Birmingham Blast!

Isn't this funny?  This is from one of my favorite restaurants in B'ham, where I spent this past week.  It's an old restaurant in a not wonderful part of town, but boy is it good.  Anyway, this sign made me really laugh!!!  Rollers?  You've got to be kidding, right?!

So, about Birmingham, this past week I spent in B'ham with my mom’s entire side of the family. It's a yearly thing that I love.  The younger boys went my uncle’s soccer camp at Birmingham-Southern, and the girls hung out, went swimming, and learned how to cook family recipes from my Aunt Marie. My nieces and cousins were so much fun.  Ellie, Gabi, Macy and Kylie are the best!  I drove my parents crazy talking about them all week. We had such an awesome time, and had some delicious food thanks to Aunt Marie and Mimi! One night when we went to dinner, I took a picture of the sign in the window. This restaurant is amazing (seafood and fresh veggies) but it must be old since this sign is crazy!

I also got to ride on my grandfather’s 3-wheel Harley (he collects motorcycles) and it was really fun! My mom even got to drive it. Maybe I will too one day.

My mom says I did great keeping in training while we were on vacation. I ran almost every day with her – hills and all. Too bad she slowed me down (just kidding Mama!). I hated getting up each day, but was SO happy to be finished before it was too hot. When I say hot, I mean hot too since it’s over 95 degrees now. And it’s also humid. Yuck. I don’t like to run too much, in case you can’t tell. But I really want to be able to do the New York City Triathlon

Today I did My First Tri at Eglin Air Force Base. It was awesome! We woke up at 5:00 this morning, so we wouldn’t be late. Of course we got lost! My mom said to go straight, and my dad turned. It was kind of funny, and we still had enough time to set up the transition area!

The race was a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike, and a 2.3 mile run. When you do this race you don’t have to be a first timer, but it is an awesome race to start out on. The swim felt good, besides all the 45-50 year old men that were going crazy (the waves were set up really weird! It was 10-24 year old women with 45-50 year old men)! Then for the bike I thought that the wind was pretty hard going up the hills, but I got up to 25 miles per hour, which is pretty darn fast!! The run was ok, but that is my weakest part! I didn’t really like the run, but it is what it is.

I got first in my age group over all! Reis (my brother) got second in his age group. Olivia (my fried, and a first time triathlete) came in third in her age group. Can you believe that for her first tri ever? I hope she keeps doing them because I’d love to train with her. Big Chloe came in 3rd for the overall women, and Mrs. Karen came in second over all for the women! And today is Lisa W’s birthday! I hope she had a good birthday. Pretty awesome that we all got awards! And “Coach” Jim raced and is really, really fast (he’s our speedcoach even though we are out of town each week), but he is in a pretty darn tough age group!

Here are all the pictures of the week!  (Pics of all the girl cousins will be posted soon -- once I get the photos from Aunt Talia!)

Have a great week,  and check back for IronGirl Atlanta updates!

Chloe

Me and Reis at the start of My First Tri

"Big" Chloe and me (and no, we did NOT plan our outfits!)

Soccer Boys!  (Reis, Ilan, and Jake)

Me & Papa on his trike.  Cool, huh?