Desperate Housewives' Teri Hatcher to do the Malibu Triathlon this weekend

Hatcher does most of her swim training in her pool, but she has overcome
her fear of sharks to do two open water swims on the course.
Photo by Teri Hatcher from the Associated Press.

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher has signed up to do the Nautica Malibu Triathlon on September 13 to benefit the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Famous as Hatcher may be, she still has to train just like any other triathlete. She rides her bike to work three times per week, runs on her treadmill, and swims 50 to 80 laps in her pool. Just like any other newbie triathlete, Hatcher fears shark attacks on her open water swims, is afraid she will fall off her bike, and is relieved when she doesn't trip and fall on the run as her Desperate Housewives character Susan might do. Hatcher has hired a coach, and is motivated by the children that she is helping through her fund raising.

Hatcher's bike rides are her "alone time."
She is proud to reduce her carbon
footprint by commuting to work.
Copyright Dan Steinberg/AP Images for ABC.

Hatcher has also found her early morning bike rides to work give her quiet alone time, which is hard to find as a mother. "I never think of myself as a morning person," Hatcher explains, "but as a mom and working woman, I am not surprised at how much I have responded to that alone time. I like to call it ANYTHING but EXERCISE. So now its 'me being green, and alone time.' I like that." Hatcher says that she enjoys the swimming and biking, but finds the running painful. "Those last four miles make my knees ache and my chest burn... I've been enjoying the run. But it is definitely the hardest part!" When she gets tired, Hatcher thinks about the children that she is helping and the people who have donated to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital in her name."Please know that with every dollar donated, I'm inspired to take that one more step toward the finish line," she told readers on her fund raising blog.  She appears to be taking her training seriously, although maybe not her taper. Hatcher has covered the entire course on consecutive weekends the two weeks before the race.

Hatcher says that the run is the hardest leg of the
triathlon. Copyright Dan Steinberg/AP Images for ABC.

The Nautica Malibu Triathlon consists of a half-mile swim, an eighteen-mile out-and-back bike course, and a 4-mile run. Hatcher says she has no target pace in mind, and only hopes to finish running. "I'm in it for the kids and just to finish without walking. Nothing more. Well I guess I don't really want to be LAST. I do have a bit of competitiveness left in me." Watch the results this Sunday to see if Hatcher can beat other celebrities' times such as Jennifer Lopez (02:23:38.8), Andy Baldwin (01:30:44.7), and Matthew McConaughey (1:43:48).