The Buerglers

Here is most of my letter to best-nun-friend, Erin! Sorry I didn't include all the pictures :) Anyway, this year has been incredible.  God has truly, truly blessed us . What started out as a hectic year with both my Dad’s parents passing away, it finished with blessings. Connor turned one. Deirdre and Alex’s relationship continues to strengthen, though they still need lots of prayers. David and Paige continue to rescue puppies and kitties until they’re ready for a family (which I hope is soon!!!). Eric’s sister, Leeann married the love of her life, Dan and they continue to live in Boston (hoping for a trip there this summer). And last but not least, Eric and I tied the knot! The wedding was so beautiful - things that dreams are made of , although it went by so quickly. Everyone warned me that this would be the case, so I remembered to periodically breathe and take in the moment - now my memories are like 10 seconds of highlight-real style flashbacks. Thank goodness for ph...

My friend Natalie has an awesome blog where she catalogs cool household ideas - things like fun recipes, cute ways to decorate, or a new craft project - her own or found on the internet.  A few weeks ago I saw these snowmen cookies on her blog with a link to the original owners cookie design website, complete with step by step instructions (yes, 4 pages of them!).  Katie and I needed some creative down time so we decided tackle the fondant and homemade frosting and give them a try!  Good thing I read the directions a week early because this recipe called for very specific ingredients, chill times, baking instructions...you get the idea.  What I thought would be an hour of fun turned into 1.5 days of prep work and about 5 hours of well orchestrated decorating time. Regardless of the chaos to get these babies started, we had so much fun decorating them and giving them personalities.  Be sure to check out the photos of them below and the link to Natalie’s blog ...

There is an Irish bar near my parents house called, Olde Blind Dog.  Every 17th of the month they celebrate what they call, “Saint Practice Day” - a day to get ready for St. Patrick’s Day.  Genius! Of course, with it being walking distance from my parents, we have to go every 17th.  We also have St. Practice Day shirts which double as our coupon for the night.  Every month there is a different giveaway or discount depending on what’s listed on the tshirt.  So in October they gave away an Olde Blind Dog hat for anyone who came wearing their Practice Day shirt.  Last night we got $10 gift cards!!! On top of us each getting a $10 gift card, Katie won the half-hourly door prize of $15 gift card.  Since she doesn’t have any OBD paraphernalia she bought her self a red shirt! We’re sad Alex & Dee couldn’t make it last night - but we went pretty late and Connor was in bed. Cheers!

I hadn't even remember until I woke up to an email from my inlaws congratulating us on our "one year anniversary of being engaged".  Cute, huh? Without repeating everything, you can find the story here. What's not included in the story are all the little ways God was working in our hearts the few weeks before the actual engagement. Back in October of 2008, I had been having some serious doubts of marrying Eric. I had asked for friends to pray for us.  Eric and I had decided to give our relationship a few more months before we pulled the plug.  During that time of Oct - Dec, God worked in incredible ways. Part of my heart was questioning my vocation.  I had done a lot of discernment in college but at put it on the back burner because God was either telling me "it's not for you" or "not right now".  And during the Fall of '08 we had some Sisters visiting at Saint Brigid.  My heart panicked.  Perhaps this is why I was questioning if Eric and I...

One on the neat things about going to the University of Dayton is that every year on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (our schools patroness), campus would be closed for class but one of the greatest celebrations of the year took place:  Christmas on Campus. Christmas On Campus consisted of hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights all over campus, ice sculptures, rappelling santa, game booths put on by all the clubs, hot chocolate, and everyone’s favorite, “adopt a kid”.  Kids from poor neighborhoods would be bussed in and students could “adopt” them for the night.  The students would take their kid around campus to play games, see the lights, get their picture with Santa, and drink hot chocolate.  The night would end with just the students celebrating Immaculate Conception Mass together, our last big event together before exams and Christmas break. This event has put our campus on the map, and students from all over attend UD just because of Christmas on ...

