The Buerglers

Back in April, Eric, Evie and I drove to Nashville for a long weekend with two sets of friends.   In those pre-baby days we decided to run another half marathon...but in the days leading up to our trip my sport bra didn't fit, my shoes were too small, and I had the flu.  Oh and on the drive out to Nashville, Evie pooped in the carseat.  Read all about Part 1 here . After the nutty trip through packet pick up and the race expo, we packed out little nugget back in her still-wet carseat and drove out to our friend Kathryn's house where we met up with her and Ashley. We had a great time letting Gabe and Evie play.  It was love at first sight.  What do you think? And Eric and Gabe played with buckets on their heads.  It's what the cool kids do, ya know? We took the clan of husbands and kids and went to our very first vegan restaurant (they did have one item on the menu with real dairy sour cream [thank god]...

Somewhere back in my delusional pregnancy-brain I decided that I wanted to run another half-marathon .   Ashley , Kathryn and I had been talking about the half in Nashville for about a year and finally got serious about planning the trip.   We each signed up and paid for the half-marathon.  All our talking was FINALLY becoming a reality. Then I had my baby. Then I realized how difficult it is to run with 38 K lactating chest. Then I realized my size 8W running shoes were Way Too Small. Then I came down with a 10 day viral infection that kept me from even doing my 2-3 mile walks. But we paid over $100 for this race, we already had the days off work and a free place to stay.  Eric and I decided we were going to Nashville regardless. We headed out first thing on Friday morning. I spent over two hours Friday morning at my doctor's walk-in hours, waiting on a steroid shot and prescriptions for cough medicine, antibiotics, and an inhaler. ...

The story began back in the Fall when we decided to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Serious measures weren't taken until after the November Thanksgiving 5k proved to be a challenge to complete.  By December we finalized the roster of which girls were going to actually participate in the training and the race. We enjoyed some casual runs, but with the holidays we didn't get too serious until January.  It was a few days after I got back from my vacation to Puerto Rico that I learned I had sprained my ankle .  A few days later Katie, Rosemary and Sarah ran the Resolution 5k . By February the training was in full force with the girls running 8, 9 and 10 mile long runs, and taking a break one weekend to run a 10k at the  Chattahoochee Nature Center .  Yes, when did our running lives begin to include 10ks as a training run break ?!?!  The girls killed it and I think it gave them the confidence they needed that they could, in fact,...

As most of you know, I am on running restriction due to my sprained ankle .  This has really put a damper on my goal to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  While the girls are still hard core training to run the half marathon, I just got cleared to start walking 1-2 miles a day (not 13.1).  Boo.  Last weekend the girls participated in their first Atlanta Track Club race, the Resolution 5k.  It was a good break for them, since most Saturdays have been upwards of 6-8 miles this month.  Also, it's fun to get out and race, especially on a cold hilly course when you've only been training on a treadmill. At the start line Pumped! And off they went!  I sat in the car for a few minutes to stay warm, but before I knew it the "really fast guys" were finishing.  Ever since my day on the taping of Biggest Loser , I've fallen in love with cheering at the finish line.  So, off I went to the finish line.  It was awesome to cheer for li...

After the Snowcation 2011 fiasco last week, the weekend was pretty status quo.  I went to my parents, Eric went backpacking.  I think he should post about it, but will he? Probably not. Anyway.  My ankle.  The story is REALLY uneventful, but everyone's been asking... About two months ago I was in Jazzercise and landed some hip hop jumpy maneuver perfectly normal, as well as you can a hip hop jump maneuver. However, a sharp shooting pain radiated throughout my foot.  It felt funky, but I finished class and the pain went away. A few weeks later a nagging ache was still there. A few more weeks late the ache was still there. I talked to a friend who had the same type of pain, and she ended up needing surgery on a tendon. Yikes! My pain wasn't THAT bad.  So I kept working out and the ankle kept hurting. With the Disney Princess Half Marathon just 8 weeks away I thought it was time to have the doctor take a look at it.  Fortunately, it's just a spra...

Our July has already been a bit of a whirlwind. My friend Amanda came to visit.  We did some of the usual Atlanta things: Chick-fil-a (even the original!), take MARTA someplace (the P'tree expo), Braves Game, and Taco Mac. Our friend Rosemary had a friend in town for the weekend too, so it was fun for all of us to spend the weekend together.  We also celebrated the 4th of July by running the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10k (55,000 participants) with a few friends.  Amanda, Sarah and I ran the race together.  Eric ran ahead. Anyone have $17 so we can buy this picture? The night of the 4th we celebrated at our friend Rosemary's house, where we consumed burgers, brats, buffalo chicken dip, flag cake and all the yummy fixings of July.  Of course we played corn hole and lit sparklers.   Sparkers! (Photo- Tim Walsh) The group of us (minus Eric) went to Rosemary's office in Brookhaven/Lenox area to watch the fireworks from her office ...

Thank you to those who encouraged me, cheered me on, and trained with me!  I was able to complete my first long, sprint distance triathlon in open water.  This race included a 1/3 mile swim, an 18 mile bike, and a 3 mile run.  Both the bike and run contained some killer hills.  Eric worked the bike course as a traffic "cop" so he was only able to get a few pictures of the race.  I loved every moment of it and felt rather accomplished after!  I cannot wait to next years!

After several weeks of training, Eric and I were ready for the big race!  We packed up and drove to Nashville to spend a weekend with Eric's long time friend's Katherine and Elisabeth in their new hometown.  The race expo and packet pick up was smooth, organized, and informative.  We were able to watch a jumbo screen fast-foward of the race course.  Someone videoed the course and then played it hella fast on the screen.  It was great to see a preview of the hills, turns, and scenery.  Though nothing compared to actually running this course! Katherine and I ran the entire race together using the 2-and-1 method I learned from my Galloway Training running club.  We ran two minutes, walked a minute.  And guess what?  We finished in 3:01:58.  Heck yeah!  The day before I was checking where the medical stations were so I could exit the race course...and then BAM I finished a half-marathon.  Advil, prayer and a great running bud...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...