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Couple's love a match for their stamina

Athletic training played a key role in bringing Steve and Brenda Mandel back together after their divorce more than four years ago.

By JOEY KNIGHT, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [John Pendygraft | Times] Husband and wife team Steve Mandel, 42, and Brenda Connolly, 42, pose together with a trophy from last year's Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Clearwater. This Saturday, they compete together in the same race. Routes Triathlon info

TEMPLE TERRACE - Peer through the doorway that prominent Tampa triathlete Steve Mandel readily opens into his personal life, and one might be stunned to see what peers back.

Among other things, Mandel reveals a shameless devotion to ageless glam-rock quartet Kiss, and the brief stint he had in the Navy. He also shows off the bearded dragon (think mean-looking lizard) kept in a roomy glass terrarium on the porch of his cream-colored brick home.

But what really takes people aback is when Steve, 42, announces that he and wife Brenda actually were divorced for four years.

"People at our gym I don't think even realized we were divorced," Brenda said.

Most love stories conclude with the couple frolicking off into the sunset. This one culminates with the pair swimming smack into a sunrise.

Steve and Brenda, teenage sweethearts who in May took a second crack at matrimony, will splash together into the brisk gulf waters Saturday morning at the Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater.

Their two boys, ages 12 and 10, will be watching as their parents navigate what essentially is a half-Ironman triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) along the crooks and causeways of north Pinellas County.

"Getting back together, I was lucky," said Steve, whose 43rd-place finish in this event last year (in 4:10.22) was the area's best and a personal best.

Running, biking and swimming aren't mere backdrops for Steve and Brenda's romantic tale, they're full, fleshed-out characters. The two met when both were 13 and ultimately went to prom together at Fort Lauderdale's Coconut Creek High, where Steve was a distance-running star.

He enlisted in the Navy but, upon realizing he wasn't suited for such a life, wound up running cross country for Bob Braman at USF, where Brenda had successfully walked on to the now-defunct Bulls swim team. While there, the pair's love continued flourishing.

"We were literally inseparable," Brenda said.

They legalized their inseparability with a festive wedding party on a yacht on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway on May 30, 1993. Two boys, Andrew and Nicholas, followed. So did the stress associated with fledgling careers and families.

They divorced on May 29, 2003 - the day before their 10-year anniversary.

"We were not the typical story of people getting divorced," said Steve, director of research and development for a software company he helped found. "We just got caught up, I guess, in the chaos of life, and I think we just needed a little bit of time."

In an effort to regain focus in his life, Steve, who regularly eclipsed 31 minutes in 10-kilometer races at USF, immersed himself in distance running and triathlon training.

Twice, he competed in the Ironman World Championship - the Super Bowl of triathlons - in Kona, Hawaii; and placed eighth in the '06 Gasparilla marathon (2:47.19). All the while, Brenda remained near to his heart, and house.

For much of their divorce, the two lived a half-mile apart in Temple Terrace, raising Andrew and younger sibling Nicholas together. As Steve's success as a triathlete grew, so did his ex-wife's support for his grueling passion.

On his two trips to Kona, in fact, Brenda came along.

"Probably the big time-stealer (in training) is cycling, so a lot of times you need help," Steve said. "It would be my turn to have the boys and Brenda would be like, 'I know you've got the boys and I know you need to cycle,' and she'd watch the boys."

From this arrangement, an epiphany sprouted: What were they doing apart in the first place? This past May 30, on what would have been the 14th anniversary of their first marriage, Steve and Brenda doled out $80 for a license and were wed by a justice of the peace in downtown Tampa.

"A lot of people, I'd have to say, aren't totally surprised," said Brenda, a research effort coordinator at USF's Moffitt Cancer Center. "Because even when we were divorced we were very close."

Steve is more succinct. "I think they were more surprised that we got divorced, probably."

Their second honeymoon was spent at the EagleMan Ironman 70.3 in Cambridge, Md., in early June. Brenda, who previously had competed in some sprint triathlons, finished the half-Ironman course in 5:21.48. Steve placed fourth in the male 40-44 age group (4:20.03).

Now, Brenda's triathlon passion seems to be growing. Amid careers and kids, the couple manages to intersperse a demanding workout routine that can include up to 12,000 yards of swimming, 40-50 miles of running and 10-12 hours of cycling per week during hardcore training.

Most of the training is done well before dawn, so evenings can be reserved for family time.

"We both get our schedules on Sunday night and we're like, figuring out how to get it done," Steve said. "Sometimes we swap days around. You can do it; you might have to give up a few things."

Sacrifice has never seemed so blissful.

"Sometimes you have to get away from things to figure out what you had," Steve said. "I was fortunate."

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 20:52:32]