We started off the morning with a brisk 5k run (walk) to benefit MUST Ministries with our friend Sarah. This year for Thanksgiving Eric and I stayed in Atlanta to celebrate with the Buergler’s and their long-time family friends, the Litwin’s house. Last year I found it rather exhausting to figure out 20+ years of family traditions and inside jokes, but this year was a much easier transition.  While not spent with my mom’s family at the Cabin, it was a great place to be for Thanksgiving!   As tradition has it, the young guys challenge the “wily veterans” to just about every game imaginable: horseshoes, corn hole, bocce, ping pong, pool, beer pong, etc. This year the wily veterans won, but not without the young guys claiming the old guys cheat.  Tim let me proxy for him while he was carving the turkey, and I took home the gold in the champagne cork shooting contest: the young guys couldn’t contest, I was the clear winner :) Friday morning, Irene and I tackle...

First of all, I apologize for the delay in updating the website and in posting pictures from the wedding.  I (Elizabeth) was swamped with leading two retreats (90 teens each), a trip to the soup kitchen with 30 teens, a trip to the corn maze with 20 middle schoolers, wrapping up a Confirmation program, and planning double-header Confirmation Masses with the Archbishop.  Never mind setting up house, adjusting to living with a husband, and working out all the kinks that come with being newly married. We’ve finally opened gifts (THANK YOU!), set up the apartment, and have settled in to as much of a routine as possible given the above.  And now, we’re moving!  Fortunately it’s to a bigger apartment, in a building caddy-corner to the one we’re in now, but still...six weeks of “do I move this from my parents house now or wait?” ensues. A few fun things about our married life:  Sunday’s I plan our meals for the week and Eric goes to the grocery  Eric doesn’t...

In search of the, “as promised on the radio” new penguin exhibit, Mandi, Katie & I used my three free passes to the Aquarium on the first day of Thanksgiving break. The penguin exhibit was a third the size of the old one and half the cold-water section was blocked off.  Needless to say, we were a little disappointed in the false advertising and from the looks of it we won’t be seeing our chilly friends until the new dolphin exhibit opens next year.  Sad. Alas we still had fun making fish noises, fish faces and making up fish drama as we walked the glass walled hallways.

What a long road it was.  We waited until the last minute to leave our hotel room, knowing we would need our energy for the drive and red-eye flight.  Having been to the Bernardus dinner 2 nights earlier, we decided we needed to return home with some wine, so we went back for another tasting.  Next, we headed to lunch at a place recommended by one of our wine dinner companions.  It was on our way to San Fran and sounded good, so Phil’s Fish Market was a must.  Upon arrival, we knew it was going to be great based on the lack of parking and the clientele, a mix of must be locals and motorcyclists.  The place was indeed worth the trip though we were glad it was day time. After a great lunch, for me at least (E had too much fried food), we had plenty of time, so we thought a trip along CA Hwy 1 would be a great coastal drive.  We stopped at Santa Cruz’s boardwalk on the north end of Monterey Bay and decided it was not worth fighting the crowds....

We awoke to a slow morning after our late night dinner and drinking at Bernardus.  We did not leave the room until around 2, but we were still able to accomplish quite a bit of sightseeing.  The first stop was Carmel beach, which has beautiful seaside houses along tree lined roads, then drops down 10’ to sandy beach.  Next was a visit to the neighboring town of Monterey, where we stopped by the aquarium for the last hour and then walked Cannery Row, a once famous sardine canning section of town that has been converted to shops and restaurants.  Now that night had set in we headed back to Carmel for dessert at a little bistro with live music in the plaza square before going back to our hotel for a movie. -Eric

Last night’s dinner deserves it’s own post.  When Eric was goggling things to do in Carmel, he noticed that a nearby winery was hosting their annual Anniversary Dinner, so he signed us up. Upon arrival, we quickly discovered we were by far the youngest people there, and definitely the least experienced wine drinkers.  At least we have beer tasting experience, so we could “fake it” enough :) The evening began with two wines paired with cheese and a prosciutto focaccia appetizer. After thirty or so minutes we were seated, by name card, in the ballroom.  The flower arrangements were stunning, complete with fresh grapes and grape vines. The menus were at our seats, along with several sets of silverware and more wine glasses than I could count.  I’ve never sat at such a formal table (Katie, I thought about your table setting test - this would have been the crème de la crème).  We introduced ourselves to our neighbors and learned that we were among som...

