Que U2, The Sweetest Thing “Blue eyed Boy meets a Brown Hazel Eyed Girl; Ooo oo the sweetest thing…”

We will try to keep it short…

Fourteen years ago Tim and Kristin met through a mutual friend during a high school dance, yes, you read it right! It was a Romeo & Juliet situation, not because of a family feud and we are both still living, okay so it is nothing like Romeo and Juliet, but we say that because we came from rival high schools, and down in Tennessee that. is. big! Thankfully we were overcome with love for one another and able to ignore the threats and yells of the opposing teams and honestly we really did not care much for football. Don’t get me wrong, we were active, Tim was in the marching band; I mean he was the drummer *cool kid alert* in the marching band! Actually the only way the opposing schools came into play was at Track and Field Meets, because we both pole vaulted. 

Okay, so we said we would keep it short, so, jump ahead 15 years and here we are, expats living in Seoul, South Korea. In those 15 years we finished out high school, graduated from college, had internships that turned into jobs, and then took a leap of faith and moved to Seoul. During our 8 years in Seoul, we have moved 3 houses, had 3 boys, and just made the expat life our normal. Currently Tim works as an aquatics director at an international school and Kristin works on keeping the 3 energetic boys alive at home. The eldest son, Titus, is in Kindergarten and loving every minute of it. Axen, the 4 year old, is extremely sweet, stubborn, and active all at once. Isaac, the menace, or 3 year old, is a little bulldozer, full of energy and able to extend a lot of power, physical and verbal, from such a small body. 

Growing up we were both active. Tim has been a swimmer since a young age and continued to swim in college, he was also a triathlete in High school with a little pole vaulting on the side for fun. Kristin spent 11 years of her life as a gymnast and then moved on to cheerleading, soccer, and pole vaulting during high school.  Since moving to Seoul, we both slowly stopped exercising and began eating for convenience and comfort. Tim kept it up a little more than Kristin and even ran a marathon a few months after Titus was born. However, he fizzled out after the marathon due to work demands, enrolling in a Master's program, and having a newborn at home. Then 2 more boys came along and we were in survival mode. Working out and eating healthy were no where on our radar. That lasted about 4 years before Tim was approached by a few students’ parents about a new triathlon team forming in Seoul.(When we first moved Tim was on the lookout for triathlons in Korea, but they were few and far between; many bike groups, but he had a hard time finding triathlon groups.) These dads introduced Tim to Youngwhan Oh, the coach & founder of Seoul Tri. Tim trained with them a few times and was hooked! He signed up for 2 races that fall (2015) and the rest has just followed. After a few months of Tim training, Kristin realized she was missing out and started swimming off and on. She realized that exercises was giving her a little “me time” along with improving her patience and attitude with the boys at home, so she soon stuck to a schedule of swimming 2 times a week, and has continued on with that to this day. 

Along with slowly beginning to exercise, we began changing our eating and drinking habits. We cut out sodas completely and just consumed less sweets and baked goods. We also tried to have some portion control at meals and have healthier snacks in between (i.e. nuts instead of chips). Tim decided to make the big change he wanted, he had to cut out beer from his diet. We didn’t follow a specific diet plan, but simply started making conscious choices about what we put in our bodies. 

Now about a year and a half into our new healthy lifestyle habits, we are realizing how important it has been for our whole family to be involved. We thought through how we have all made changes and how it brings us closer as a family. How Tim works full-time and trains, all while still able to have family time; he does this through including Kristin and the kids in his training!  We want others to know that it is possible to lead a healthy lifestyle and to include your kids in your workouts and races! Triathlon is a demanding sport but in no way is an independent sport. Kristin and the boys play a vital role in Tim’s training. So, we have started documenting our experiences in hopes to encourage you to get out, get moving, and do it as a family!