Birthday Celebration

I celebrated my actual birthday-DAY at Old Chicago and got my favorite hawaiian style pizza with the best "on tap" drinks with Katie and her kiddos. Oh, I also colored my hair medium brown if you were wondering why it looks darker. Bryan had school, so he wasn't able to surprise me on a Wednesday.But he made up for it with these roses when he came to Killeen on Friday. Aren't they beautiful? Then I had a fun birthday party with some of my friends from work and church. I got the best cake ever- oreo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It was a big hit, we just forgot to let it defrost before putting the candles in and had to wait a grueling 15 minutes!

Bryan surprised me with a new trailer hitch, trailer hitch bike rack (since I ruined the one on top of my car), tinted windows on my Subaru, and a speedometer for my bike. I guess this years theme was biking and car upgrades? He is always so good with birthday presents. Thank you sweet heart. Happy 27 years to me!

Austin 2011 Olympic Triathlon

We competed in our first olympic traithlon on 5 September 2011, in Austin Texas. It involves a 1500 meter swim on Lady Bird Lake, a 40K or 25 mile bike ride around the state capital building and parks, and a 10K or 6 mile run through the parks. It was very intimidating seeing all these triathletes with muscles and fast looking bikes, while Bryan's running around in his Army gym shorts and I'm in a little girl swimsuit. But looks can be deceiving:)
Here's Bryan coming out of the lake. All his pictures were awesome. He is super photogenic when it comes to races. He was the second group to start the race, while I was the last (1 hour later!).See the capital building in the background? The audience was fun to see too. We had people dressed up as tacos, watermelons, summer Santa Clause, and penguins. Keep Austin Weird.Now this is my favorite! Bryan has his mouth open either trying to catch his breath or cheering because he is about to cross the finish line. Love it!

Me and my little girl swimsuit. Glad I had a matching swim cap. The water was super warm, so it wasn't a wetsuit legal race. I kicked Bryan's trash by 3 minutes on the swim, but he kicked my trash in the other 2 events.


I was so glad to be done. I was sick all the week before the race and was working night shift and had a mountain bike. I know, I know. Excuses. Excuses. The run about killed me though. Bryan was kind enough to run with me for 4 miles. My goal time was between 3 and 3:30 hours. I got 3:25 baby! My next goal will be under 3:15. Bryan did amazing as usual, 2:40. Thats probably why he had his mouth open gasping for air at the finish line:) Anyways, it was really fun. We will definately be doing more of those.

BLORA 2011 Sprint Triathlon

Unfortunately the triathlon was changed to a duathlon 2 days before the event due to the low water level at Lake Belton [24 September]. We did have 75+ days of 100 degree weather without rain all summer long! The duathlon was run 1.5 miles-bike 12 miles-run 1.5 miles. My goal this time was to make it through the run without stopping and with the run split, it was perfect. Bryan is always prepared for sporting events and made it easy to leave in the morning. This is the only picture I have of him alone pumping up the bike tires. He is also the first to finish and always collects on goodies and freebies.

Here is me at the close to finish line, that is why I am so happy. Usually I am not so happy, but don't my legs look nice?
This was Katie Whipple's first triathlon-turned duathlon- and she did awesome! I've got her signed up for a 1/2 marathon now, she just doesn't know it. "Good job working out girls!"

Here is the crew in the transition area after the race! The weather was nice, a little cold in the morning, but heated up quickly once the sun came up. The race wasn't as organized as we'd like, but hey, it was free and we all did great. Good job everybody.

Happy Birthday to Me!