Last night Eric and I arrived at secret location #2: Carmel-by-the-Sea.  And yes, Aunt Keri, it is right next to the artichoke capital of the world!  After our tour of the Carriage House Inn, Eric and I found a nearby place for dinner.  The place we chose had outside dining with a fire place.  We had a great dinner and stayed cozy warm! This morning we slept in and woke up to breakfast delivery.  With nothing on the agenda, we took our time eating & getting ready for the day. We walked through most of Carmel before lunch.  The town reminds us of Highlands, but is a little bigger and includes some designer shops like Coach, J. Crew, and Anthropologie and dozens of art & antique galleries.  Eric’s doing his best to keep me from spending all our honeymoon money.  So far, only one gag-gift purchased! Lunch was at a seafood restaurant the innkeepe r recommended last night.  And then we walked through town again in ...

I woke up this morning to Eric blinding me with sunshine as he opened the hotel curtains to find that it was no longer raining!  We quickly packed, ate, and were back in the car as to take full advantage of the sunny day. First on our stop was the half mile hike around the General Sherman tree, largest tree in the world by volume. The tree was impressive, as were the dozens of trees of epic proportions. Next we drove through a fallen tree.  Eric and I both thought it was going to be that we drove through the tree “long ways” but when we got there we were disappointed to find out that it was more like a true tunnel.  It was kind of lame. Our last major stop before leaving Sequoia was to climb to the top of Moro Rock (437 stairs & 300 feet to be exact) to achieve an elevation of nearly 7000 ft.  The view was like nothing I’ve seen in the US.  In the ten minutes we stood atop the mountain, we saw the clouds roll up and over us - at ...

The first of two days in the National Parks of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we awoke to rain and cold.  As we tried to gear up for the inclement weather we both realized we were severely underprepared for rain (stupid forecast).  We set off nonetheless, determined to make the best of our honeymoon.  We drove back the way we had come in the previous night, thinking it would be much easier going even in the rain, but we quickly discovered snow/slush covered roads and had to go even slower.  We stopped at Kings Canyon Lodge for lunch and road updates and continued on to the Grant Tree, the nation’s Christmas Tree.  It is the widest tree in the world at 40’ wide and 3 largest by volume.  On the same short hike was the Fallen Monarch, which you can walk through (without bending over).  Even though the hike was only a third of a mile we returned to the car with legs that were completely soaked and hands that were on the verge of numbness. After that,...

This morning Eric and I began our impromptu trip to San Francisco.  Instead of seeing the city on the last day, Eric rearranged things so we started out honeymoon there. First we drove along the bay and found a small beach site to take pictures in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.  Of course we decided to put the camera on a rock and take a picture of us standing as close to the shore line as possible.  Fortunately the camera stayed still; the shoreline however was ever-fluctuating and during the 10-second self-timer, Eric and I got splashed by waves not once, but twice.  We started the day with wet jean cuffs, but with the car heat on full blast we dried out in no time. Next up we drove down to the piers.  We walked down the street along the bay coast where all the piers jet off.  First we walked Fisherman’s Warf and ate mini-donuts from one of the snack shops.  Next we checked out the sea lions in the cove next to the pie...

This morning Eric and I were sent off in style!  The Buergler’s hosted a brunch for us to visit with our family and out of town guests one last time before leaving for our honeymoon.  As many of you know, Eric kept the honeymoon a complete surprise except for a brief packing list, weather forecast and the general destination of “California”.  For all I knew we could be skiing one day, swimming one day, and drinking wine another.  It wasn’t until our arrival at the ticketing counter and the sky cap said, “Two for San Francisco” Tim drove us to the airport and joking said, “hope you don’t miss your flight” as he dropped us off, because Dan & Leeann missed their honeymoon flight. Well, we did.  Thanks, Dad! Our itinerary said 2:50 PM departure, but we quickly found out that the flight had been changed to 1:40.  Despite Eric’s best planning efforts, he cannot turn back time.  Alas, we had to change to a later flight.  We ende...

