Wedding Celebration at Lake Constance (Bodensee)

Claus and Julia chose Montfort Castle at Lake Constance to celebrate their wedding - a gorgeous location! Claus was Karl's Highschool Exchange Partner many years ago, and has been a family friend ever since.

Finn and Lily inspecting the dining rooms.


We climbed that tower later that night.



Princess Lily :)

Trying to keep cool by drinking bubbly mineral water, it was a hot day. I felt like jumping in the lake more than once.

From the patio we had a gorgeous view of the lake (which is shared by Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and the mountains on the other side.

It took the hair stylist 1.5 hours and almost a whole spray can of hair spray to make my hair look like this. I really liked how it turned out.

Sharing a romantic moment, until reality kicks in: "More juice, MAMA!"

Julia and Claus

The brothers with Finn and Lily

The food was simply amazing. Karl and I liked the desserts best, all six of them. :)

Baby snoozing in the breeze.

Finn and Lily did very well. They ran around with the other kids, colored, ate, enjoyed the view of the lake and did some crafts with the two hired babysitters.

Finn making a new friend.

Daddy and daughter dancing.

When it was dark (some time past 11pm) we asked one of the staff if we could climb the tower, something that Finn really REALLY REAAAALLLYYY wanted to do. So the friendly gentleman unlocked a door for us and we were on our way. It was dark and a narrow wooden staircase, but the kids were very brave. Here they are blinded by the flash, I took this picture in almost total darkness.

View of the patio and the lake (well, it's black) from the tower.

We left the party around midnight (minus Karl, who stayed until early in the morning). We met Claus and Julia and a lot of the other wedding guests for brunch at a lakeside hotel at 11:30am. Of course Lily had been up since 7, and so had I. :)

Busy summer days and dear visitors!

No update in almost a month! Between the hot weather (pool, pooool, POOOL!) and dear company we're keeping pretty busy here. Karl, Neil's brother came to Germany to attend the wedding celebration of his good friend Claus (more on that later). So Uncle Karl travelled around Germany a bit and brought dear friends from Bad Tölz to our house when he came to stay with us.

We spent a very nice weekend with Uschi and Christoph, and of course Finn and Lily were happy to play with Anastasia and Kilian. Even though Bad Tölz is not really all that far away we hadn't seen each other in almost 3 years!

Since Finn and Lily are usually up early we offered to watch all the kids in the morning while Uschi and Christoph slept in. An offer that wasn't refused. :)

After a day spent at the outdoor pool with her family and friends even some strawberry ice cream could revive Lily only to a certain extent

Finally, some alone time with Uncle Karl!

And, last not least, some Lily cuteness:

"Summer" pictures

After we reportedly had the coldest month of May in 20 years we had some really hot days in June. Finn and Lily spent a lot of time in the water. Here are some pictures:

Ready and dressed for some fun in the sun:

Their new splash pool

Home made ice cream cones

Half of our patio is taken up by this (family size :) pool now. Thankfully there is still room for our table and chairs.

Lily and her Lenny (who will turn 1 soon)

So big already - both of them!

And here are two videos I uploaded to youtube. (Uploading videos on here often does not work and the quality is bad, so just click on the links to view them.) One of them is Finn at swim class. This is as far as he got with his swimming after two weeks. We'll keep on working on it this summer! The other one is of Finn and Lily playing in their splash pool. It was the first time we had filled it up, it was 7:30pm and the water was icy cold. Didn't stop them from having fun though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AEV-UkmQqE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXLsQbbDoG8&feature=channel

The Ingolstadt Triathlon!

Sunday, June 13, was the big day - I was going to try and finish my first Olympic distance triathlon. I was not really sure I still wanted to do it, because a week prior I went out to the lake for a test swim and this is what I found:

It was beyond gross. Duck poop, stuff from the trees and other things I did not dare look closely at covered the water. And not just close to the shore - everywhere. I went in - very reluctantly.

The lake is so shallow that I could almost always see to the bottom - and what I saw in the murky green waters did not make me feel any better. I was VERY happy most of my body was covered by my neoprene wetsuit, but putting my face in the water took real effort. Sometimes I just couldn't do it and had to flip on my back to catch my breath. I swam about 200m, then gave up and headed back to shore.
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So for a full week I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. Maybe I should stick to pool triathlons? And having seen the buyos made me realize just how long 1.5k (roughly a mile) is if you have to swim that distance. A few months ago all I could do was a rather unorthodox version of breast stroke (for, like, a length or two) and now I was going to try THIS? Why had I changed my registration from the sprint distance to Olympic?! I was happy I would be wearing my wetsuit to help me float a bit better. I figured if I became too exhausted I would flip on my back and just drift a bit.

Then my sister Ulli said she would be coming to Ingolstadt to cheer me on. Great, now I really had to do this. :)

So the five of us headed out to the Ingolstadt Baggersee yesterday morning. The swim was to be in the lake, then we'd get our bikes from the transition area, bike 20km to the turning point and head back to the lake (so 40k/25miles total), then run two laps around the lake (10.4k/6.5miles).

