The part where she asks the athlete what he gets for doing the Ironman is especially painful for me considering my mom asked me the exact same thing before I raced Ironman Canada and was somewhat disgusted and disappointed to hear that all I would get is a medal, a t-shirt, and an upside-down hat.

I can’t relate to the “waking up at 4:30″ part — I only drag myself out of bed that early if I’m racing; otherwise, 6:30 or 7 is the earliest this lazy fool will get up to train. I should write a book called “The Lazy Person’s Ironman Training Guide” — it involves a lot of late-night trainer rides while blasting loud movies that probably piss off my neighbors.

Aside from how jaunty and fun it is, I love that K-Swiss is giving triathletes mucho love in this commercial. My favorite moments:

• The triathlete warming up his arms before the swim
• The K-Swiss-clad dude sprinting with a bad-ass look on his face
• The swimmers emerging from the water, with one sporting a cheeky shark fin attached to his back
• The pack of triathletes busting it out on their bikes, with the guy in red passing a group and looking behind him before turning back with a wry little smirk on his face (so adorable)
• And, of course, Chris Lieto coming down the chute towards the finish, pointing up towards the sky and starting his victory celebration. My heart swells and I get a lump in my throat every time I see this part as I think about my (hopeful) finish at Ironman Canada this summer.

I think this ad is a great branding effort by K-Swiss to show consumers that they offer a vast array of apparel and footwear aside from standard tennis shoes (which is what I thought they primarily specialized in). Showing tennis players, runners, triathletes, young people having fun and looking stylish, and other scenarios mixed in paints K-Swiss as a fun company that can help you train hard, have fun, and look good. So far I’ve taken the bait — I’ve bought a pair of blue Ironman running shoes (the K-Ona S) that are pretty awesome, and I want to follow suit with these bad boys (Jas already has a pair — I call them his ruby red slippers).

So good on ya, K-Swiss. Way to give triathletes some love and make yourself look like a fun, energetic company. You’ve done what few commercials have accomplished nowadays: busted through my formidable DVR.

Dude, if someone threw a tray of mustard at me while I was riding, I would freak the eff out and go apeshit on him. Then again, I can’t stand mustard, but still, that’s so not cool.