Australia Part One: Adelaide

Michael had to attend a conference in Adelaide, Australia, so we took this opportunity to give ourselves a BabyMoon!

 We started with a few days in Newport Beach, CA over the Thanksgiving holiday with Nikki's Dad.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel, Larry Flynt was a few tables over.  It was weird. (For some reason this is the only picture I have of our time in Newport Beach.)

Next we flew (14 hours) to Sydney, where we had a short layover (and they lost Nikki's bag) before flying to Adelaide, a small city in South Australia.  Michael attended a conference at RAAF Base Edinburgh. 

Our hotel was in downtown, on the River Torrens: 

Adelaide is not a tourist destination, but has some amazing botanical gardens:

And a hospital where whole-body care is clearly a foreign concept:

On one of our last nights in Adelaide, we took the tram out to the suburb of Glenelg, which is on the coast:

 On the beach with Doug, Michael's co-worker:

We also found out the sex of baby Craig!  (You'll have to wait though!)

 These guys were hilarious.  Totally cementing the asian tourist stereotype.

We also visited a german suburb of Adelaide called Hahndorf:

But it really looked like the Baz Lurhman movie "Australia."

Michael ate his first Kangaroo meat.  Nikki helped.

On the way back downtown we took pictures of Adelaide at night from atop Mount Lofty (creative name.)

We went to the Cleland wildlife park and met some dingos, koalas, kangaroo and interesting birds.

Did you know that Koalas smell like eucalyptus (and not a stanky animal) because that is ALL they eat?? So interesting and yummy smelling!

Under Construction...

Yes, the blog is about a year behind. But, we promise, updates are coming soon! And we have lots of big news to share. In no particular order...Ironman, Ironman, Pregnant, Australia, Christmas, Baby!

Because If You're Not Training 20 hours/Week, You Need a New Project

We're happy to announce that we're expecting a baby!  

Baby Craig will be joining us Spring 2013!!!

Michael Craig, You Are an Ironman!

Michael raced Ironman Wisconsin on September 9th, 2012!

Michael and our friend Emily at the Team Z Ironman Send-off.

Michael's niece Erin getting ready to cheer

Monona Terrace goes IM

Checked in and finally got a backpack as cool as his wife's!

Ready to swim!

2.4 mile swim, done!

Michael's niece Erin and nephew AJ cheering in cow country

Looking good on Loop One of the 112 mile bike course

Michael's sister Mary and AJ

Erin LOVES the camera!

Michael had the biggest cheering section ever!  Sister Mary, nephew AH, Nikki, Step-mom-in-law Jane (and Dundee), Step-dad-in-law Bruce, Dad Wayne, Cousins Russell and Patricia, Niece Erin, Cousin Burt, Walter the Dog and Grandma-in-law Mary

Nikki got to spend awesome time with Rocky and Walter!

Still looking strong on Loop 2!

Out for a 26.2 mile run to finish off the day!

Crossed the finish line..feeling like his legs are numb.  (This is a normal feeling for most people after a run, it took Michael racing an Ironman to feel it for the first time.)

Recovering.  He slammed 3 chocolate milks, which would exit his body a few hours later without really being digested.  Chocolate milk as a recovery aid needs to be ingested in MODERATION.

Michael and Nikki post-race.

Luray Triathlon

Michael did his last practice race before his Ironman this week! Luray Triathlon

 Michael placed 3rd in the military division and got his award from Ironman legend Dave Scott!

Nikki did the swim leg of a relay and volunteered at aid stations all weekend, a welcome break from racing.

After the races, we toured Luray Caverns

Disneyland. No, world. The one in Florida. Whatever, it's hot.

We went to Disneylandworld this month with the Craig Family.

Yes, it was hotter than hades, but we had a good time regardless!

Michael, Nikki, AJ, Wayne Adam, Russell, Patricia, Erin and Mary

 Mark this day... Nikki beat Michael at something!  Michael lost on Buzz Lightyear by 15,000 points.

 We had a fun day at Animal Kingdom with Kim, Meredith & Sean Graves

And we finished off our weekend by eating our way through Epcot!

"Nicole Craig, You Are and Ironman!"

Nikki is an Ironman!

Ironman Coeur d'Alene was amazing!  Nikki and Bruce finished at 11:45pm and had an amazing time!  For details and more pictures, see the Nikki's ridiculously long race report HERE.

Countdown to Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2012 (Aka How to Almost Derail a Year of Preparation 3 weeks before.)

It's May, and IM CDA is in June.  Yikes!  Its very surreal to see something you've worked so hard and so long for come up so fast.

 

Nikki's last race in prep for IMCDA was the Columbia Triathlon.  Columbia is notorious for being crowded, hectic and very hilly...perfect practice for an Ironman!  It was the first very hot day of the year, and The Team Z Coach kindly told Nikki the night before the race that this is "The single hardest Olympic distance run course in the country."  Awesome.  Note to Ed: Silence is Golden.  Especially the night before a race.

 

Here is the transition, 3000 people (around the same size as a standard Ironman field.)

 

 

Training rides and runs have gone from "hot" to "surface-of-the-sun" requiring more frequent stops and creative cooling-down techniques.

 

On Nikki's last long ride (120 miles, 3 weeks before Ironman) she had little oopsie at mile 54.  Her bike and a patch of dirt got into a fight, resulting in some sort of damage to the scaphoid bone in her wrist.  (Possibly broken...won't know until the bone starts to grow back.)  Some very friendly strangers threw her and her vomit-and-blood covered bike in their SUV and drove her to the emergency room. (somewhere...Leesburg, maybe?)

Huge thanks go out to our friend Sam who kindly drove 60 miles (one way) out of DC to pick her up, also bringing clothes and shoes.  (Because Murphy's Law clearly states that the day you end up in the ER is also the day you decide to "test out" your race day clothing and are inevitably sitting in the hospital dressed like a $3 hooker in bike shoes.)

 

Huge thanks also go to friend Liz for putting on Nikki's deodorant and doing her hair for two days.  And, to the stranger in our elevator who kindly didn't run away screaming when Nikki had to ask her to unclip her sports bra.

 

Friends always come to the rescue..."Oh, you can't do your 20 mile run and are having an emotional breakdown because you might not be able to race your Ironman?  Come to brunch!  We'll even cut your food for you."

 

Note: Writing left-handed is HARD. 

 

 

After two days of emotional turmoil and uncertainty, the Orthopedic surgeon at Fort Belvoir gave his blessing for Nikki to finish her training and race IMCDA.  "You can't damage it any more than it is, so if you can go through the pain, go for it."  He even gave Nikki a handy brace that allowed the doing of hair, application of deodorant and removal for swim practice.

Hair by Liz

You might have a question...where was Michael during all of this??  KOREA.  Where he went without leaving Nikki information on where was going, staying or how to contact him.  He regrets these actions.

 

 

Now the countdown begins!  There is a LOT of preparation into an Ironman race, particularly one three time-zones away.  This is the chart on the bathroom wall just to keep Nikki's head on straight (you should see the Excel spreadsheets!)