I got to spend last weekend in Finland, cheering Charlie along in the 70.3 IRONMAN World Championship after she won her age group in Seattle last year. Her family were there too, flying out from both coasts of the US for this potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, immersing themselves in the world of Ironman for the first time.

As boyfriend and half ironmanner, I got to play tour guide for Charlie's family during the day - an unexpected highlight of the whole vacation. From seeing JP's eyes pop when I mentioned the bike corral held over $100 million worth of purchased bikes, to Lisa's astonishment at athletes burning 3,600 calories in the race and taking half back onboard through gels while racing, I loved sharing the niche knowledge I'd gained from this sport in the past year. Even if I had to catch myself from saying foreign phrases like “aero bars and a disc wheel enable you to ride faster while pushing the same watts”.

In true Lert fashion, their competitive nature showed quickly. Within minutes of the race finishing, Lita was telling Charlie she needed to work on her transitions  - “it's low hanging fruit!”, she exclaimed - despite only having heard the term 'transition' eight hours earlier. Knowledge wasn't needed to play her role as older sister unlocking her younger sister’s potential.

And I was beyond proud with Charlie's performance. Seeing her glistening red-face powering through the uphill finish, she'd persisted through cramping in the swim leg that cost her two minutes, put it all behind her to smash a 2:49 bike and drop 18 minutes from her last 70.3, and then battled cramping all over again through the run. Charlie shared afterwards she'd been reduced to walking uphill just two miles into the run, her mile pace dropping from 7:30 to 8 minutes per mile in the beating sun, then further to 9 minutes per mile and agonizingly to 9:30 before running again. When she passed us at mile 4 shouting about her cramping, I turned to Lisa, my face mirroring Charlie’s pain; this wasn't a good situation with over an hour of running left and I doubted her ability to hold on. But hold on she did, powering through to the finish and dropping her PB by 21 mins in the process down to a 5:22!

"I didn't think I would finish", "I wouldn't have finished if my family weren't here in Finland", Charlie later confessed... I'm so thankful they were.

There's still more time left on the table for Charlie, but that's for another race. For now, I'm grateful I got to share the experience with her family and see the craziness of Ironman through the lens of an outsider. Who would've expected the Lertlumprasert family to be so passionate about aero bars.