[Thor]

Save The Date for My Wedding!<br><br>
No, this is not an open invite. I apologize, I wish I could, it's just that the Ironmate and I cannot afford to have a head count for our wedding any higher than it is right now.<br><br>
Rather, this is to share with you the theme for my wedding. I post this because many of you have been with me through my early days in triathlon, during a time when my relationship with the queen was just beginning, and many of you have read through my posts to see, just as I did, exactly how I discovered love and then went on to act on it in a proposal more fitting for the journey to Dreams of Iron and self discovery and even love, and many of you have even stuck with me as I brought it all together at the halfway point in the marathon at Ironman Wisconsin, my first Ironman, where I graced the streets of Madison (at State Street, where it meets the Capitol building, to be exact) with my knee before I found courage and energy to serenade my soon to be Ironmate. Perhaps even better was that many of you had a hand in inspiring me to not only reach for my own Dreams of Iron, but you also help guide me toward the ultimate in self discovery -- the discovery of love.<br><br>
Save The Date:<br><a href="http://kirleis.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://kirleis.wordpress.com/</a><br><br>
Our story of discovery and love:<br><a href="http://kirleis.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">http://kirleis.wordpress.com/about/</a>

 

[LeftRightRepeat]

Fookin' nut.

 

[hobey]

That is an awesome Save the Date. So fitting.<br><br>
I had to laugh at your "Butternut Squash" blog entry. Brought back many, many memories of when BrewDad and I planned our wedding long ago. Wedding coordinators are supposed to be that accommodating. <img alt="razz.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/razz.gif">

 

[MBannon]

Awesome! Love the Save The Date.

 

[SpartyGirl]

Love it! And thanks for making me cry on some random Monday<img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">

 

[Tithers]

that was so sweet!<br><br>
It's also my spring break<img alt="sad2.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/sad2.gif"><br><br>
sniff.<br><br>
CONGRATS!

 

[Kate60]

Very fitting for an wedding born from Iron. I'll be running the Monument Ave. 10K with 30,000 others, very appropriate for your big day.

 

[brix24]

Thats so cool! DP and I are talking about taking the plunge to! I have even been looking at engagement rings last week (I do not wear any jewerly at all except for my polar HRM watch).<br><br>
It's hard to sort just that out let alone all the details you and H are looking at! I suggested to DP to running away to Fji or Rarotonga and geting hitched there...<br><br>
Keep up the blog - look forward to hearing more about it all!

 

[Silly Sally]

Sweet ... I wish you all the best!<br><br>
So I notice, Thor, you are a whole head taller than Heather ... are you just really tall or she really short? Either way, it's nice to see you two so in love ...<br><br>
Cheers,<br>
Sally

 

[neil donnelly]

Thor & Heather -<br><br>
excellent really rea;;y good<br><br>
Neil

 

[BethR]

Awesome Thor. You guys are such a cute, perfect couple.<br><br>
I especially liked the entry in save the date, "and, if you’re lucky, turn it into a college party theme with an open bar and a lot of dancing" - reminded me of my own wedding. College party that moved after the reception to a hotel room packed with people and a tub filled with ice and beer. Then to the hotel pool where the boys went skinny dipping and the bride was thrown in with her veil (and luckily a change of clothes). -- and almost 15 years later - I'd do it all over again!!

 

[Yo Sake]

Just so sweet. Wish you guys the best. Save The Date.

 

[Thor]

