Listen to Lori Bowden and you can tell. You can tell that she loves being a mother.

“It’s awesome. It’s the best. I love it,” says Bowden, whose son, Tyson Kennedy, is now seven months old. “There’s nothing you can love more in the world than your own child.”

You can tell she’s as funny and feisty as ever.

Asked if she’s regained her fitness and weighs the same as in her prime, Bowden jokes, “I might even be a little smaller. I just have a bigger chest.”

And you can tell that she’s itching to line up, dive into the water, hop aboard her Specialized bike, then show off her unparallel running skills.

“No. It’s what I love to do,” said Bowden when asked if there ever was any doubt she’d race again. “I’d be crazy not to do it. If I try it the next two years and don’t make a cent, yeah, then I’ve got to find another job quick.”

The two-time Hawaii champion plans to race two half-Ironman events in British Columbia in June, then make her return to the full Ironman distance July 16 at Ironman Austria. Never one to keep a workout log, Bowden doesn’t know how many hours a week she’s training now. “I just know what I have to do,” she says.

Suffice it to say her training isn’t casual. Her longest run since delivering Tyson: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Her longest ride: five hours. She says her training is more quality than quantity now. “I do more hill workouts, running and cycling,” she says. “A lot of hill repeats definitely helps get you stronger. I’ve made a small compromise on mileage. But I’m still getting in the long runs and long bike rides I need.”

Bowden has lived in Victoria since 1996 and has built a network of close friends. She has not hired a nanny, instead relying on that network of friends to help her juggle training and raising her son. Tyson often accompanies Bowden for morning swim workouts. He used to sit in his car seat on the pool deck. Now a friend keeps him company. When Bowden logs a long workout on a trainer, Tyson’s there in his swing.

Sometimes Bowden wakes up, starts playing with her son and realizes the swim workout can wait.

“It’s funny,” says Bowden. “You always think people with kids are trying to suck you into parenthood, (saying) ‘Oh it’s awesome. ‘ You look at other people’s kids, then suddenly have your own and realize what they’re talking about. Every single day, every single minute is amazing. You can’t stop loving every single thing they do.”

Bowden last raced an Ironman at the 2004 World Championships. As Hawaii’s defending champion, she finished 11^th, a disappointment for the woman who had finished first, third, second, second, first, second and second the previous seven years.

What many people don’t know is that she came into the race sick.

“I caught a real bad cold and could barely breathe,” she recalls. “I tried to tell myself, ‘That’s OK. This is going to be long. You don’t have to breathe that hard. You’re not out there sprinting.”

Early in the bike she was stung by a wasp and began feeling sick to her stomach.

She was proud that she stuck it out and finished. But bottom line, the place next to her name is 11^th. For a woman whose 12 career Ironman victories rank third all time behind Paula Newby-Fraser (24) and Heather Fuhr (14), that’s not how she wants to be remembered.

“My last race in Kona was a bad one,” says Bowden. “People just think I had a bad race. Being pretty sick, I was happy to finish it. I wasn’t going to stop and not finish it. I definitely want to go back and show I can still race.”

The letdown of finishing 11^th at Kona pales in comparison to the heartache Bowden has experienced the past couple years. When Bowden and Peter Reid both won at Kona in 2003, to the outside world it seemed a moving storyline, husband and wife winning together on triathlon’s biggest stage. Except that the couple was separated and in the process of going through a divorce. Then last year, while she was pregnant with Tyson, one of Bowden’s best friends, Kendra Holmes, died of leukemia.

“I always joke with my friends that if they complain about their life being boring, I’d love my life to be boring,” says Bowden. “There’s certain excitement you can do without. (Holmes’ death) was hard. I’m really close to all my friends. I’m an emotional person. Part of me was very sad she wasn’t going to be able to see my baby.”

Be it Bowden’s imagination or the strong connection between Lori and Holmes, Bowden swears there are times she looks at Tyson and sees her friend.

“He has all these different mischievous grins,” she says, “and I see her in him.”

Living in Victoria, population 75,000, in the southeast corner of British Columbia, Bowden feels secure in her setting. “It’s a small community,” she says. “People here, everyone helps each other. It’s not like living in the big city. People do what they can for each other.”

And her comeback isn’t under the microscope, as it might be if she were in San Diego or her old hometown of Toronto.

“You kind of feel tucked away,” she says.

But come July in Klangenfurt, Austria, the tri community worldwide will have a keen interest in Bowden’s comeback.

“Lori is one of us,” says Bob Babbitt, co-publisher of Competitor Magazine and a member of the Ironman Hall of Fame. “She started as an age-grouper. She’s just a very happy, caring person, the type person any age-group athlete feels comfortable going up and talking to. She was this curly-haired beautiful gal who was racing with her mom. Everyone’s going to be following, seeing how Lori does. And people will be wondering. Is Lori back or not? Will she be a factor or not? When you’ve got her running ability, that doesn’t go away. Lori Bowden is always going to be a factor. How she does in Austria will be a precursor to how big a factor she’ll be in Kona.”

The running ability still seems to be there. On a hilly course she recently ran a 39-minute 10K. “I feel the same as I did on the bike, maybe stronger,” she says.

She will be 39 when she races in Austria and scoffs at anyone who brings up the age factor.

“How old is Natascha (Badmann)?” replies Bowden.

The Swiss Miss turns 40 in December, barely six weeks after Ironman Hawaii this year. As for pro triathletes still racing, Karen Smyers, the mother of two, finished ninth last year at Hawaii. She’s 44. Heather Gollnick, the mother of three, finished second this month at Arizona.

Bottom line for Bowden: she’s content as a mother and hungry as an athlete.

“I think sometimes having a break is helpful,” Bowden says. “It makes you enjoy things more. Training can pretty hard at the Ironman distance and can get pretty tedious. After having a break, you appreciate every time you get to train. You love it. You do out, it’s a windy day and you don’t mind that it’s windy. You’re just happy to be out there training.”

You can contact Mathew Dale at mdale@ironmanlive.com