Did you know that prostitution is legal in Germany? We knew it was here in the Netherlands, you know with the red light district in Amsterdam and everything. But outside of that, we never saw much evidence of it anywhere else.

Until Sunday, that is. We go to Aachen every weekend to hang out at Starbucks for a little while. We drink coffee and tea, read books, and then head out and wander around Aachen for a bit, just window shopping and enjoying the city. We've walked around Aachen enough that we are pretty familiar with the area, and generally know where we are going.

This past Sunday, we wanted to find an outdoor café to sit at and people watch after going to Starbucks. We walked a bit and then decided to go back to a café we had seen earlier. We decided to cut down a sidestreet as a shortcut back to the little square we were looking for. The street we chose to cut down, however, was apparently Aachen's very own "red light district". At first we glanced in a window and thought, Uhhh, okay., and the as we were walking, we realized that all the windows had scantily clad women sitting in windows. Watching us. Because we were the only people walking down the street. Ever been on a silent, empty street full of hookers in the middle of a Sunday afternoon? Hello, awkward!

We were sufficiently uncomfortable by the time we were halfway down the street, and trying hard to continue the conversation we had been having about Ben's triathlons. But it was hard because all we could really think was, Keep walking, no eye contact, keep walking. Once we got past the woman standing on the sidewalk in underwear and high heels, though, we were in the clear. And apparently one block over from the shortcut we should have taken.

I guess you learn something new every day.

Ben's first HIM

What is a HIM? It is Half-Ironman. So you are sitting there thinking, "Ha, Ben is only half a man." Well, think again. This past weekend, Ellen and I went to Antwerp, Belgium (about 90 miles from our house). The race itself consisted of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run.

Let me set the picture for you. I started training for this race in January. However, in that time I have gone through some set backs in my training. I spent a week in Italy (no training), I had that whole hands falling asleep thing, and I sliced my thumb open. All in all I lost about two months of quality training. Oh and the whole time I have been training it has been cool and overcast. Not this weekend though. It was 85 and not a cloud in the sky. Let's just say I was not 100% ready for it, but I did it.


This is Ellen and I before the race started. Notice me squinting because of the sun and I do not look exhausted.

So the race started with the swim event at 1100 am.

The swim is kind of chaos. I am the one in the red swim cap. "What you can't see me?" Well I am one of the 900 in that small area of water. So we start all floating and smiling and telling each other good luck. And then as soon as the gun goes off it is fight time. I got kicked in the face, the gut and had people holding on to my feet, all in the first 2 minutes. I finally got into my grove half way through the swim and finished in a respectable 35 minutes (my goal was 30)

Now it is on to my 3 hour bike ride.


Not much to say about the bike ride. It was very long and tiring. I had some minor mechanical problems. And my back started to feel as if Greg had been jumping on it for 2 hours but I finished the 56 miles with no major incident and only sore muscles.

And then it is onto the 13.1 mile run.
Now let me just say, "This sucked" I think my exact words to Ellen on lap 3 of 4 were "F*%$ this SH%$" It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to finish which was 45 minutes slower than I had hoped for but hey I made it to the finish line.


So now you might be asking yourself "What could Ellen have possibly done for 6hours while Ben was punishing his body? Don't worry she found stuff to do. It usually had something to do with her and her friend Carol sitting in cafes and always involved shade.


So now I have finished my first big distance race and seen the other side. Not the other side as in I am never doing this again but the side where I realize I really need to train better for this stuff. Especially before next year where I try to tackle the full Ironman (2.4m swim, 112m bike, 26.2m run).

Oh, in case you were wondering this is what I look like after baking in the sun for 6 hours and doing 70.3 miles of endurance sports.

Notice the blank stare and the appearance of race suit still on hours after my race.


"I AM A HIM FINISHER!"

Off to Antwerpen!

This will be our second weekend in a row traveling to Belgium. We leave in just a few hours to go to Antwerp for Ben's half ironman triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) and last weekend we went to Bruges (or Brugge for all you Dutch speakers) for a marriage retreat sponsored by the chaplain. It was a pretty good deal - free hotel and meals, and all we had to do was sit through hours of pretty awful exercises in communication.

I wanted to blog more about Bruges, but my computer decided to take it's own little vacation this week and wouldn't start up, so I had a few problems with the blogging. But don't worry, I'm back and my computer is once again happy and healthy after getting a stern talking to and some pounding on the keyboard. Unfortunately, I'm short on time though, so all I can do is give you a few highlights from last weekend...

Lots of canals



Old buildings (The city center of Bruges has remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages)



And swans


And baby swans!


There were also more chocolate boutiques than you can possibly imagine. I would have taken pictures of those too, but I was too busy eating.

So now we head to Antwerp, Ben with all his triathlon gear, and me with my friend Carol to keep me company. Ben's race is tomorrow, so think victorious thoughts for him!