Final Update

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates...we weren't able to access our blog while we were deployed and once we got back it's been super busy with training and work. We're two days away from the Ironman, yikes! Craig's sister, Carla, just arrived yesterday...she's going to be our moral support and our ride home when we can't walk Sunday night after all the activities!



Our deployment went well, it actually flew by. When we weren't busy flying we were training almost all the time and we even knocked out a masters class while we were out there as well. It was the quickest deployment yet! We got a lot of training accomplished while we were out there though, unfortunately no swimming. We had to improvise and do a lot of core training and light lifting to try and compensate for the lack of swimming. While we were deployed our wing commander got word of what we were doing and thought it'd be a great article for public affairs. Just near the end of the deployment we got an interview with lots of pictures, the article ended up coming out and making it's way around the base and back home very quickly. The two pictures of us in our PT gear at Manas are from the interview, don't be fooled by the green woods like look in the running picture....that was a very tiny area and the rest of the base doesn't look like that! The picture of us on the bikes is just outside my building and when Craig and I had the same time off we'd bring our bikes outside so we could bike together and not be stuck in our rooms biking...very boring after two months! If you haven't seen it yet, here's the link to the article that was written: http://www.manas.afnews.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123097583

Once we got back from Kyrgyzstan it was lots of biking and swimming to try and make up for the lack of hills on the bike and no swimming. We had our first try of our wet suits a couple weeks ago and the water was freezing!!! We swam in a smaller lake nearby and the water was 58.5, brrr! Unfortunately, Lake Coeur d'alene is a lot bigger body of water and a whole lot colder...it doesn't help that we had SNOW June 10th...insane!!! We have a neoprene hoodie and boots though that was just authorized for participants to wear because the water is going to be so cold. The third picture is Craig getting our bikes together two weekends ago during one of our last long swim, bike, run sessions out at the lake nearby our house.

We are super excited about this Sunday, we'll try and update everyone after we crawl across the finish line, hahaha! We'll be heading out to Santa Barbara, CA two days after the Ironman for Doug and Jill's wedding...the plane ride may be a little uncomfortable that quickly after all day Sunday but we're really excited. So look for an update shortly after we get back from the wedding and hopefully we'll have some pictures to send out to everyone as well.