John Kaufman..."You Are an IRONMAN"

When running marathons and triathlons weren't enough...my brother's college roommates decided it was time to up the bet and train and compete in the Ironman in Madison, Wisconsin. As John, Kate and Fischer moved out to Washington, DC we were excited to see the Kaufmans back in the Midwest and of course cheer John on throughout the day.

For those of us who are average athletes -- the Ironman consists of:

A 2 Mile Swim:

A 112 Mile Bike (which we have no pics of as Fischer needed some breakfast and a nap)

and a full marathon to finish the day off for an additional 26.2 miles

Jeremy and I were running our own Ironman -- keeping up with my 2 year old nephew Fischer.

Having deep conversations with Jeremy at breakfast

Playing chase -- with Jeremy at the restaurant and with Kate at the park by the capital

Climbing all of the Capital stairs (several times)

Throwing rocks (and later footballs) at this building and occasionally at the runners (our future Minnesota Twin)

A swim at the hotel pool

And of course his favorite job of the day -- Cheering on DAD!

We had the camera set up on the tripod to capture John's finish (our test shot)

But he came in with another runner with the exact same outfit and we missed him running by!

John -- we are SO proud of you in completing the race, and more importantly the sacrifice and training the leads up to the big day -- it was so inspiring to watch -- but we are glad that you are currently not aspiring to do any more as we were so anxious and nervous for you to complete the day!!

We also have a new respect for parents of two year olds. You run an Ironman every day! I am sure we all slept well on Sunday night!!