Hy-Vee Triathlon and meeting Baby Claire!

This past weekend, Jason and I headed down to Des Moines for him to participate in the Hy-Vee Triathlon!  This is a very popular traithlon for the "Pros" who come from all over the world to race.  The prize for the top male and female finisher is $150,000!  Jason is not considered a "pro"--he is just an age group amateur, but finished the race 16 out of 57 in his age group! 

Here he is after swimming...running to his bike!

Running after getting off his bike...just a quick 6 miles...no big deal!

GO Jason!

The Hy-Vee Finish line!  It's pretty fancy!

So proud!  And look at that great backdrop!  Iowa is the place to be! 

The Herrick girls! I love my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law!

Titus and Dick pose for a funny picture!

We got to meet Claire, my cousin Sabrina's baby this weekend too!  Baby Claire has LOTS of hair...I love her so much! 

She was a little squirmer, but a cuddler too! 

4th of July, 2011!!

On Sunday, Jason and I headed out to the 1st annual Red, White, & Blues...& BBQ too festival in Charles City!  We got to try some BBQ ribs from 16 some different grill masters.  Some were sweet, others more salty, but all were very good!  Adam and Andy were helping a fellow BBQ'ing friend.  The picture on the bottom right is of two guys that I graduated with!  Go Pat and Brendan!

On the 4th, Jason, Danna, and Justin participated in the Firecracker 5 mile race!  Bridget and I ran the water station, while Adam manned the traffic control. 

Jason got 2nd in his age group and was very happy with his run!  Danna was the overall female first place finisher in the 5 mile run!

Frank-the cat-entertained us at the Herrick house on the 4th!

Titus celebrated his birthday a day early on Monday and it was great to see him and Winny and Cici! 

We hope you had a safe and fantastic 4th! 

Bluff Creek Triathlon-Jason's FIRST official Tri!

Today, Jason ran his first ever triathlon!  He participated in the Bluff Creek Triathlon, Sprint division.  He did great and loved it!

Here we are in the car on the way down, just being goofy! :)

We stayed with these guys, Titus, Cici, and baby Winny! They were great hosts! :)  Thanks Holly and Andy for lending us a bed for the night before!

This is the transition area for the bike portion of the race.  Lots of bikes, lots of athletes...

Here they are getting ready for the first leg of the race, the swim.  The water temperature was 56 degrees...and Jason did the swim WITHOUT a wetsuit.  Talk about FREEZING!!

Here are the Herrick guys getting ready for their race!  Justin, Jason, and their dad Richard...

Here is Jason as he is coming really close to being done in the water, he had to swim approx. 500 meters from a beach as shown above.

Titus and Cici are having some fun while the guys are out on their bike ride.  Jason had to ride 15 miles, while Richard and Justin had to ride approx. 26 miles.

If you looke really closely, you can see Jason and his bike with the white shirt.  He used a mountain bike for this race since it was his first one and it was short, that may need to change if he continues to do these in the future...he said he was pedaling like a madman and getting passed like crazy...a new and fancier bike may be in order...

Jason's strongest leg of the race...the run.  He had to run 3.1 miles...

Here is Justin heading out for the run, Richard and him had to run 6.2 miles.

Richard heading out to the run...almost done!!

YAY!! Great job Jason!!  You did it!  Also congrats to Richard and Justin for doing great too!!  Justin was 3rd overall for the olympic length course!  What a great accomplishment! 

We had a great weekend!  Jason has plenty more of these planned for this summer...so you will be seeing a lot of him in his spandex suit! Hahaha!! 

Randomness....

Things.
--I must have slept with my neck in a crazy position last night, because I can only turn my head to the right without pain.  Tylenol hasn't even touched it....dang!
--I got my hair cut and colored this week.  It was scary, but I am quite satisfied with the outcome.  It's auburn...aka reddish brown. 
--Isn't it sad that 28 degrees feels like Spring to us after all the bitter cold we have endured this winter??
--Today, while running on the treadmill, I decided to quick hop off and put on my sweatpants because my shorts were falling off me.  I let the treadmill go, put them on, went to jump back on...here's where it get's good...totally ALMOST biffed it.  Dumb me forgot I didn't shut the thing off...  You know when you see the people on Funniest Home Videos who totally all out get thrown off the thing...I kind of got bucked off and regained my balance.  Didn't make it any better though that the weight room was FULL with high schoolers Yep.
--Oranges are really good.
--I am an aunt....again! Holly had her baby...it was a girl!  Winny Mae 7lb 13 oz....she's gorgeous. We get to meet her on Sunday!
--The Devil Wears Prada has to be one of my most favorite movies...

Here are some things I found that I like and thought I would share with you...

These little nest rings you can find here are soooo cute! 

I LOVE finding things like the sign below...

This website is really cool...here is the link.  I love finding new recipes and trying them out!

That's all I have for you! Enjoy your weekend!

4 things...

Four TV shows I watch:
-The Big Bang Theory
-The Office
-Glee
-Outsourced

Four things I am passionate about:
-Being happy & trying to make others happy
-Living life to the fullest
-Coaching cheerleading
-My family

Four words/phrases I use a lot:
-You bet!
-Talouse, Trixie
-Jason, Jas, J, J.R.
-I Love You!

