Cap Tex Tri Austin Texas

After the good race in St Anthony Florida I was excited to get back home and train. I was able to focus and get in a good month of workouts which made me feel good about Austin.

As the Airplane taxied to the gate and we started to get off I realized how hot and muggy it was in Texas. I have lived in Dallas before but it was a real shock to the system. I rented the car and headed to the hotel. The drive made me realize that I was already missing my family and I hope their comes a time where I can have them with me and we can do this as a family. The room that I checked into was right downtown and right next to the race. It was a 3 minute walk to transition and the race check in. Sonja, Steve and Andrea were the next to arrive and did so a few hours later. We went out for Dinner and have a Tex Mex and had a good time. John and Beth arrived later that night and by Saturday afternoon the gang was all present. We ended up having Sonja, Steve, Andrea, Anthony, Barry, Priscilla, Julie, John, Beth and Me as the racers from Practical Coaching.
We finished packet pickup and racked our bikes and chilled the rest of the day. I was able to drive an our North to Temple to see Shane and Dixie Lewis. It has been years since I saw them and so it was a real treat. They have 4 really cute kids and a great home in Texas while Shane finishes his residency.
RACE DAY:

After having a good sleep the alarm went off at 5am and we were up to go after it in Austin. I finished setting up transition in the sand pit that I was in and then headed out because they closed transition 30 minutes before the first wave went off. We sat around and watched everyone go off. The first wave was at 7am and I went off at 7:40am. This race was a deep water start so I placed myself at the front looking right at the fist orange booie. The gun went off and I was focused on starting slow and getting into a good pace. I was passed by a bunch of eager beavers and passed them all back about 500 yards down the way after they burned up. I felt great with a calm start and a good stroke. I was able to spend most of the swim by myself and was able to stick to my game plan of being calm and patient. I came out of the water as one of the faster guys in my wave and felt really good. While running to transition I did a check and really did fell good. I was fast to my bike and out on the bike course. This race was a 4 loop course and by the time I was out on it their seemed to be 2000 racers. I got caught up in the mix pretty quick and then slowed down at the end of the first loop. I knew what the other 3 were going to feel like so I kept focused on making good turns and holding good lines. This race was the first that I have ever been to where I was doing most of the passing. I was only passed a couple of dozen times. I was able to stay calm and not push too hard on the bike and finished pretty fast. I was having a lot of fun and could have stayed out for a few more laps. Into T2 was fast and I was making sure that I did not rush out onto the run coarse too fast. I wanted to make my first mile the slowest and did a good job staring out. I keep my breathing calm and felt really good thought the first half of a 2 loop course. By the time I finished the first loop I did a check and really was feeling good and strong. As Steve says"I spread the peanut butter well today". I stared the second loop and made a promise that I would push it on the last half on the down hill to the finish line. The group was cheering me in as I was pushing the last few hundred yards and was really pushing a fast pace. I finished and felt strong. I felt like it was the best race I have ever done and had no idea of my time. I raced all on perceived effort and did well judging what I had to give today.
A few minutes later I was able to pull my results and realized I had accomplished my time goal of beating a 2:30 at this race. I also had a bonus by running a sub 8 minute pace on the run course. I finished in 2:26 and took 18th in my age group and qualified for Nationals in Portland. What a great day. I am so thankful for my family for letting me do this and for letting me race. I am thankful for the friends that I am able to race with and travel with so the cost's are low and I am thankful for my Coach who keeps it real and continues to help me accomplish my goals. I love triathlons and love doing well.

BOOO YAAAAA

I love you Anne,

T

Letter to Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad,

It seems that you last email was sent on a sad day so I hope that when you receive this email you will be feeling better. I am impressed to hear about all the activity's of your calling, it is good to know that you are able to be super busy even though you could be shot any moment. I was thinking that you should play the "it might be the last time" card with everyone and see if you get some cool things. Like dad you could say "with all this fighting you might never get some Beef Jerky and you would sure love some" I bet you would get sent some Beef Jerky. I might even send you some. Mom you can tell us that the gun fire is getting really close and you would like to have some Chocolate sent to you, even thought it would be chocolate soup by the time it arrives.I am simply saying that you should not send messages that the fighting is not so bad and that you are ok but send notes that say your risking your life to serve, and you might not live another day so call me often. Then you would get a better response. We are use to being shocked by the news so your email have to have more blood and guts to get our attention. With that all being said I will get my own skype account. I will let you know when it is up and running.

Life is good, Kids have started Baseball and playing outside all the time. I love the street that we live on because of how many kids are out each night. Jackson and Josh go from home to home with the rat pack of kids to play and see what house has the best goodies and such. I am catching on so when they come to our house and give me the sad puppy dog look I tell them carrots are the only things we have in our house. One of the neighbor kids said I was not telling the truth and that he knows we have goodies. That is my war that I am dealing with. Me against the whole neighborhood kids trying to get sugar from me and my house. I will prevail and not give in, carrots FOREVER.

Lexi is amazing, she is practicing to be a stripper. Every day she thinks that clothes are bad and takes everything off and runs to where the boys are and runs around laughing. Anne get's embarrassed because a good amount of the time the boys have friends over and Lexi does not care who is around. She also feel that she can get up when she wants(which is now 6am) and screams at the top of her lungs. She is controlling when the whole house wakes up and I do not like it. I am sick of not getting to sleep on my own terms, will these kids please grow up faster.....!!!!!Work is going well, we are making our numbers and are trying hard to be successful. I think that I will have a good history to decided if I like the job after 6 months, only 3 more to go. Anne is doing well with Dwell Design and continues to find ways to make money. For example (table runners for weddings, consulting for Dave Cox on staging homes and bidding jobs associated with that, blinds, sewing, office cleaning ect.) Dwell is a very diverse company and is doing really wellHome is still for sale and we only had 5 showing in the last 12 days. Weather has been bad and so I am not concerned.

Need to get back to work,

Love T

Mothers

One day a year we have the opportunity to tell our Mother's and Wives what we think of the job they do. We tell them in the way we try to let them sleep longer. We give them presents made at home, school and Mexico or China. We make a meal or two without them, thinking the whole time that this is a nice thing to do even thought the food is sick and the whole time we are asking ourselves how this burnt something sitting at the table is considered food. I have burnt my fare share of easy to make dinners for Dads. Then the day turns into night and we seem to be ready for bed at 6pm and can't wait until we can go to work on Monday and let our Mothers or Wives get back to work. Ah yes, the joy of Mothers day. I am now positive that I can only handle this day once a year.

My Anne is the greatest mom in the most little package. She is full of heart and love for me and our kids. I have tried to run the house the way she does and failed. I have tried to cook like she does and burnt it. I have tried to love the kids and have the patience that she does and fell way short. I have tried to be kind to others the ways she is and realized that I am not that nice. I have tried to have the understanding that she does and I don't. She is quite the woman.

I love the way she keeps my home, takes care of the kids and watches over me. I want her to know on this Mother's Day that we all realize what a great woman she is. Enjoy your day it only last a few hours and know that if we could handle it more than once a year we would. If we could get the job done more often we would. You are blessed with talents that none other has and we are in awe. We miss you when your gone, we call you when we are hurt or sick and we think first of you when we want to share the moment.

Thanks for being Our Mother and Wife.

Love,

Tyler
Jackson
Josh
Lexi