Ulli would help Neil take care of the kids, which was greatly appreciated. After all, I figured it would take me at least 3.5 hours to finish - IF I could survive the swim :) . Here we are on the parking lot, Finn hugging the vuvuzuela (in the Swiss colours) Ulli brought. He figured out how to play on it right away, and it's not all that easy! (Note I am carrying my bag with my lifesaver: my wetsuit!)

Then we got to the lake and Ulli said how proud she was of me for doing this. She said, "Look at all those muscle-covered athletes with their professional equipment - and then there's YOU." Um, thanks. You know, people like these:

And then: me. With my cheerleader, Ulli. :)

But then, the real shocker. The lake was declared 0.7 degrees too warm. Too warm for wetsuits, that is. NO wetsuits allowed. Aaaah!
Oh well, it couldn't be helped. Upward and onward. As Ulli said, at least I wouldn't have to take it off after the swim and would save a minute or two that way. (Right. As if it mattered.)



My group of about 200 starters got ready and off we went. I stayed at the back so I wouldn't get run over. The water was actually a lot cleaner than a week before, and the swim wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I only got kicked a couple times and swallowed some water, but I actually quite enjoyed the swim! While a few people from the next group passed me (they started 10 minutes after we did), I wasn't the slowest swimmer in my group either. The swim took me about 35 minutes.


Here is a cool aerial pic of the swim. The start is hidden behind the metal bar, it's in the top right corner of the picture (you can click on it to enlarge). We swam from the top right to the buoy in the middle of the lake, then down to the buoy on the bottom where you can see the swimmers, then to the buoy in the top left corner of the picture and back to the right. The finish was where the big yellow arch is.

Then came the bike ride. I heard a few comments on my bike when I passed by-standers. As far as I could tell I was the only one doing the Olympic distance who didn't ride a racing or triathlon bike. I loved the bike ride - the roads were closed off and people cheered us on, especially me on my "slow bike". Even a few other athletes did. Needless to say, I had the slowest bike time of all the women. Still, I biked a faster average than usual, despite the hilly route: 27kph. (My usual average is 25kph.) The bike ride took me about 1:30h.

Then I was back in the transition area, put on my running shoes and off I went - right into the first portable toilet I spotted along the race course. :) I decided not to follow the advice I got in the transition area when I asked a race volunteer about a bathroom: "Just let it run..."

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When I ran out of the port-a-loo I almost knocked over my family who happened to be waiting right in front of it looking to the right in the hopes of spotting me. They were quite surprised when I suddenly came up from behind.

I didn't really "race" the 10.4k, but picked a pace that was still reasonably comfortable. My legs were getting a bit tired, but overall I felt good! The best part was when I spotted Neil, Ulli and the kids about 150m away from the finish line, waiting for me. I got to jog the last
100m with Finn, and for a bit Neil and Lily joined us. I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to cross the finish line with Finn in tow, so I let go of his hand before I reached the red carpet leading up to the finish. The run took me about 56 minutes.

After the race.

My total time was 3:15:11. That includes the transitions (they were not timed separately so I don't actually know how long they took me), and of course my bathroom stop. Overall I am really happy about how it went. I was healthy, I felt good, the weather was perfect (not too hot, not rainy), I didn't have a flat tire or took a tumble with my bike. I came in 65th of the 69 women, mostly due to my bike time (and I didn't exactly hurry through the transitions either). My swim and run time I was actually quite happy with. Right now I don't think I will do another Olympic distance on my cross bike, as I said to Neil, it's a bit like entering a horse race with a donkey. I'll stick to the sprint distance for now, work on my swimming, and keep my eyes open for a used racing or triathlon bike.

But not this week. This week I am taking it easy. :)

Happy Birthday, Kristine!

With much love,
Claudia, Neil, Finn and Lily

P.S. The pictures you will have to come get yourself :)

My first triathlon, the long version :)

Last Sunday was the big day - my first triathlon ever! First off: without Neil I could never be doing this, so thank you for taking care of the kids and supporting your wife in these crazy ideas she gets into her head! :)
When we arrived in Munich at around 8:45am it was not only raining and windy, but at 5 (!) °C / 41F also freezing cold. I was more than happy that we were going to swim in the pool.

In case you are not familiar with the sport of triathlon, here is what you have to do: swim-bike-run, in that order. The athlete with the overall fastest time wins. There are a variety of distances, from sprint triathlons (500m/20k/5k) to the ironman (3.8k/180k/42.2k). The one in Munich last Sunday was a sprint distance one, a bit shorter even (425m/19k/5k). There were 4 groups: kids and youth, the "Volkstriathlon"/"everybody group" (women / men), and the "sprint triathlon group" for the professionals and serious triathletes. The kids were to go first, then the women, then the men, then the pros.

