Jake's first day of School

So my little man left this morning for his first day of school... Everyone always says that you wont believe how fast time goes by, enjoy thm while they are little... well everyone was right and then some!!!

For being at home with mama for the first 4 years of his life, jake got up and got dresses, had breakfast and then grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.

Holly and I thought that we got to spend the first week with him to get him adjusted to school, but quickly found out that this was not the case... Jake still headed in to feed Kiko the class room bird as mama slipped out the door...

Another 30 minutes till we get to pick him up... I know that he'll be fine, but he will always be my baby boy and I still worry! Can't wait to go pick him up!!!

Back again...

Well I am the world worst blogger... either that or have just been busier than hell lately! I have been on the road the last few weeks so I will use that as my excuse!!!

Last week I was in Lake Lanier, GA for our annual conference with HP Hotels. I got in some great runs, 2 great bike rides and a few swims. Two of those swims were open water and mainly for fun!!! but the distance and the practice of the open water swims were still good!

All in all the training on the road has been pretty decent! Holly and I have several bike races coming up and then my triathlon on the 19th.

Look I got all of 3 short paragraphs down... thats better than usual.

See ya at the finish line!

Hardwork felt after the workout ends...

I had an extremely hard workout yesterday and I am still feeling it 24 hours later.I guess at time we just take for granted "base" workouts, and whenwe really start to push our bodies they respond differently. It has been years, yes, YEARS since I pushed my body past base training do to the limited amount of training I put in over the last few years.

My body DOES remember what it is like to go fast, but it's having a harder time trying to get back into "fast" mode. Do to a lot of injuries over the years, I have been very careful about building up to this point with pushing it too hard or too fast.

Is it wrong to want to be there now?!?!

A sweeter side of Tim... Cakes

Well I would have never guessed in a million years that I would be posting these, but I have had such a awesome request via Twitter to show a few more of my sweet creations that I have made recently.

This was my most recent creation, Optimus Prime for Jake's 4th Birthday party tomorrow... I think it turned out great... I did some how misplace a full container or red icing somewhere in my house, dont ask me how, but I did!!! We'll see how yummy this one was tomorrow!!!

This was not one that I was proud of, kind of a last minute cake before running out the door to the in-laws for Easter...

This guys is Jake's best friend! Barney the dog... he is a blanket that looks like the body of a dog, with a stuffed head. jake take him everywhere! Izzy has a Lulu, which is a pink Barney!!! Jake also requested this one

This was a random cake I made for Jake, I asked him what kind he wanted and he said a Turkey... So there you have it!!!

This cake was for Izzy's first Birthday... This was a great tasting cake!!! We were licking the plate afterwards! Strawberry on strawberry!!! Mmmm mmmm good!

This was a fun Wall-e cake that I made for Jake when we first bought the movie... It was a little lop-sided but it was still fun!











Those were just afew of the most recent ones... Just another side of me. it's really just an excuse to get creative for a while!!! Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did making them!

Back in the swing of things

I realized this past week that I may just be the worst blogger. I very rarely post and when I have they have been inconsistant... but as in life, we can only try to get better!

As a side note if you are new to reading my blog... the video's to the right are actually my video blog. Be sure to follow me on Youtube to keep up with the most recent in's and out's!

Back on the road: Once again it took getting my race schedule set to really start driving my training... my Hard Core training that is! The wifey and I both now have several great events on the books between now and Nov! My "A" race is set for Sept 19th and I and right where I want to be for that event.

I could not be more proud of Holly for getting her races on the books! She has 2 bike races and a road race set. At the same time she is looking for a sprint tri in Oct to add to her schedule! What a rock star!

That's it for tonight! Blog at you soon!

Back in the swing of things... the way it should be.

After a week of my 8 week trianing program behind me, I would give myself a 8 on a scale of 10in week one performance. 7 weeks to go till my "A" race day.

I have been (knock on wood) very healthy minus a slice on my foot by a borken piece of glass... nothing a little super glue can't fix!

But after years of injury from over-training, I keep "waiting" for something to pop up. I have been taking it easy and not pushing it over -the-top.

8 weeks out... let the fun begin!

Well it is official, I have my "A" race scheduled now... there's no backing out! My "A" race of the year is going to be "Tri 2 Remember" on September 19, 2009 in Gainesville, GA. It is a sprint distance race 400 - swim, 15 - bike, 5k - run.... That puts me at 8 weeks till race day, time to get humping!

I was lucky enough to get sponsored for this race, considering I am only sitting with one other race under my belt for the year. So I will not look a gift horse in the mouth, rather I will step up to the plate... get my distance in and have a great performance! (hopefully)

In my last video blog I stated that I recieved a comment from Dr. Diana stating that her 13 year daughter just signed up for her first Triathlon! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?! Even more awesome was the fact that she signed up "mainly because of my inspiration"!!! Now that kicks some serious Arse!!! (gotta tone it down, I might have kids reading this :-) ) SO I posted the question, "What motivates you?"...

For me it's personal improvement, plain and simple. I have always been that guy that has to work just a little bit harder, show up a little bit earlier or stay just a little bit later to make things workout. With Racing... it's the same... and has always been. I am the younger of two brother and my older brother always had it easy... or at least did a great job of making it look easy... i.e. State champ in the mile and 2-mile (Florida 1992) Second place state cross country (Florida 1992) Top ten finish at Kinney National (Now, Foot Locker Classic)... etc etc... I on the other hand, grew an extra 6 inches over any other male in my family in High School and forgot how to run after my freshman year... fast forward through a 6th place finish at state (Track - 2 mile) and a 24th place finish at state (cross country) two years of running at the University of South Carolina Upstate... I finally beat my brother... Granted he fell down during the race but I helped him up and then proceeded to beat him... HEY?!?! it's a win!

But I realized that day that if you keep trying hard and long enough things end up working out in your favor every once in a while. I actually turned into a different runner that day... I really started to enjoy it. Shortly there after I left SC and moved to TN. I started running on my own, well with the awesome help and support from my number one fan... my mom! She would go to every road race with me (as she never missed a Track meet or Cross country race in either my brother or I's running career!) every weekend, usually driving so I could get an extra hour of sleep in before race time. and after the second week I noticed something... every week I was getting faster and fast. It had taken 8 years but I finally grew into my body as a runner. I got involved with the Knoxville Track club and enjoyed 2 years of running and racing with them! But at the end of the day, that personal improvement is what keeps me on the road!

I have hopes and dreams of being able to compete in another Iron Man (hopefully next year) but my reasons are completely different. I want my kids to see me finish as they are old enough now to carry that with them the rest of their lives. Both of my kids are extremely talented athletes already at (almost) 4 and 2. Even if they did not get involved with running or Triathlons, I want to expose them to racing and all the great things that come with it! So if I can suffer, and get them hooked for life, my personal improvement is their improvement!

8 weeks huh??? See ya at the finish line!