I'm Getting hitched!!! What a weekend

Well as some of you may know by now. I'm engaged!!! Woop, Woop!!!

Thats right, Mary actually proposed to me.

Not just a "will you be my spouse" thing. It was huge and dramatic.

We where in Wisconsin for Mary's 4th Ironman. She had a really solid day throughout, coming out with a new PR (personal record). The day started with the swim and seeing Mary come out of the water and heading up the helix to T1 and her nice new bike. Katie, Alida and myself took a

fast pit stop for breakfast, and headed out to Verona to catch the bike portion. We found a great spot on the corner and I got John's bike out and set off looking for Mary. In no time at all she came by finishing up her first of two 42mile loops. We all cheered and took pics as she passed by. I tried to keep up with her for a few miles and snap some more action pictures but she was flying , and after about 5 or so miles I turned around and headed back to the girls to wait for her 2nd pass by before heading back to Madison. As soon as she passed by we jumped into the car and where off to catch her on the run. Just as we got set on State street she came out of T2 and came running by looking so good with a huge smile. (More on the reason for that smile later). So once past us I headed off on the bike to see what I could see. I right away ran into Hillary (Biscay) and rode off of her side for a couple of miles finally leaving so as not to get her into a dis-qualification senario. Then i found Mary finally coming up the Howard Temlin Lakeshore path, she looked great and was just hammering. I rode by her for about 3 or so miles, and then decided after not eating at this point in about 7 hours, I needed fuel. I bike back to State street to meet up with the girls at BW3 for a quick chicken sandwich and then back on the bike to find Mary. Locating her at the roundabout by the Vet school roughly 16-17 miles into the run. She still looked great, but said she was starting to fade do to lack of calories. So she spent the next 2-3 miles taking in all she could, finally getting some chocolate chip cookies at 18.5 mile (just before the big hill section) which seemed to do the trick. Funny enough just shortly after this I decided to stop at the end of State street where she had a little out and back turnaround. This is funny because at the exact moment is when Katie handed her a surprise for later. I did not even notice anything at this point and was back on the bike next to her for another mile or so. At mile 21 I asked her if i was annoying her and if i should just head back to the finish line. Mary said just go hang out with the girls at the finish line and I will be there soon. As I was about to leave i notice her carrying a (what I thought was a white t-shirt) and asked her if I should take it for her, she tells me no thats ok, I will keep it in case I get cold. I am thinking COLD, how the hell is she going to get cold and this point of the race? One thing I know though is that you DO NOT question someone at mile 21 of the run during an Ironman, you just do what they say! So off I headed to the finish.

This is where it is still amazing that everything fell into place. (stay with me). So before going to the finish line I decided to go back to the hotel to drop off the bike, so I wouldn't have to deal with it later. Then i decided shit i have time i might as well take a shower also. Then i headed to the finish figuring that I still had about 15 minutes before Mary would be there. When I arrived the girls where standing and cheering for the finishers and said hey come on up here and stand by us. Just then Hillary texted me that she was in the vip tent, and to come by and say hey. So I tell Katie I will be right back. Later I find out she just about shit herself when I left!!! I walked over to the vip tent and said hey to Paula and Heather and noticed a nice opening right next to the finish line, so I stepped up into the prime position. Doing so i could see Katie and Alida looking for me so I waved at them and they saw me, i yelled I will right over, and they are like, no, no, just stay there you have a better view! less than two minutes later I can see off in the distance a white bra, and blue hawaii print skirt and knew it was my girl. So i readied the camera and as she approaches I see her holding a sign over her head that through the camera and at a distance I thought said something about Des Moines, I thought someone must have gave it to her in the last straight away seeing she was from Iowa. Just a split second later as Mike Reily is calling her name out I see the sign and as Mike reads it out loud I read it "Dan, marry ME"

Holy shit!!! as I take off to meet her at the medals area, I run up and hug her and say YES!!!!

Wow! what and exciting moment. The girls show up just minutes later and apparently Katie hands Mary the ring, and she gets down on one knee after 12:39:00 minutes of racing and places it on my finger. It just doesn't get any better than this my friends. The crazy thing is that everyone at the race and in Phoenix and Iowa knew all about this and I never had a clue. What is so ironic is that I had been trying to figure out just the perfect time and place to propose to her (again)!

Lets just say the next night was a bit of a celebration and i may have celebrated just a bit too much. It made for a LONG plane ride back to Phoenix, but we had fun. What a trip and thank you to everyone that helped Mary pull this off, it is something i will never ever forget!!

Mostly, thank you to you Mary for making me the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!