Tuesday, August 28

Chi Tri

We did it! Special thanks to all who supported us in our fund raising for Team in Training, and for listening to us talk about swimming, biking, and running all summer. Below are photos Andrew took on race day.
Quick Summary
We woke up at 3:00 am to get all of our stuff into transition and ready to go. Matt's swim wave started at 7:30 and he was off of the course (done swimming, biking, and running by the time I got on the bike). My wave started at 9:30, and we both finished with nearly the same time of 3:30.

Results
I was 3:26 with an class rank of 180/256, sex rank of 810, and an overall of 3135 of 3928 (swim 35:50, bike 01:29:40, run 01:12:03). Matt 3:30:29 overall rank 3249 of 3928, class rank 432 of 484, sex 2390(swim 35:52, bike 1:34:50, run 1:02:28). In looking at our results both of us are blow away by how the four minutes between our finishes made such a huge difference in our ranks!

Photos










We did it! Special thanks to all who supported us in geting

Sunday, August 19

Long over due photos

In case you were wondering, this summer I did take stop training long enough to share in these spandex - free moments:



This weekend we bought four new tires! Only after getting a flat on the expressway. We got the tire half way changed but had difficulty getting the old tire off. Good thing we finally took Sharon up on that offer to get us AAA.



Anniversary # 2 in Wisconsin.



Cherry Pickin'




Mr. Skitters not feeling guilty at all about the expensive trip he took while we were on vacation.

Tuesday, August 14

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

We finally reached the fundraising goal! Thank you everyone!~

Wednesday, August 8

Toothless Wonder

Yesterday I got an e-mail laced with hints of juicy family gossip from Mom (she is sooo bad). Of course, I had to call (I couldn't resist), and I was surprised to hear the syrupy sweet Southern seven-year-old drawl of my niece.

"Aunt Meg! I lost my top tooth!" proclaimed the toothless wonder. She rattled on about all the teeth she has lost, how she will need dentures soon, how she just called Mommy so the Tooth Fairy would be ready, then fun she's had at Grandma’s house, then she filled me in about the play that she was in several weeks ago. This toothless wonder is always filled with enthusiasm, excitement, and it's often difficult to get a word in edge wise.

Now, I'm far from the best Aunt in the world, and I don't call or visit as often as I should- but being able catch the excitement of 'The toothless wonder' really made my day.

Nothing much to report this week, the hubby is at camp. I'm sans car for the week which is fine, but getting to all the training locations is much more difficult (that is when I decide to try and swim in a pool, or have to make it to a group swim downtown). We have less than 20 days until the Tri (and about $350 more to raise-- thanks for your help)! I'm only mildly scared- we'll see how it goes.

Mostly, I'm aware that the Tri is the last weekend in August, and the end of summer (BOO HISS!). While I've been able to spend a lot of time out doors, and enjoy the longer days- I am trying to get myself mentally prepared for the fall. After an entire year of job hunting, I may throw in the towel. Last week I was approached to help lead a team in doing a read for the Reading Department. It’ll secure my position until at least January, and if all goes well there is a possibility of getting hired on.

Wednesday, August 1

Dynamic Duo? Us!

http://www.windycitysports.com/article/?Guid=ffbcb9da-2e87-44bc-af7a-5ab078360c20&Page=10

Matt and Megan Hutchinson Krings, dynamic duo



You could almost say that it was love at first sight. At least that’s true for Megan Hutchinson Krings—and later her husband Matt—when she signed up for the Team in Training program at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle. “It was at the expo that we saw the Leukemia & Lymphoma’s Society’s Team in Training booth,” Megan explains. “We talked to the folks staffing the booth, I all too quickly confessed, ‘Lymphoma! That’s what I have.” Matt and I shared our story, and I knew that once I was completely finished with treatment, I’d be joining the team.”
One month before Megan and Matt’s 2005 wedding, Megan was in a 15-passenger van rollover accident. As if that wasn’t enough, doctors discovered a baseball-sized mass in her chest later diagnosed as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She had to begin treatments two weeks after returning from her honeymoon. Not the best way to break into being newlyweds as Megan describes how she became more lethargic with each round of chemo and faced weight gain from the steroids she took for lung damage. “Pre-cancer I had always been really active—century bike rides, swimming, teaching water aerobics—but during treatment I was weak, restless and stressed out,” she says.

She started off slowly by walking the Shamrock Shuffle and then trained to finish the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon as a TNT member. But the marathon wasn’t enough and Megan had another goal she wanted to accomplish: the triathlon. “I’ve spent most of my teens and 20s as a swimmer and a cyclist, I felt I needed that season of running to become a runner,” she says. “I think I made it a goal when I was 19 to do a tri but the time I hit 30—I’m 29, and I’ll do four tris this year.”

And Megan’s bringing her husband along for the ride, first as her support crew and now as fellow racer. “I have never completed a race,” he says. “This is my first.” After speaking with the Team in Training staff at an expo in April while Megan registered for the team, Matt decided he could complete the triathlon, too. “I chose triathlon because I feel that the cross-training nature of the sport makes it an endurance event that I am less likely to suffer injury from,” he says. “I also really like spending time training with my wife.”

As for Megan’s health, she attributes last year’s marathon training to help her regain most of her lung capacity and doesn’t feel the disease inhibiting her as much—she had to run/walk the marathon. Her training is her therapy. “Now I use the disease as a motivation. I think about how relieved I am to be out of treatment.”