Not to brag... Okay, to brag. I have quite the all star line of up clergy celebrating our wedding Mass. Never in my life would I have expected to know such holy and amazing men, or to have enough of a friendship with them to invite them to celebrate our Sacrament. To get an idea of just how much of rock stars they are check out this video from the  Bishop's Ordination Mass on Tuesday , yeah...they're next to the Bishop & Archbishop in the procession. No big deal. Party Like a Rock Star : Austin - Seminarian Dennis - Seminarian Deacon Dennis - Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Atlanta; Director of Deacon Personnel Deacon Leo - Director of Religious Education, St. Brigid Fr. Exume - Parochial Vicar, St. Brigid (and one of the smartest men I know!) Fr. Diosmar - Archbishop Gregory's Emcee Msgr. Reynolds - Former Vicar General of the Archdiocese, present Pastor of St. Brigid

I had the honor and blessing of attending the first Episcopal (Bishop) Ordination to take place in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.  Not only was this the first to take place here, but it was only the second Atlantan priest to be called to the Episcopate.  Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting, then, Monsignor Zarama.  He is a truly holy man and a tremendous asset to our Archdiocese. Friday afternoon I received a call that Saint Brigid, the parish where I work, was given ten tickets to sit in the Cathedral during the Ordination ceremony and Mass.  My fellow co-workers arrived nearly two hours to secure our seats, but it was worth it as many who had “inside tickets” were directed elsewhere to watch it on CCTV. There were some 22 bishops, 200 priests, 100 deacons, and 60 seminarians, in the procession - truly a site to behold.  There were roughly two dozen women religious, Bishop Zarama’s family, and then only 250 lay people present...and I was one ...

As if Eric and I have nothing else to do these days, Eric signed us up for a series of four home brew classes at our favorite bar.  Our teacher is a national home brew beer judge, who has been home brewing for 20+ years.  He made it look so easy! The engineer in Eric was surprised to learn that the brewing process was NOT very mathematical and exact, and the baker in me was surprised to learn that there is more in common between a loaf of bread and a beer than a turkey and chicken.  As Les, our instructor, said manyatimes to Eric on Saturday, “Relax  - Have a home brew”  ( And, good news, the left over grain or “mash” can be used to bake a 5 grain bread - YUM!) In addition to learning the initial steps of home brewing, Eric and I enjoyed the company of our beer tasting group of friends as we all are taking things to the next level - home brewing.  I guess you can say it’s getting pretty serious 

This afternoon I went to pick up my dress and wedding shoes from the dress shop.  The ladies had just finished the alternations, steaming the dress and dying my shoes.  Careful not to smash the dress as I was loading in the car, I put my wallet and shoes on the roof of the car.  Who makes two trips to the car, anyway? As I was about a block from the store, I heard two consecutive *thud* noise.  It sounded like road gravel, but the road conditions were too perfect, so I checked my rear-view mirror only to see tissue paper flying around!!  My shoes and wallet!!! My body instantly went in to fight-or-flight mode.  Illegal u-turns were made.  Hazard lights went on.  I was going to get my shoes and wallet!  I did not have time to replace either one. I watched as four cars drove over and around my shoes.  I held my breath as a school bus approached. This would surely be the end of them!!  Thank goodness the school bus driv...

Eric and I have been so blessed to attend so many great weddings and be apart of our friends special days. My sophomore suite mate and senior year roommate, Beth, married Matt and the Catholic Church, St. James the Less, in Columbus, Ohio.  Beth not only went to grade school and Mass at the school & parish, but she now teaches first grade there.  It was so neat to see the family connection and relationship with the parish and pastor. Of course the wedding was beautiful, the company was fantastic, and I got to witness another one of my girlfriends marrying to most perfect guy!   To Beth & Matt, thank you for including Eric and I in your wedding day!  We hope to stand by you for many years to come :)

This weekend my friend Amanda came in town for my bachelorette party, our young adult shower, and to spend a few days before heading to Florida for a work trip.   Amanda and I were roommates our Sophomore year at University of Dayton in Ohio, where the state tree is the orange barrel.  We were pretty tickled when we found this on the top of the mountain! Amanda enjoyed her tour of the Stone Mountain, especially the face of the mountain and the very Southern street names :)

My sister Katie spent several months planning, scheming, and cooking up some crazy food & good times for my Bachelorette Party. The fun went down at the Georgian Terrance Hotel, in their huge three-bedroom suite, complete with kitchen, living room, and dining room!  Katie made an incredible spread of food for dinner, and the girls got me, um, soon-to-be-married kinds of gifts ;-) What I did not know is that Katie had planned to have all our and my aunts old prom and bridesmaids dresses cleaned and fixed up so when I arrived at the party, all the girls were dressed up as tacky bridesmaids. We were also visited by some special visitors.  If you think the stripper in the episode of Friends, “the One where the stripper cries” was bad.....

