Pining for the Fjords

I know I'm pretty irreverent around here sometimes, but maybe I'll lay off for a day, since I have something serious to discuss. Diabeetus. Crap, I really am bad at this.  Okay, starting again. In case you didn't know, today is the 10th anniversary of the day Chris was silly enough to marry me.  For the past 10 married years and the past 12 years total, he's filled my life with joy, and I just can't say enough about what a wonderful man he is.  I'm so proud of him for everything he's achieved - for moving across the country from his home and serving the USA in the Navy for six years in the bowels of an aircraft carrier (sailing twice into the Persian Gulf), for working through the first few years of his degree program to help support our family, for earning his engineering degree (half at UofA and half at ASU) and going on to land a fulfilling career at W.L.Gore and Associates, for all of the feats of endurance and athleticism he's achieve

As all of you probably know by the flurry of posts on Facebook last Sunday, on 11/17, Chris finished his very first full Ironman.  That means he swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles, then (and only then) ran a full marathon.  He's out of his damn mind.  Overall, he did very well, hitting his goal time of 13 hours with an extra 30 seconds or so to spare, and I'm really proud of him.  Here's how the day progressed - get comfy, this one will be long... Pre-Race The Friday before the race, Chris went to the race area in Tempe (the race was run in and around Tempe Town Lake, about 40 minutes away from our house) and checked himself into the event.*  He picked up his gear bags, snazzy backpack filled with goodies (and ads for sport-related services...and BioFreeze, of course), and his wristband, which he'd have to wear throughout the end of the race festivities. Labeled! On Friday night, I accompanied him to the Ironman dinner, so I ended up with my own wristband,