Breaking the News

     I've spent the past month taking a break from racing. I spent most of the time preparing for the triathlons I plan to do this summer. It was time to get in the pool for some swimming and back out on the trails on foot. I've had some good rides lately. Even drafted some farm equipment home one night for about 10 miles. Not exactly safe, but fun nonetheless!

Drafting is fun...even behind disking blades

Riding with Shannon

     My runs have gone well as my hip pain from earlier in the year is long gone. I had to start swimming earlier this year since my first tri will be a month earlier than last year. Started off my training 5 weeks before the Lock 4 XTERRA by swimming in my cold and still green pool. I don't have a wetsuit, but the Under Armour thermal base layers worked well after the intial shock of submerging in frigid waters.

Swimming in the green lagoon that was my pool in late-May

GPS view of my pool swim. Yeah, I'm liking this GPS thing a little too much.

     My training has not been as structured the past few weeks, mostly due to being super busy. It's a good kind of busy though. Shannon and I have decided to get married. And we are doing it this August. So preparation is underway and actually is nearing completion. We will be getting married here in Tennessee. Shannon's parents live up in Elkhart, IN and she has more relatives in South Haven, MI. We went up to visit on Memorial Day weekend to break the news to the folks. It was my first trip to northern Indiana and Michigan.

Here's a few of our engagement pics

     I didn't take a bike, but I did have running shoes and was able to make good use of them. Shannon, Amber and I did a 5K in Elkhart one morning. I didn't do it for time. I wanted to run it with Shannon since it was her first one and we have never raced together. She did great, holding a faster pace than we had been running in our runs at home. Shannon wound up 3rd in her age group with a time of 32:13. Amber was a just over a minute back for 6th in her age group with a time of 33:15. My time was the same as Shannon's and that was still good enough for 4th in the Men 25-29. After the 5K, we went up to South Haven to spend the rest of the weekend. I got in a 4 mile run one night and even a short swim in the chilly waters of Lake Michigan on Memorial Day before we headed home. We got to have a nice dinner with the whole family and even watch a short parade in South Haven. The news went over well and everyone is excited for our big day in August. We have already found a house to rent and are in the process of moving things in.

Hanging out at the beach alongside Lake Michigan

South Haven Memorial Day Parade

Mmmm! Banana split from Sherman's in South Haven.

     Lately, I've been helping Keith and Misty out a lot with house-sitting and taking care of their dogs. It's always fun to hang out with the animals. And Keith has a Wii so I had a lot of fun with that too.

Lucy!

The grouch that is Oscar.

And the evil cat Vivian

    

     I returned to racing June 19 with the XTERRA Lock 4 Blast in Gallatin, TN. Look for more info on how that race went in my next blog. Thanks for reading!