Two of my co-workers, Mandi and Dee offered to throw my first bridal shower!  Lovely ladies from Saint Brigid gathered to play some silly games, open fun presents, and eat really incredible cake. Here are a few fun pictures from the afternoon  Mandi and Me with all the yummy food Losing badly at a “how well do you know Eric” game Toilet paper brides contest!   Check out the details on these dresses. My bow bouquet, courtesy of two of my bridesmaids Thanks again, ladies, for all your hard work, and incredible party, and lots of fun presents! 

This fall my grandparents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  In grand tradition of family celebrations, my grandparents took all 26 of us on a four-night cruise aboard the Disney Wonder. Even though it was a little rainy the first two days, we continued the party.  I think the rain made the sunny days just that much sweeter! Thank you Pap & Nannie for the fantastic cruise and for celebrating 50 years with us.  We’re so blessed to have such an amazing family!

As most of you know, Eric’s sister, Leeann and her new husband, Dan, got married this weekend.  The joyous occasion took place at the Cathedral of Christ the King followed by a fabulous evening of dinner and dancing at the Fox Theatre Atlanta in the Egyptian Ballroom.  It was wonderful to spend the weekend with the Buergler and Farrell families before our own big day. They say it’s good luck for a brother and sister to both marry in the same year!  Congratulations Mr & Mrs Attanucci!!! We’re SO excited for you :)

Congratulations to Eric for completing his big triathlon of the season!  After completing a sprint triathlon (500m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run) and an Xterra sprint triathlon (swim, mountain bike, and trail run), and several other single sport races - Eric completed an Ironman 70.3 at Fort Wilderness at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  This race includes a 1.2 mi. swim • 56 mi. bike • 13.1 mi. run.   Eric beat his goal swim time and finished in 49 minutes.  He kicked butt on the bike, averaging 19.2 mph!  And finished the run in about 3 hours. We had a fun trip to Orlando for the race.  We enjoyed a pre-race dinner at Macaroni Grill (thank you LifeTeen families for the gift card!) .  Sunday afternoon after the race, we walked through Downtown Disney and had sushi and wine for dinner at Wolfgang Pucks.  During our car rides we began listening to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace CDs courtesy of Elizabeth’s parents. Eric’s post-race thoughts:  Gla...

I enjoyed an awesome weekend down at Fort Myers Beach with Eric’s sister, Leeann; her friends; and Mrs. B for Leeann’s Bachelorette and a few days of sun, sand, dining out, shopping, and lots of girlie drinks! Looking forward to many more memories with the Buergler Ladies :)

We got the best surprise in the mail today!  Our engagement photos from our March 29 photo shoot  arrived.  Jacob and Rachel from Longwerks did a fantastic job shooting and editing our photos.  We look forward to working with them again at the wedding.   Enjoy the slide show below, or click on the link at the bottom of the frame to view at your own pace.  

This post originally appeared in my private blog on March 30, 2009... A few days ago my aunt asked me for some weekends that I'm free so they can throw me a wedding shower. As I scrolled through all the Saturdays on my hyper-organized & triple synced calendar, I realized that my weekends are filled with someone else's wedding things (wedding, showers, bachelorette parties) my own wedding things (dress fittings, cake tastings, engagement photos, etc) 5ks, indoor tris, or being Eric's pit-crew for his 6 hr races or his half-Ironman Women's retreat, new teen leader mini-retreat, core retreat, mission trip So, that's where I've been too - I realized I haven't blogged in forever - because well, I was doing all of the above! I love my crazy-busy life and wouldn't have it any other way - except it doesn't leave much room to be sick....like today. I am skipping half a day of classes to finish a project for school (half procrastinated, half I w...

This post originally appeared on March 21, 2009 This morning I ran my first 5k! It was awesome being surrounded by thousands of women (it was a women only event) of all shapes, sizes, ages, ethnic backgrounds, etc just celebrating being WOMEN :) The race was around Candler Park and the surrounding neighborhoods. I went with Sarah, Rachel (an Iron Woman!), and Haley. The race included few small hills, of which my only walking time was the up hills. YAY me. I finished with 15 seconds to go of my goal time of 35 minutes. When I got back in my workout groove this fall, I was running 48 minute 5k times. So glad to have dropped 13 mintues :) I know I'll never be extremely fast, but I would like to get down to 33 or 30 minutes by the end of the season. The LifeTime Fitness Indoor Triathlon is a week from tomorrow: 10 minute swim (pool). 30 minute bike(spinner). 20 minute run(treadmill). This race is unique because it measures distance covered rather than fastest time. I probably won...

