Last weekend was the last time my doctor allowed me to travel...thankfully it worked out well because Ryan and Jason were going to Milwaukee to compete in the USA Triathlon Age-Group National Championships. (Because they finished so high in a previous qualifying triathlon, they were invited to compete.) People came from ALL over the United States to compete in the hopes that if they finished in the top 18 in their age group, they would qualify for the International Triathlon later this summer. That was never Ryan's goal...as good as he is, he's not even close to being that good (and I don't mean that to sound mean...he will tell you that) but getting to complete in this triathlon was a big deal, so they wanted to do it just to do it. And it really was fun to have a last final weekend away with him, Jason, and Sarah!
We left Thursday afternoon and drove until about 11 pm when we arrived in Milwaukee. Actually, we got to stay FOR FREE in Jason's old boss's house in Waukesha, WI, which is about 20 minutes outside downtown Milwaukee. His boss was out of town, so we got there and got settled in and slept!
I didn't take a single picture (with our camera) on Friday, but we got up and toured "The Robert's Group." Ryan and Jason both work at Saint Francis, and when Jason was working in marketing, his boss was Barbara. She owns this advertising firm called "The Roberts Group" and their biggest client is Saint Francis. So even though he isn't in marketing anymore, he still knows a lot of the people that work there, etc. It was really cool looking around and seeing a bunch of Saint Francis stuff all over their three-story office complex! (I still think it's interesting that a firm in Waukesha, WI does all the marketing for Saint Francis, a hospital in Cape Girardeau, MO, but I guess why that's why I'm not very business savvy!)
We had lunch in a cool little place in downtown Waukesha, and then drove to downtown Milwaukee for the boys to go to the triathlon expo and pick up their race packets, etc.
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| Isn't this crazy? In a running race you usually get that one number that you pin to the front of your shirt...they had this entire SHEET of numbers to put on everything from their swim cap, multiple places on their bike and helmet, one to clip on for running, etc. |
At this point I was tired and HOT...the expo was outside (whoever thought that was a good idea clearly was not pregnant or related to a pregnant person! HA!) Thankfully we didn't stay too long because I was fading fast! =) After leaving the expo we went to the hotel to check in (we had decided to stay in a hotel the night before the race, instead of staying at Barbara's, just so the boys would be close to the triathlon start in the morning) but the room wasn't ready. WHAT? This hotel wasn't cheap! We ended up having to sit in the hotel lobby for over an hour and a half! When they finally told us a room was ready, we hauled all of our stuff upstairs only to walk in to a room that hadn't even been cleaned! There were pillows all over the floor, dirty towels in the bathroom, etc. We were like "WHAT??" Jason headed downstairs to chew out the staff (just kidding...but seriously, we told him to totally play the preggo card! I mean, we thought we would be laying down in a comfy bed with the AC blasting by 3 pm, and it was almost 5 by that point!) He came upstairs and had a new room key, and $80 in free money for breakfast in the morning! YAY!
Which reminds me...Sarah is PREGNANT TOO! She and Jason were TOTALLY SURPRISED a couple of weeks before the trip, when they found out they were almost 8 weeks pregnant! (They are due with their third baby sometime in the middle of March, which means that Emory and their little one will be in the same grade...so cool!) So finally at 5 pm the preggo's got to TAKE A NAP
and relax awhile before supper.
We went to a cool little Italian restaurant for supper that night, and it was really good! I guess I was just enjoying the evening so much that I didn't take ONE PICTURE! Oh well. That night Sarah and I had so much fun picking out our $80 in free breakfast food for the next morning...Jason was sleeping by that point, but Ryan was dying laughing at us debating so seriously what flavor of smoothie we should order and whether or not to splurge on the $5 orange juice! HA! He was doing an impression of us the next day and we could not stop laughing!
The next morning (Saturday morning) the boys were up SUPER EARLY to head to the triathlon. Their age group didn't start until 9:30, but they had to put all their gear in the "transition area" before 6 am! Sarah and I had a HUGE breakfast delivered to the room at 8 and enjoyed every. single. bite! May I present to you what happens when two pregnant girls get $80 worth of free breakfast room service...drum roll please...
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| Between the two of us we had an omelet, two things of potatoes, a fruit and yogurt parfait, a fruit plate, a bagel with cream cheese, a latte, an orange juice, two smoothies, pancakes and bacon, two muffins, AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE! |
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| I think this is the WORST picture of us ever...but oh well. I'm literally twice as big as him, and his outfit and swim cap are NOT CUTE! |
About fifteen minutes before their age-group started they were allowed to jump in the lake (Lake Michigan) and start warming up.
