USA Triathlon Nationals

Ann is all ready to take part in the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Tuscaloosa, AL on the University of Alabama campus. 1300 of the best amateurs in the country all qualified for this event. Ann, Steve and Abby headed out on Friday for the Saturday race. Abby was excited to go on a trip alone without Jax or Catie. "I am going on a trip with mommy and daddy. No Jackson. No Catie." She repeated over and over for days before we left.


Where is Waldo? Ann is making sure that Abby and Stiv can spot her seconds before the start of her swim wave. The race day conditions were hot with the high temp reaching into the 90's. The weather at the start of the swim was perfect, but the rising temperatures would have an impact on the run...

Ann is right in the middle of the melee that is the start of any good swim wave. There were some awesome swimmers in this race, so Ann did not have her usual advantage.

Peek a boo... here she is spotting toward the end of the river swim that was mostly against the current.

Abby made herself at home sitting on some stranger's transition bag waiting for mommy to finish the swim. She was a real trooper during the race and helped dad take all the photos. BTW, we had a really cute outfit picked out for her to wear, but she insisted on the Ernie shirt that of course did not match!

Ann was 10th out of the water and looked strong...

After a quick transition, she is off and running with bike in hand toward the two loop bike course.


Wow, Ann was so fast that she was only a blur as she went by on her super fast Trek TTX..."The blue streak"!

At the start of the run she was feeling strong, but the heat quickly took its toll as she continued. Not one of her better races!

It ended up being a tough day out on the hot course, but it was still a lot of fun and a good experience overall.

Abby thought she was so cool wearing mom's flip flops as we waited for Ann at the finish line.

"Jackson Schwartz, you are an IronKid!"

The Stien Mountain Triathlon team was dispatched across the country this past Sunday. Jackson, Connor and Matthew McGee participated in the IronKids triathlon in Alpharetta, GA while Ann Hattamer finished her first full Ironman in Madison, WI! Just a reminder as to what an accomplishment a full Ironman is... it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run!!!

Above, Jackson may look like he has his game face on before the big race, but we think he was kind of nervous...

Ann looks the picture of pain and concentration half way through the run, as John runs along side to help motivate her for the miles ahead. Ann finished in under 14 hours and we all watched her cross the finish line live on Ironman.com. What an accomplishment!!!

Look out Kona... John is competing in the Ironman world championships in three weeks (and getting married!!!). Even better, the Schwartz clan will all be in Hawaii too!

The bike is all tuned up and ready for action. Jax was talking it up with some fellow competitors on the way to setup his transition area.

Tips from the "old" pro prior to the start. Jackson was awful quiet before the race, we think he was real nervous. Ann did a nice job of easing his nerves.

Everyone chilling in the shade before the start....

Just look at the size and chaos of the transition area! Fortunately, Jackson had no trouble finding his spot during the race. The race had almost 1,200 kids participating from all over the Southeast! Some of the parents obviously take this too seriously, several of the kids had triathlon bikes with aerowheels that cost more than our bikes!

The eight year old boys are lined up and ready for the "time trial" swim start in the 50 meter pool. In typical Schwartz fashion, we did not hear the start of the race and Jax had to run to the starting line! Stiv said "it was like watching myself only he swims better than me"

There were so many parents surrounding the pool that it was extremely difficult to get a clean shot with the camera or even see your own kid! Not sure why Jackson's head is so far out of the water, it looks like he is posing for the camera.

He looks like a pro coming around the corner heading into T1!

Tic Toc Tic Toc....we thought Jax might struggle in transition trying to put on his socks with wet feet, but he was actually very efficient. Probably even more efficient than his Dad!Jackson was so fast on the bike that Stiv missed him and did not make it back to the finish line to get a action shot of him finishing the race. We had to settle for a nice posed shot.

BFFs are proud of each other's efforts and were extremely supportive of each other. They obviously are not imitating their parents because Stiv and Donovan are always out to beat each other!

Catie started Taekwondo with Master Taylor last week and loves the fact the she is wearing Jacksons old gi. It was so fun to watch her in class!

The Offical Close of Summer!

While the temperatures remain warm, Labor Day Weekend brought with it the first hint of fall. Monday morning pre-dawn temperatures were barely at 60 degrees. Steve and Donovan went for an early morning ride and actually had to use arm warmers for the first half of the ride!

Never one to wait around, Ann took the kids to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the morning. The Shores came along and enjoyed an absolute gorgeous day.

Everyone playing nicely... Jackson, Catie and Abster are known far and wide for their cooperation and loving behavior.

"I tried kissing this frog but no prince to be found!!! "

The kids have been begging to go to the Zoo, so of course we obliged. It turned out that the baby giraffe naming ceremony was the day that we went to the zoo. And, when the world's biggest cake is made...the Schwartzes are there front row and center! The cookie cake was quite something... Jackson got all of the stats. It was 12 ft by 18 ft, weighed over 400 pounds, and had 2,400 pieces!!

Catie's favorite animals are lions and the Atlanta zoo has a outstanding lion exhibit. It is interesting how her temperament is so similar to that of a lion... As we say..."better a lion than a sheep!"

This is Mr. Frumble, walking across town without a worry to be had.....

Mr. Clean...
If you look carefully, you will notice that Catie lost her first tooth! She is also wearing a mood necklace... as you can imagine, that thing changes colors every five seconds...

Habitat for Humanity Triathlon

We now have another official member of the Stien Mountain Triathlon Team. Lesley McGee decided she was going to get back into shape after having baby Brennan last year and signed up for the Habitat for Humanity Triathlon as motivation. After only six weeks of training, she managed to get herself in shape and finished the triathlon in style. It was really quite an accomplishment. Donovan, Matthew and Connor were all very proud.

As you can see from the picture, Stiv decided to do the race at the last minute. He figured that it would be a good chance to finally beat a McGee....

The sprint race was on a tough course with extremely steep short hills. To top it off, it was raining for 90% of the race with thunderstorms during much of the bike portion. What a setup for Lesley's first triathlon... after this, the next one will be a breeze.

Notice the rain in picture below... at least no one over heated...

Stiv finally broke through and managed a third place in his age group! We kept trying to take different angled photos to try and make the mini-trophy look bigger! One award down and about 75 more to go to catch up to Ann's trophy count....

This picture shows the kids clowning around prior to the race. It was one of the few moments that the rain stopped. Connor and Matthew participated in the kid triathlon later in the day and both won trophies. Jackson was reading in the car during the race.... "It's too rainy outside..."

Catie making the most of the day...

This is actually how everyone felt about the day!

That evening, we went out to dinner at the Shores and upon our arrival home, found Abster sleeping in the position above. I guess everyone was wiped out from the long day.

Abster has started getting ready for "school" just like her older siblings.

This is why playdough should be banned from all residential settings... what a $#@% mess!!

First Day of School

Jackson and Catie ready to start the school year! It is hard to believe that class start in early August...it just does not seem right.


Catie is excited to start Kindergarten at Midvale and thinks she is so cool because she has Jackson's old teacher Ms. Aycock! Truth be told, we are happy too because she is far and away the best teacher.


Here they are entering the school together for the first day. Jackson was a great big brother and was very serious about showing Catie the ropes. He said "Dad, if Catie gets in trouble at school they can call me to take care of it instead of bothering you or mom."


Ready to start 3rd grade with Ms. Walker. "I got the best seat in the house!"


Catie started her first day of school like a veteran and walked in like she owned the place. She said a quick hello to her teacher and then went and found her name tag.


She was extremely happy to have been seated next to her friend Lizzie! I wonder how long this will last? They are having a blast together so far!