Just Tri It!

Yesterday Rob and I competed in the Cache Valley Super Sprint Triathlon. My sister, Mary Anne, and her husband, Dusty, came up from Provo to do it with us. It was everyone's first triathlon, except Dusty...he's pretty much a pro now :) We had a great time!

Here's me and Dusty checking out the competition in the transition area before the race. The photo was taken Mary Anne, hence the focus on Dusty...hehehe!

Getting marked!

Me and Rob before the race...

Check out that babe on the right...is my sister hot or what?! And then there's me in my "Urkle" spandex! My sisters and I started a weight loss blog in January to motivate each other. Just to brag a little about her, she has lost over 30 lbs. Me...I've lost just over 10 lbs. Unfortunately, most of it happened in the chest area :0) ....

Dusty smoked us all and finished in 1:08 so he was the official photographer after he finished. Here we are coming in after the bike...

Heading for the finish line...

Someone should remind me to smile so I at least look like I'm enjoying myself! It was so blazing hot out there...all I cared about was crossing that finish line!

Dusty, Mary Anne, Me and Rob....WE DID IT!!

For the record, here are the official results:

Rob:
Overall- 1:34:48
Swim (500 meters)- 12:48
Transition 1- 3:58
Bike (12.5 mile)- 42:07
Transition 2- 1:23
Run (5k)- 34:30

He finished 96/105 in the men's overall and 23/24 his men's age group. Not bad for starting training only a few weeks before!

Kirsten:
Overall- 1:39:40
Swim- 16:54
T1- 3:03
Bike- 46:49
T2- 1:13
Run- 31:39

I finished 88/116 in the women's overall and 23/29 my women's age group. When adding up my training times, I figured it would take me about 1:50 to finish (not including transitions since I had no clue how long those would take and maybe even longer since I wasn't sure if I could do it all together at the same pace as each individual time). I had been training for the bike on my 40 lb. Huffy "Kmart special" mountain bike that we bought about 10 years ago. Rob and I biked the route about 3 weeks ago and it took us just over an hour (he could have gone ALOT faster but hung back with me). My knee would kill every time I biked so I was a little worried about that portion of the race. I rented a road bike and had it properly adjusted and learned that my seat was way too low on my own bike, which is why my knee was killing.

As for my thoughts on the race, I felt like I really struggled through the swim. I only swam 4 times during my 8 weeks of training and I actually finished in my exact training time but other swimmers kept passing me so I felt like I was going really slow. Also, I trained in a 25 meter pool and the race was in a 50 meter pool so it just seemed like it took forever to do one length of the pool. I also psyched myself out because at one end, I looked across the lanes and thought I only had 150 meters left and just kept telling myself "only 3 more to go" but I really had 250 meters (5 left)! Yeah, that sucked! But once I got on the bike and ate a Snickers bar, I was feeling GREAT! I did the bike about 15 minutes faster than I had planned (thanks to a nice road bike that was properly adjusted) without knee pain and I felt good the whole way! My run was right on as well, about a 10 minute mile, which is what I've been training at. I am really happy with the whole thing. Would I do it again...maybe if someone wants to volunteer to swim for me :o)

Thanks, Mary Anne, for inviting us to do it with you. You can check out her blog, too, for more pics of her and Dusty.

4th of July at the Cabin

We were able to make a quick but enjoyable trip up to the cabin this weekend. We got there Friday afternoon and the kids played with cousins (didn't get any pics but you can check out Rob's brother's blog for some cute ones).

Friday night Rob took the girls "into town" (Oakley) to see the fireworks after the rodeo. Ashlee was very disappointed that we would be missing parades and fireworks back in Logan (luckily there's always July 24th in Utah) so we had to make sure she at least saw some fireworks...even if they only lasted a couple of minutes. Rob has an obsession with taking pictures of fireworks and the moon. Seriously, you should see how many of those types of pictures we have on the computer from over the years :)

On Saturday we picnicked by the lake and took pictures on the famous stump. Trevor had fallen asleep on the way over to the lake so I couldn't get the picture I wanted of him. I brought the same shirt that Landon is wearing in the picture from 2006. Some people say that Trevor is a "little Landon" but I don't really see it so I wanted to get a picture in the same shirt and same spot at about the same age (Landon is 15 months in the picture), but oh well. We'll just have to get one when we're down there in August.

And 3 years before...

We headed back home on Saturday after dinner, making a quick stop at Smith's for some fireworks, and enjoyed the rest of the 4th with neighbors, sparklers, and a mini fireworks display ala Rob (again, no pictures).

Happy 4th, everyone. I am grateful to live in a free land and enjoy the beautiful area I live in. I started reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (a book about the lives of women in Afghanistan) last week and it has reinforced to me how blessed we are to live here. I am grateful for the sacrifices of brave men and women who have served and fought and in many cases, given their lives, in order for us to enjoy those freedoms.