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| There were about 200 guys in their age group and each age group starts all together at a specific time. |
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| They had to swim 1500 meters (100 meters shy of a mile). I don't think I can swim two laps in a pool...HA! Jason came out first. |
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| That's Ryan on the far left...it's crazy how they take off their wet-suit and grab their bike and go...they literally put their feet in the bike shoes as they are running. |
Sarah and I were laughing because usually we think these helmets are SO NERDY and "alien-looking", but you get to a race like this and EVERYONE is wearing one. The few people that were wearing regular, rounded bike helmets looked like the "chumps" of the race! HA!
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| There isn't anyone we know in this picture, I just liked the building they were riding by and the atmosphere was really cool! |
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| Jason was off his bike first...(no he didn't ride without shoes...he had just already taken his feet out and was getting ready to hop off and change into his running shoes.) |
Ryan was closely behind...getting ready to transition to the "run" portion.
Ryan's best part is the running portion, so we were cheering him on as he got started! They had to run a 10 K (6.2 miles), so we walked around a little bit and then headed to the grandstand to watch the finish. The tragedy at the Boston Marathon was definitely on our minds a bit as we walked over to the grandstand and they had security people checking things before you got up there. Sarah didn't see the guy and I said "Sarah...he has to check your bag." He started laughing and said "yeah, I thought I was going to have to tackle you if you didn't stop!" HA! But I was thankful that they were keeping an eye out!
The finish area was so inspiring! The oldest age groups had started first thing in the morning (like around 7:30) and so some of the oldest competitors were finishing around the same time as the boys. There were men and women in their 70's and 80's that did this thing...AMAZING!
Then we kept watching and waiting to see our guys. I figured they would be close to each other...they are super competitive and with Ryan only being about two or three minutes behind Jason after the bike, I knew it would be close...
I did a TERRIBLE job of getting pictures of the finish. I thought I saw Jason so I'm like "Sarah, is that Jason??" She says "oh, can you video that while I take a picture?" And then I'm like "wait, is that Ryan RIGHT next to him? " So we are trying to take pictures but also trying to see them finish and it was chaos. Ryan was literally a FOOT in front of Jason as they are sprinting down the finish line and we are yelling and screaming for the guys...craziness! Sarah got some WAY better pictures than me, but in the picture above Jason is in the black shirt with the red visor (it's way hard to see), and Ryan is right next to him BEHIND the flag...I think you can only see his arm. That's how close they were.
Ryan finished ONE second ahead of Jason. We were all talking about the race on the way back to the hotel and Ryan said he caught up to Jason with about one mile to go. Jason was like "why didn't you just pass me and go on?" (Because Ryan had stayed with him the rest of the race and that's why they finished together). They just normally never race together...they always try to beat each other. They are super supportive of each other, but they just are competitive, which I totally get! I started laughing and I'm like "yeah Ryan, seriously, why didn't you just pass him? If I had the chance to beat my sister I would have TAKEN IT IN A HEARTBEAT!" HA! Ryan said he knew they were not in the hunt for one of the top spots to go to the world race or anything, so he just thought it would be fun to finish it together. I thought that was so sweet! (Because let's be honest...I would not have done that...I would have probably tried to see how much quicker I could have finished than my sister!)
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| LOVE THESE TWO! |
Even though Jason and Ryan compete in the same age-group, at some of these races there is a division called "Clydesdale", which are guys who are over a certain weight. Jason is a pretty big guy for a triathlete, so he can compete as a Clydesdale. He got second overall in that division, so that night we went to the big awards ceremony to cheer him on!
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| This girl is a STUD...she was the keynote speaker at all the official USA triathlon stuff during the week. Her name is Chrissie Wellington and she has won the Ironman Triathlon all 13 times she has ever competed in it. She's from Great Britain and she was so inspiring to listen to! |
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| WOOHOO! Go Jason! |
We left the next morning and made the eight-hour drive back. We had such a great time away and always enjoy our fun little trips with Jason and Sarah! We are proud of you guys! And a huge thanks to Pamaw and Papaw for keeping Brynn...she had a BLAST, although I'm sure they were WORN OUT by the time we got back to pick up our kiddos!
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| Pam sent this picture on Sunday morning...a little TV time in Pamaw's bed before getting ready for church. |
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| All three girls ready for church. She said they weren't even that late! HA! |
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| Pam is known for her garage sale finds, and she got this awesome playhouse. She said the girls had so much fun playing in this! |
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