Four things I have learned from the past:
-The only way to get what you want is to work hard and be kind.
-Never let a day go by where you don't learn something.
-Be proud of who you are.
-Live for today, not for tomorrrow.

Four places I would like to go:
-Ireland
-Italy
-A rainforest...any rainforest.
-Heaven...someday.

Four things I did yesterday:
-Ran 2 miles
-Blogged
-Ate tofu
-Had a date night with Jason, we saw the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 1...amazing!

Four things I am looking forward to:
-Spring
-The sweet potato I brought for lunch
-Boating
-Jason finishing school

Four things I love about winter:
-The cool crisp air
-Comfy blankets
-Pumpkin spice lattes
-Christmas

New Years Resolution...

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? 

I used to...

They would last approximately a week...maybe two if I was lucky.

Then they would be done. 

Usually it involved eating more healthy and exercising...yes I know...how original am I?

This year I think I had my New Year's Resolution come to life in the middle of the year, August to be exact.  I needed something different in my life...something new, less stressful, and maybe a little more rewarding.  My life has changed so much in the past 5 months, yet been the same as well...funny how things work out that way.  After switching jobs in August, I have been happier...found more joy in life, and appreciated everything I have a little more.  I started taking care of myself by exercising with my husband everyday, I found myself being thankful more often.  I helped coach a group of cheerleaders to a state title, I ran a 7 mile cross country race.  I celebrated one year of marriage with my husband, Jason.  And Jason went back to college this August as well.  I have found a great outlet and spot to take my thoughts...here...on this blog. 

I will not have a New Year's Resolution this year...

I am going to continue doing what makes me happy.

-Celebrate the little joys in life.
-Coach cheerleading.
-Bake and cook more.
-Read books.
-Live in the moment.
-Be spontaneous.
-Pray more.
-Take care of myself.
-Make memories.

No pressure this year to keep a New Year's Resolution for more than a week...I made a Life Resolution, and it's really been working out great for me!

2010 Living History Farms Race--A MUD RUN!

This past weekend, Jason, Me, and Adam (Jason's Brother), all ran the Living History Farms Race!  It was really cold and muddy, but we had a good time!  We all three had ran this race 4 years ago.  Take a look at some of the pictures of the race the Bridget took! : )

Jason, Me, and Adam gearing up for the race.

The map of the course.  Did I mention it was 7 miles long and 8000 people ran this as well? 

Titus and Cici came to watch! : )

Just a little pre race/cheerleading warm up...nothing to special!

Haha!

This dude was CRAZY!  I am literally freezing in what I am wearing in this picture, and all this guy had on was a LOINCLOTH!  He does this race every year barefoot and in the same outfit.  Crazy I tell you!!

Running...

Spotted some tails...

There is Adam in the orange hat!  He was wearing his dad's old running clothes from the 70s!

Look we made it!! I think this was at mile 6 or something like that! 

Still smiling! : )

Here come the bananas!!!!!

After the race I was dirty...notice the mud on my face as well... : )

I woke up on Sunday and literally couldn't hardly move!  Every muscle in my body ached...and still does!  Oh well! It was totally worth the experience!!

Have you ever been in Aldi's?

This weekend, Jason and I went down to Cedar Falls to The Runner's Flat to get some new running shoes.
If you are into running, or are getting into it, check this place out! I highly reccomend them.  What you do is you go here and they put you into a "neutral" shoe.  Then you run in them on a treadmill while they videotape your feet and ankles.  They then explain to you what could be fixed for getting a better workout/run.  The girl helping me showed me the video, and how I was turning my left ankle in.  It was really interesting to see how they chose the shoes that I ended up buying.  I needed more support since my ankle was being weird.  Today, I decided to walk in them and noticed after 2 minutes that my left foot felt different.  She had explained that my foot was used to a different shoe pattern, so it might take some time getting used to...I hope not tooo long!  Jason got a new pair too, so we are set to run! 

After getting our shoes, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Cedar Falls.  Have you ever had BWW?  If not get there ASAP! 



We both had the boneless wings and ribs...they were AWESOME!!  Can't go wrong with B-Dubs!!

After eating, and listening to the crazy ISU/Iowa fans cheering on their teams, we decided to just go over to Aldi's which was right across from BWW to buy groceries.  We had planned on hitting up Wal-Mart, but sometimes I just don't feel like going there...does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?  I always end up buying stuff I don't need there it seems.  So we went to Aldi's. 

If there was one of these closer to me, I would buy from them everytime!  When I was little and my family had 6 young children, and my mom would shop here.  I remember sometimes having two carts full of groceries.  I new Aldi was cheap, but didn't realize how cheap it was to shop here.  Jason and I walked out of that store just $68 dollars less than what we came in with.  It was a STEAL!  I'm telling you, try shopping here for your groceries!  We got everything we should need for a loooong time!  Jason hadn't been in an Aldi for a long time, and when we checked out he was like, "Thank you!" to the checker, I gave him a look like "Oh my gosh, Jason."  and the checker kinda looked at him weird too.  It cracked me up, then that's all he talked about as we were leaving the store..."Only 68 dollars!  That would have been over 100 dollars at Wal-Mart!"

Sorry for my boring weekend post today...I'm going to eat my 37 cent yogurt from Aldi's now, toodle-loo!!