PART 1 : First, was my cousins (Bethany) wedding on Saturday in Chattanooga. Saturday morning (after I went to the pool for a swim...see the second part of this post and you'll see why) we made the trip east on I-24. The wedding was at 2:00pm, which makes for an easy day trip for a wedding from our home in Nashville.
The wedding was beautiful. The church was up on a mountain top with spectacular views. The church had large windows all around.
Aftewards, we went to the reception and enjoyed visiting with family. Aiden did great with all the cousins and aunts & uncles. It probably helped that he saw most of them just two weeks before in Indiana at our family reunion. He would randomly go up to one of them, tag them on the leg, almost as if to say "tag...you're it" and run away laughing and having a good time.
Here's a picture of us with my grandma.
Cake Time!
My grandma and all my aunts and uncles. What a good looking group!
After the reception, we made the trip home, and were in bed by 9:30pm because...
PART 2
...I had a big race Sunday morning. You may or may not know, but I had been training for a triathlon for a while, and Sunday morning was the race. This marks the third year in a row that I've participated in the Music City Triathlon. I am a competitive person, and this is a fun time to get the adrenaline going. I've always enjoyed racing. Sure I got kicked a couple times, but I just blew past those people. I sort of felt bad for one lady that I cut off at the bouy to make a turn, then a second later, I didn't. She was a slow poke anyway. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Each year, I've participated as a relay team with two friends. I start off the race with a 1500 meter swim, which is about a mile. Then, I hand off the timing chip to the biker, who bikes 40 km (about 27 miles), then the runner goes 10 km (about 6.5 miles).
Here I am after a short warm up at 7am before the race.
The race took place downtown Nashville, right next to LP Field (Tennessee Titans stadium), and the swim was in the Cumberland River. Since we had to start from a boat dock, we jumped in every 3 seconds. Shanna tried to get a shot of me jumping in, but my feet are still on the dock. You might not be able to see me because I'm in the camo suit.
I was very pleased with my time, as I improved by 70 seconds over my last race. Total swim time was 25 minutes and 27 seconds. Goal for next time= drop another 60 seconds.
Out of 409 participants, I had the 32nd fasted swim time!
Here are some other fun photos of the day.
- Running to the transition area after the swim
- I did it! Uncle Jim, aunt Jo, and cousins Greg and Natalie stayed over after the wedding to cheer me on.
- Derric Rankins finishing up his bike race.
- Caedmon Rankins cheering on his dad!
- Jeff Owen giving his son a high five on the run course.
- Aiden giving me a congratulatory hug and kiss!
- Teammates (Derric Rankins, me, Jeff Owen) - Great Job Guys!
- Teammates and our boys. One day they will be racing against us in the triathlon, but the dads will still prevail!
Can't wait for the race next year. The training has already begun.
2 comments:
Great Job Brian. BUT PLEASE don't start training yet. Give yourself a month off.
We are very proud of you Brian. I say you go for even bigger things...Olympics!!! :) It was great seeing you guys for a short time on Saturday. I loved dancing with Aiden (I think we even got our picture professionally taken once!). He is my little sweetie!!
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