So the first thing we had to do when we got there was to unload the car, put rain gear on the kids (lucky Lily got to ride in the stroller), grab my bike and all my stuff and go check in my bike. There was a long line-up, and waiting in the freezing rain was not much fun. Finally it was my turn and while Neil and the kids took off for somewhere dry and warm I set up my "transition area". It was basically a huge fenced-in meadow beside the pool with long lines of bike racks where soon 1,500 bikes would be waiting in the rain. Contrary to most other people I left all my gear in plastic bags. If I was going to bike with wet clothes I wanted to have dry feet at least. And since I wasn't a serious contender for the title (ha ha) I figured a few minutes added to my total time wouldn't matter.

Then I went inside the pool building, got my race number written on my arm with marker, put my tri suit and my timing chip on, grabbed my goggles and cap and put all my other stuff in a locker. As it turned out the race was delayed for more than an hour, because the first group (kids and youth) had to have a 15min break between the swimming and biking as it was still so cold out. So I swam a few laps in the practice pool, ate a banana, wished I hadn't left my water bottles with my bike, wandered around for a bit, ate a cereal bar, waved to Neil, Finn and Lily who were sitting in the stands, ate some more banana which made me even thirstier, and so on.

Finally, we were told to line up (I was number 554) and people started jumping in the water 8 seconds or so apart. We all had timing chips strapped to our ankles and they beeped whenever you ran or biked over a timing mat. There were mats at the entrance and exit of the pool, at the beginning of the bike course etc.


The swim went well, but since I hadn't warmed up properly and didn't want to overexert myself right away I took it easy. Actually I took the whole race kind of easy. :) The 425m took me 10:03min. Then I jogged outside, found my bike, had a drink (finally!), dried my feet, put on socks and my bike shoes, my jacket, my race belt with my number, bike gloves, bike shades and my helmet. Then I got my bike off the rack and pushed it across the wet muddy grass to the exit of the transition area. I got on, crossed the timing mat, my foot beeped (the chip more precisely), and I was on my first of 5 laps on the bike course.


The bike course was something else. We biked around the "Olympiapark" and it was very curvy. There were quite a few 90° turns, plus there were all those puddles. I am not a crazy biker and I actually braked before taking those turns. I don't have a racing or triathlon bike, so I wasn't as fast as a lot of the others, but I wasn't slow either and I had fun! I actually really enjoyed the biking part, especially the fact that the sun came out and I didn't get any wetter than I already was. The race officials had said the course would be 19k long (5 laps), but when I came to the turnoff to the transition area the speedometer on my bike only read 17-something, so I actually went past, but quickly realized that that probably was a mistake. I finally stopped just in front of the timing mat and asked the race official on duty there if the course maybe was shorter? He asked me if I had gone over the mat 5 times and I thought I had, so I finally turned around and went back to the transition area. Turns out I wasn't the only one who had done this, and at least one guy I know of actually biked an extra lap.


So I got off my bike, walked across the timing mat into the transition area, pushed my bike to the far end of the meadow, found my spot, took off my bike shoes, helmet, gloves and jacket, had a drink, put on my running shoes, and jogged up the steep hill (ouch, my legs!) to the running course. Neil and the kids had waved to me and cheered me on while I was biking and I had told them I was going for the run, but I looked and looked and couldn't see them. The run was four laps, and since it was pretty much back and forth you ran the same length 8 times. My legs felt a bit heavy because of all the "stop and go" biking, and I didn't really push myself to the limit, but I noticed I still ran a bit faster than a lot of others. Then I was on my last lap (by now it was raining again) and still no Neil in sight. I crossed the finish line, and I had done it: my first triathlon!

I chatted with a few people, had something to drink, a few pieces of watermelon and a doughnut, and finally left the finish area because I was freezing. I went back to the pool where I had my cell phone in the locker and phoned Neil. He and the kids had just arrived at the finish line and were waiting for me. :) The kids had needed a bathroom and wanted some ice cream, and that had taken them a while. I took a nice hot shower and met up with them.

And this is how I did:
I placed 165th out of 267 women, and 24th out of 45 in my age group. This includes the women from the "pro" group though, who naturally all placed in front of me. I am actually quite satisfied with my individual times. I took a long time in the transitions though, the first one took me more than 4.5 minutes! My bike time was 39 minutes, which of course includes the little detour and chat at the end. There was no timing mat at the beginning of the running course, so I don't know my exact 5k time, but from the time I finished the bike course to the time I crossed the finish line was 28 min, so I am guessing my 5k time was around 25min. Looking at the results there are women who placed way better (let's say around 100 out of 267), but actually swam and ran slower than me. They just biked a bit faster and didn't hang around in the transition area as long as I did.

So, considering this and the fact that I didn't really give it my all I think I can survive the Olympic distance on June 13th. My goal will be just to finish (even if it means walking in the end), and anything under 3.5 hours I will consider a huge success. Now I only need to somehow shed this cold that I can feel coming. The kids are sniffling and coughing too.

And - Neil doesn't know about it yet, but I guess I wouldn't say no if a used racing or triathlon bike happened to cross my path some day. :)

Here are some pictures:

I'm in the middle, in the white cap

I'm on the right