Gear West Duathlon: Orono, MN

Curt competed in the Gear West Duathlon, had fun, and raced well. Here is the start.

Our friend Anton rounding the corner on 6th Ave. North.

Here is the men's overall winner.

Here comes Curt...


Just a little bit more to go! You are looking good!

2008 USAT Age Group Nationals

On Saturday we were at Haag Lake in Portland, OR for Curt's last tri of the season! We flew into Seattle on Thursday, bummed around, and made our way down to Portland where we stayed for 2 nights.
We had a nice time. Curt placed 2nd in his age group, but I'll let him blog about his experience. Here is my summary from our trip:
Favorite moments:
1. Taking off for our trip. We were excited.
2. Hanging out at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.
3. Hanging out in our hotel in Portland. Nice place.
4. Watching all of the racers. The older athletes were most impressive. Lots of energy and a buzz in the air.
5. Seeing Curt cross the finish line first in his age group. (Now see least favorite moments.)
Least favorite moments:
1. Curt telling me at the finish, after everyone (including the announcer) thinking that he got first, that it was not good because he got a 2 minute penalty for abandoning his equipment. He accidently dropped his water bottle after going over a bump.
2. Our trip home was a bit tiring.
What we liked about our hotel:
1. The breakfast. Best omelettes ever.
2. Nightly manager's special of free wine, appetizers, and nachos. Highlight every night when we got back to the hotel. It was during this time when had nice chats about everything.
3. Nice rooms.
4. Curt likes Embassy Suites' elevators. We rode it many times.
What I would do differently:
1. Pack warmer clothes. It was a bit chilly and super cloudy.
2. Bring a backpack. I was at the tri site from 6 am to 6 pm with not a lot of comfort items (more water, food, chapstick, spare towels, etc). Our car was 10 miles away. Taking the shuttle back didn't seem appealing at the time. Well done to all of the MN triathletes who made the trek and had awesome races!

2008 Turtleman Triathlon

This post is fantastically overdue as the Turtleman Triathlon was a week ago!?!? Anyway, better now then never! Once again I had a great time spectating with Nicole. We were a little worried when Anton didn't come in when we expected, but we are relieved that he finished despite his weird stomach pains! Turtleman was one of Curt's last races of the season...kind of sad. But fall and winter will serve as a time of rest and refreshing! Onward and upward we go!
Anyway, that same weekend we had quite a blast visiting family in Mankato (ate dinner at the great Mongolian BBQ and had a shower for Audrey) and went to a wedding reception for Curt's friends, Jerrod and Susannah. Congratulations to the happy couple!!!! Woohoo!

Brewhouse Triathlon: Duluth, MN

Pictures from Curt's triathlon on Sunday!

Heart of the Lakes: A family affair

If I am writing this post it means that I am alive and did not drown and sink to the bottom of the lake! I did the short course at Heart of the Lakes along with Nathan, brother in law Brent, and team moonfish (Jillian, Josh,Calvin). Curt did the long course. Despite having a delayed reaction on the swim, getting lost on the bike, and having a car hit him on the run...Curt had a great race! All of us short course racers also had spectacular races too. Check out Josh's race recap on joshandcarolyn.blogspot.com. It is seriously the best authored race recap I have ever read.

My own recap: I loved the rental wetsuit! The wetsuit (along with spandex shorts) is not my favorite look, but it did give me the extra boost of confidence I needed. The extra buoyancy allowed me to run in baywatch style and swim without lifeguard assistance. I swam off course twice, but who cares!!!! I definitely felt God's help on this one. The bike started a bit shaky because my chain fell off and I didn't know what to do. But once I got on it was so much fun cruising through farm land. The run was terribly hard. But at the turn around my legs started kicking in and things were great!

A highlight of the day was the relay team of Jillian, Josh, and Calvin. They got 2nd place!!!! Who knew they even had a chance of placing? And Jillian is a real trooper...the night before she probably only got 3 hours of sleep because of work! Another highlight was chilling out with everyone after the race. Picnics are fun! Checkout the slideshow courtesy of my dad!



Finally, here is a picture of me the day before at a wedding for Noelle and Tyler. I shot for 12 hours and was extremely tired at the end. So I am genuinely excited that I finished the race and everyone in my family did well too. Love, cw