim - she will have glucose "gels" tucked into her wetsuit - and hope for the best.

Two days after Ironman, Price will leave for Seattle, where she has an appointment at Harborview Medical Center. There's a good chance that, for the sake of her health, Price may have to have the gastric-bypass reversed.

"I was real scared at first and fought it," she said. "I finally realized I am 8 years out (from surgery). I know how to eat."

Still, Price said she is "deathly afraid of getting obese again." She weighed 259 pounds before the surgery.

She's also reluctant to let go of her dream of being the first gastric bypass patient to finish Kona.

"You hear bad stories about gastric bypass," she said. "You don't hear what could be."

As she gears up for Sunday's race, Price is playing host to 10 Ironman athletes from around the world. She opens her home every Saturday for Ironman socials. Earlier this month she had 60 people over for a barbecue. The events have drawn as many as 100 attendees.

"She is the ambassador for Ironman in Coeur d'Alene," said Tom Aylward, her best friend and training partner. "She's just a good person with a good soul."

Aylward said Price is known to many in local race circles as "Mama Connie."

"She just takes people under her wing," Aylward said. "She opens up her heart and her life to these younger kids."

Price plans to volunteer throughout Ironman weekend, both before and after the race. Her passion has proven contagious.

Her husband, Ted, volunteers. Her mother helps with registration. Her father is co-captain for photography with Price's daughter, 21-year-old Brittney.

Her 16-year-old twins, Hayden and Hunter, volunteer. So do Parker, 12, and Dawson, 11.

The twins have also taken to the sport. Hayden has completed eight full marathons - four of which when he was only 10 years old. Hunter has finished a marathon and two triathlons.

He hopes to someday work for Ironman. To be eligible for employment, he must complete an Ironman himself.

"I had no idea what Ironman was," Hunter said. "I didn't understand why anyone would put themselves through it. It's a good community. It brings our family closer."

This year, the family is donning clothes made to match Connie's pink Ironman ensemble. Some of her friends and fellow competitors will be wearing "Connie's Pink," too.

She should be easy to spot on the course in her pink, rhinestone-adorned helmet.

"You'll see me coming," she said. "There are not too many pink helmets out there."

Coeur d'Alene Ironman falls on the same weekend as her wedding anniversary.

Price expects her husband of 17 years to be waiting at the finish line with a special anniversary gift, just as he has before - maybe something from the exclusive Ironman jeweler.

Judging from her Dooney & Bourke signature Ironman handbags, "Iron Mom" likes to accessorize.