We are Iron Nuts!!

So, like I mentioned earlier we are trying to get back our racing form!!  The weekend following the Burn 24 David and I completed Abingdon's Iron Nut triathlon.  This is the event's second year and it is a race in progress, but still loads of fun.  David and I won last year so we felt the pressure to do just the same this year.  Well, now that it is officially over I can breathe a sigh of relief that we both won again...with faster times to boot.  This was a sprint tri, a 1/2 mile swim, 18 mile bike and a 5k run at the end.  My parents and sister came up to help with the kids and cheer us on!  Unlike the weekend before, it was CHILLY and I think my toes were frozen when I started the run.

 My good friend Tami and my toughest competition in the tri!!  She was on the Burn team with David and is an excellent athlete.  She has been whipping me into some road biking shape!

 There goes my fish!

 Freezing and waiting for my turn to start.  It was in the 50s that morning...YIKES

 I hope my head is up out of the water looking for the wall to climb out!  Poor form if I am in the middle of a lap.  Who knows, Daddy did a great job taking all these pictures.

 Hunter ran out to hug David on his first lap of the 5K..oh No!

 Finishing up the running portion of the tri.  Chloe was a great inspiration as she chanted each lap I say her, "Go Jaime, I know you can run faster than that!"

 Me and Tami!!

 Champs!


Despite our first place finishes we made some bone head mistakes.  David ended up swimming an extra lap, I think this is only fair since he is part fish anyway, and I ended up running the transition area twice because I went out the wrong way!  Ha, we both got a good laugh about this after the finish.

David and the Burn 24 Challenge

This year the Simmons family is getting back into shape.  We have been running and riding on and off since the kids have been born, but this year we are doing our best to get back into racing form.  David had his first big mountain bike race in North Wilkesboro over the Memorial Day weekend.  To make a long story short the boys and I decided at the last minute to join him for the event.  I was so glad that we did!  It was a great time for our family and we all got to cheer on 'daddy' as he raced through the trails.  This was the 7th year of the event and there were hundreds of riders from all over the country.  You could race the event solo or as a team.  David and a great group of buddies were team Slow Spokes.  Unlike the name suggests, they were anything but!  This fabulous coed team of 5 finished second in the coed division and 10th overall!  Not too shabby for all the first timers in this event.  It was scored based on the number of laps you could make in 24 hours.

The race started with about a 400-600m run.  David was volunteered to do the run where he tagged his good buddy, Matt Canter.  Matt was the lead off leg for the grueling 7 mile loop of trail.  Tami Timmons, an all star girl mountain biker was second, followed by Brian Dawson, then Michelle (sorry I don't know her last name) and then the anchor leg was David.  In 24 hours they each completed 7 laps.  It was awesome to watch.  The boys loved watching all the cyclists, especially David.  They loved cheering him down the trail, spraying him with water guns when he finished (it was a sweltering 90 degrees during the day) and seeing the lights on the trail at night.

Since we made a last minute decision to go, the boys and I could not get a camping site.  Thankfully, the hosting hotel wasn't booked so we were able to stay there.  In hindsight this probably worked out for the best.  The boys haven't been on a camping adventure yet and not sure I would want to conquer that initial adventure solo!  Anyway, Nana (my aunt) decided she would like to go too and this was a huge blessing.  The boys love her and I think she has more energy than I do!  With her there to help with the kids I could spend some extra time supporting the team (like making runs to the store for supplies) and extra time with David.  I also got to RUN!!!  I had the chance to run the bike trail before the race started and I got to run the park on Sunday during the race.  It was just a fantastic weekend for our family made even more fabulous with Nana's decision to come with us.  I hope this is another event we tackle in the future...maybe next year we will all try camping!! 

 This was the set up field and the race transition area.  Most of the competitors camped out for the event.

 The run!  David officially started and ended the race.  He is a super fast runner and finished in the top half of the pack.  Boy, it was a hot start to a very HOT day!

 This was the coolest spot of the spectator section.  Lucas preferred to stay in the woods and play and watch the bikers come through.  I was glad he enjoyed this spot it was at least 10 degrees cooler with a nice breeze.

 Here comes Tami!! 

 Daddy waiting for Michelle to start his leg.

 Hunter waiting in the transition zone for the exchange.

 Sweet Nana carrying my barefoot child over the gravel!  We had been to the top of the hill to watch David cross in the only other viewing spot before the finish.

 A favorite play spot for the kids were the numerous water pump stations. They loved this!!  We could have made a weekend out of playing with these pumps.

 Lucas's rock with Nana.

 Getting ready for the final lap.  I felt so bad for David on this lap. It was the last day and they had enough time for one more rider.  David (because he is super strong and super fast) was up for the job.  Poor guy was exhausted and HOT.

 Brian finishing up his last leg.

 Getting ready for the night riders and having fun with sparklers and bubbles!

 Daddy!!!

 Did manage to capture a smile on his last ride. 

 Here is the whole gang awaiting David to blast out of the woods and make his last lap around the field to the finish line!

 Here he comes!! I snapped this shot and then had to run as fast as I could to the finish line....

...So I could get this picture of him finishing up the race!!!  Yahoo, I married an amazing man!!

Mayfest!

 Face painting is a huge hit no matter where we go!  Batman was perfect.

 Here was our little puppy dog.

 David was a good sport and did the spinning ride with the kids.  Poor guy was sick the rest of the afternoon.

 Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Lucas on Scooby Doo.  The Mayfest now has a little section of kiddie rides.  It was nice for the kids but $$$.  Thankfully, Lucas could do most of the rides too.  He may be the youngest, but he does an amazing job of keeping up!

So far this summer

 My boys playing in the creek at Sugar Hollow park.  They were turning over rocks and looking for crawdads.

The boys and I go on many adventures (sadly David is usually at work).  This is a picture of them standing in the train engine down in Damascus.  We had been on the playground, down in the creek and on the AT watching hikers as they pass through on their way to Maine.

Strawberry picking with Emerson and the Turner family.

 Our first pony rides!  We tried doing this with Hunter several times when he was younger but he wouldn't get any where near the saddle.  He loved it!

 Not to be out done by anyone, Lucas was the first on and ready to go!  He did it by himself of course!

 Hunter rigged up this ride and they had a blast.

 Captain.

 Passenger.

 Down at the pond in Sparta.

 Playground fun at Sugar Hollow.

 Hello Pool!!

Lunch at the Mellow Mushroom on a dreary, cool afternoon and a day before the Iron Nut!

Hunter's official first race!

Doing some stretches and taking his mark!!  He was so excited.  The night before he had to pick out his running clothes and put them beside his bed so he would be all ready to go in the morning.

 I hate this one is blurry.  I really should take a photography class to help with shots like this one.  I guess when we look back at these I can tell him he was running so fast it was hard to get a good picture.

 Racing toward the home stretch!  This was more fun than running the race myself.  I hope he wants to do more of these in the future.

I ran the Animal Chase 5k on the Creeper Trail a few weeks ago and they had a kids one mile fun run when the adult races were over.  It was a yucky damp and rainy morning but all the kids came out for the event.  It was the cutest thing and we were so proud of Hunter.  He ran the entire time, only stopping for a second to take a drink of water.  He finished the mile in 12 minutes!!!