Thanks for the kind words. The Ironmate is busy designing our Wedding Invitation, which will be a follow-on of the Save the Date. The idea is neat. I'll be sure to share when it's done!<br><br><b>Silly Girl</b><br><br>
Yes, Heather is much shorter than I. I'm about 5'10" while she is, well, as she likes to say, "A little bit over 5 feet." But I think she's lying. And she's even admitted as much. She says 4-foot-something just doesn't seem right. Either way, it's cool... she's a short shit... my little short shit.<br><br><b>Kate</b><br><br>
Monument Ave... very cool! Good luck, I'll be thinking of you as I'm drinking my sorrows away, or maybe dancing my batchelor days away.<br><br><b>Beth</b><br><br>
Your wedding sounds like it was awesome! And very much like my older brother's. He married only a few years after graduating college so, naturally, he had many of his college fraternity brothers there. Talk about beer fest party crashing into a dance floor. And like yours, we took it back afterwards to a collection of hotel rooms, where I think we stole just about everything not nailed and even that which was nailed to the walls and ground. I got caught trying to steal a painting, and the bright shiny engine from a real prize firetruck. The funny part is that after all this, we all stumbled over to a friend's house who had a pool. Someoen thought it a good idea to see if they could jump from the second floor master bed room into the pool. Everybody followed suit. But me, of course, because, as you may remember, it was still a time way before triathlon, so I stayed as far away from any body of water, including a pool... but I watched! During this time we shackled a bowling ball and chain to my brother's ankle. I kicked it like a soccer ball as he lugged it around. But before you knew it, everybody went cold silent as my brother, with balling ball in hand and the chain still securing it to his body, appeared at the window of the second floor bedroom. We feared the worse -- that he would jump. Our worst nightmare came true. The son of an idiot jump. With bowling ball and all. Down he went while we all remainded in awe of what was happening. Here he was, jumping into a pool, into the deep end, with something sure to bring him to his early demise. Splash! He went under. Silence everywhere as we all suddenly sobered by what was happening. And just when we all started scrambling -- shitting really -- the bowling ball popped to the surface followed by my brother. Bowling balls float. Who knew? Not us. Makes sense as it's all cork. But damn, that was close. The night ended after we all had a good laugh.

 

[BethR]

Thor, that's hysterical. Tell Heather she's smart for waiting until you are a little more, ahem, mature!<br><br>
One other fact about my wedding night - after the pool party, when the sun was starting to rise, we tried to check into our room at the same hotel where we had the reception - but they had given our room away. This is a small town in Georgia, and apparently, our wedding coincided with a softball tournament and all the rooms were booked - all the rooms in the whole town!! So, on our wedding night, we took a cab to my parents house and slept on a foldout couch! An inauspicious start to say the least.

 

[Thor]

Yeah, but you tell it like a badge of honor, as if it's a memory to pull out when you're sitting by the fire with hot cocoa in hand and nothing but the content smile on your face only because you're in each other's company. I'd say it was a GREAT start!<br><br>
My brother does bowling balls, you do softballs... <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">

 

[ericd256]

Beth<br>
I also slept on the inlaws fold out on my wedding night, because we just plain forgot to set something upfor teh night. 3 days later though we were headed cross country because of a change in duty stations ,so it all worked out in the end. However 2 weeks before the wedding we went to Disneyland for 4 days.

 

[Thor]

The funny part about the Save The Date is that the inside image with a guy on his knee with diamond in hand and the girl leaning with hands to her cheeks in disbelieve (or maybe relief it finally happened!) is totally true to form.<br><br>
The Ironmate was so surprised when she realized that I wasn't collapsing in front of her or looking for a seat but rather tapping her on the knee so that she would look down and me before her. She had thought I was having trouble fishing for a salt tab and pointed over my shoulder at a bench by the bus stop in front of the Capitol building. "There's a bench over there if you want to sit," she said. I tapped her leg again to get her attention. And that's when it happened. As soon as she looked down, she was so stunned by what I was holding -- and I was on one knee -- and looking into her eyes and smiling that she instinctively leaned in and cover her cheeks with her hands, as if they would cover her surprise. I stared into her eyes and held her gaze until she calmed down and until I thought she was well enough in the know of what was happening. By then the entire crowd was cheering for us, pointing at us, and saying, "Look at him... he's proposing... he's proposing... he's really proposing." And then I serenaded my shortstop with the speech of my life. By the time I stood to my feet I realized I had tears in my eyes. For the first time that day -- a day of chilly pouring rain -- I felt warm. As I held her in my embrace, I looked up to see the Capitol building squarely in front of us. It was a sight I will never forget and a pilgrimage we will make for time to come.

 

[BethR]

That will go down in history as the coolest engagement story EVER!!<img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">

 

[melistic]

I don't mean to be dense. So for the record, the theme for your wedding is swim - bike - run?

 

[LeftRightRepeat]

Sorta waiting to see how this one pans out myself.