A week ago, Monday March 2, was my first day of GSU Spring Break.  Since I usually spend Monday’s at school, and since much of the city was closed due to a freak snow storm the day before, my mother and I took advantage of this day off of school and work to get caught up on wedding planning.   Here’s a list of the great things we accomplished on Monday: Me:     * two new photo albums up on wedding website     * set up DJ info on their website and started a do and do-not play list     * set up info on our website for guests to pick songs for DJ to play With the help of my mother and grandmother:     * tried on 3 more wedding dresses     * ordered my original favorite along with the veil     * set up order info for the bridesmaids to order their dresses     * found a super cute possible MOB dress for mom     * picked out and ordered an awesome dress for me to wear to Eric’s sister’s wedding   ...

The post originally appeared in my personal blog on March 3, 2009... Official race results were posted today! Eric finished #31 overall and #26 in mens. I finished #98 overall and I can't even count all the m/f before me as there were #104 racers :) I met my goal: not to finish last! And, I improved my previous time trials of 2:15 to a race time of 1:45 All in all, I am thrilled! I could have pushed a little harder on the run, as that is my weak area. But, I decided that I would rather have fun and finish last than push to get just a little better time and hate every second of it. I do believe I've caught the bug - I can't wait to compete in my indoor triathlons at the end of March and April. It will be awesome to see improvement between those two races, since they will be EXACTLY the same (well, Lifetime at Alpharatta vs Mountain Brook...so basically exactly the same!) Eric started his formal Ironman 70.3 training this week. He has just about given up his car & moto...

This post originally appeared in my private blog on March 2, 2009.... Today's snow day was the perfect excuse to get caught up on wedding stuff. Me: two new photo albums up on wedding website set up DJ info on their website and started a do and do-not play list set up info on our website for guests to pick songs for DJ to play With the help of my mother and grandmother: tried on 3 more wedding dresses ordered my original favorite along with the veil set up order info for the bridesmaids to order their dresses picked out a super cute possible MOB dress for mom picked out and ordered an awesome dress for me to wear to the 7 other weddings I am going to between now and my own went to the flower market to find colors and flowers to recommend to the florist bought 2 dozen vases/candle holders for the reception table decor bought ribbon for bridesmaids bouquet With the help of my fiance: Reviewed our favorites at Macy's and Crate & Barrel for our main registri...

Saturday, February 28, Eric and I completed our first triathlon.  Training for this race has been a good distraction from wedding plans, and cheap way for us to spend evenings together.  Even though Eric has competed in cross country races, swim meets and bike races, this was his first “all-three-sport” race.  With the exception of summer swim team, this was my first-ever race.  After a few months of training, excellent coaching from the staff at Lifetime Fitness and Eric, and many encouraging friends, I found myself crossing the finish line a good fifteen minutes faster than my goal time, and thirty minutes faster than my best practice time.  Eric finished in the top twenty five (final results haven’t been posted) and was most pleased with his bike time.  The race marked the beginning of Eric’s formal Ironman 70.3 (or half-Ironman) training.  Long way to go before his race at Disney World this May.  I think it’s safe to say that we’ve “caught the...

This originally posted in my private blog on February 27, 2009... I've always wanted to be an athlete, but never had the motivation to practice or really, what it comes down to is...I didn't like to do anything that requires effort, pain, and occasional failure. Never mind the endorphins, new friends, and occasional successes! Over the Summer I set out to loose some lbs, tone up, and tackle something new. I joined Lifetime fitness, and have been (as Cassi would say) sucked into the Vegas like vortex that is Lifetime. A few months ago I heard on the music loop at the gym that Lifetime offers an annual INDOOR TRI. I checked it out, learned that they're usually in the spring, and decided that would be my goal. An indoor tri - no winners, no losers, no finish lines, etc. Well, Eric caught the bug and decided to whoa-up me and shoot for a  half-Iron man, also known as an Iron Man 70.3  In the mean time he would have to do a Sprint distance and an Olympic distance to hel...