Who's Gonna Tri Next?

Over the weekend, Brian swam/biked/ran in the Naperville Sprint Triathlon. His former boss at Avery talked him into doing it along with the lady who took over Brian's position at the office.

Kevin and Naomi were the designated photographers and they did an amazing job. It was tough to pick what pictures to post! (And there are still a lot!)

PS: Brian's been without Internet at his "Bachelor" pad, hence I am posting about the event from my perspective.

There were 1,739 finishers. Here they all are ready to start the swimming portion.

Lifeguards keeping watch.

Bob and Brian planning their strategy while they're waiting for their turn in the water.

Off they go!

Brian did really great especially given the fact that he didn't actually do any practice swims before this race. In fact, I can't remember the last time he actually swam in a pool!





I love this face Brooklyn's making. Sydney's doing model poses on the chain-link fence in the background. The kids were so great to play while we waited to cheer on Brian.

Kevin was taking a lot of pictures. This was the perfect, "No more paparazzi!' shot from Naomi.

Wes watching the bikers.

Me trying to find Brian before he passed us by.







There was a lot of running around from one place to the next to get all the pictures and be able to cheer Brian on. Cell phones were a must!

Here he comes!

And there he goes! After I cheered saying, "Go Brian!" Wes said, "Where'd my Brian go?" And he kept asking that way instead of saying, "Dad". I thought it was pretty funny.

Brian was doing a slow-motion Chariots of Fire run on his way out of the biking transition. Look a the air he's getting (check out his shadow)! Apparently people thought he was pretty funny.

The kids were so patient. We were waiting for Brian to come into the home stretch and it was very hot and humid. I love all their expressions in this picture.

Brian crossing the finish line! The clock said under 2 hours, but since they stagger the starts for the swimming, his time was actually a lot less than that.

Post-race cuddles with Dad.

Brian, Becky, and Bob. The 3 Bs from Avery.

The sea of bikes.

Cool artsy bike picture.

Since Kevin took most of the pictures, this is one of the only shots of him we got!

Wes did a great job helping Dad get his (borrowed) bike.

Family picture!

Daddy's "Bachelor" Pad

On Thursday afternoon, the kids and I drove out to Chicago to spend the weekend with Brian and support him in his triathlon (more on that later). The kids were awesome about finding stuff to keep themselves entertained in Dad's downtown apartment - especially because I only took a few toys and books.

Brian has one more week at Goldman Sachs! Lest you think we'll be back to "normal" life after that... Brian will fly from Chicago to London on Friday and then on to Bulgaria on Sunday. (He's taking a class.) Then a week from Saturday, I fly out of Chicago and he and I will rendezvous in Greece for a week! Yep, that's right. I said Greece...without the kids. Yah, we're pretty lucky.

Why are we going to Greece? Why not, right? Let's say it's to celebrate our 4th anniversary (on September 10th). Or let's say it's because I will have seen my husband about 13 days (not full days, mind you) in 11 weeks. Or let's just say we don't even need a reason. We're young and frivolous. :)

Playing in Dad's shower. Whatever works!

On Friday during Brian's lunch, we went to the Shedd Aquarium because Brian can get free tickets as a Goldman Sachs employee. (Gotta love FREE!) Wes enjoyed the fish from a safe distance. His favorite were the starfish.

Cutie girl!

The kids with Dad looking at the penguins.










Wes loved watching the 'L' train from Brian's apartment window. He'd say, "Hear dat train, Mom?!" and he'd run to the window. Here are the kids waiting for dad to come in on the 'L' train from work.




On Saturday, we drove up to hang out with Kevin and Naomi. We headed out to Schaumburg so Brian could borrow a bike from a former ward member and we decided to stop by our old mall. Quite the trio there! (Don't worry, Mom. I gave Wes fruit snacks and he quickly stopped crying.)






Wes and Brooklyn were lucky enough to get some bedtime stickers from Aunt Naomi.

I decided to stay Sunday night at Brian's place and just drive back Monday morning. Wes found this ruler and had a great time measuring things and running his car down it.

The drives there and back were both great. I sure to appreciate my super-trooper easy-going kids!

Marathon Training - Week 7

Monday: 4 miles

Tuesday: 6 miles

Thursday: 4 miles

Saturday: 12 miles

Total for the week: 26 miles (280.2 to go!)

It was another exciting training week for me since I got to add another location to my running repertoire. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I ran pushing my biggest fans in the jogging stroller. (I'm really beginning understand why it's called a jogging stroller, not a running stroller.) On Saturday, the kids and I were in Chicago visiting Brian so I got to run sans children. (Yay!) I woke up bright and early (5:10am) to get ready and make it to a Chicago Area Runners' Association (CARA) group training run. Luckily, it was only about a mile and a half from Brian's downtown apartment.

Since I had 12 miles to do, I thought the group run would be the best, and most motivating venue to get my run in. There were a bunch of different pace groups and I opted for the 9:30 pace group and it was great. Had I gone in the 9:00 pace group it would have a been a greater challenge, but still doable. It was nice to have an "easy" run at 9:30. I didn't end up talking to anyone, but I listened to other people talk which made me even more grateful for the stage of life I'm in (being LDS, married, and a stay-at-home mom). It was interesting though! There were 3 or 4 water stops along the way which was something different than I was used to, but it was good to stay hydrated. Honestly, I'd rather keep moving until I'm done instead of stop. When I stop and then start again, I kind of feel like I'm going to fall over for the first couple steps!

In 9 weeks, I'll be in downtown Chicago again, but then I'll be running a full marathon! Exciting!