Happy Birthday Karel

I posted this on my blog (Trimarni.blogspot.com) on 10/22 so that I could let everyone know that Karel is officially a year older!!!

According to Karel, he is an old man. Turning 32 is hardly old and I know he doesn't feel 32. Plus, with a 26 year old fiance I hope I have kept him young. If anything, I know I have kept him healthy and kept his tummy happy :)

If you know Karel, it is easy to see why I have been so happy for the past 2 years and 4 months. And if you haven't met Karel, it is easy for me to talk about all his great qualities. If I have to think of a bad quality I would ponder for days just to even make-up one bad quality.

Karel has been a blessing in my life since the day we met. Although I was not ready for a relationship at that time in my life, there was something about Karel that I knew I couldn't get enough of. The more I told myself I wasn't ready for a serious relationship, the more I found myself falling in love with Karel.

Karel is one of the most helpful, thoughtful, caring, generous, funny, encouraging and supportive people I have ever met in my life. Lucky for me, I get to spend everyday with him. I have even been told by many of my guy friends that they also wish they had "a Karel" in their lives. I do share him but he must come home to me at night.

Among his many great personal qualities, he is also an amazing athlete who is extremely passionate about cycling. According to me, if Karel had a philosophy for life, I believe he would say "never give up". Clearly, Karel is someone who never gives up when times get tough and regardless if it is a cycling race or something stressful in his life, Karel fights all odds and seems to always come out with an optimistic attitude.

Not only does Karel love cycling (and me) but he loves taking care of our 55 gallon and 20 gallon fish tanks. After my dad gave Karel a 10-gallon tank, Karel turned a tank with a few fish into a hobbie. And without a doubt, Karel is perfectionist with our fish tanks just like he is with bikes and anything else he does in life.
Karel also loves his cat (smudla) who I believe is really MY cat :) Probably because I feed her everyday but I have clearly adopted Smudla and made her a girly-girl cat (hence the pink collar with bows).

Karel is also very close to his family, just like myself, and we both can't wait to have little athletes and start a family of our own. Hopefully we can be great parents just like our parents.

Karel has always supported me in all my adventures and when life gets tough for me he has a way to cheer me up and turn everything around. I am not one who deals with stress very well but to have Karel make me laugh when I am sad just makes me feel much better, no matter what I am stressing about.

I don't feel like I need Karel to live life my life but I can't imagine my life without him. Karel has a lifestyle that is similar to my own and because of that I am so happy. Karel has made me a better person and he gives me strength for all my weakness's. If it wasn't for him, I would have a lot of broken appliances and of course, a bike that I wouldn't know what to do with. I have also found myself doing things that are scary for me or out of my element and because of Karel believing in me, I gain so much confidence from him.

This is also a special day for me as well because it is our 1 year engagement anniversary. Not sure if we will always celebrate these little milestones but I couldn't ask for a better person to come into my life, brake down my routine and show me that is ok to love someone and to not be afraid to just be myself.

Happy Birthday KAREL!!!!

How we met

Karel and I met on my b-day, May 31st, 2006. My training partner, celia, had mentioned there was a guy who she rode with, that she'd like me to meet. He was from the Czech Republic, he was an amazing cyclist and just a very sweet and nice guy. I was in no way ready for a relationship but I am always up for having a new friend. Especially someone who likes cycling.
Although I was excited to meet Karel, I stood him up on the wed before my b-day because I was too afraid of the group ride. See, I'm not much of a fan of fast group rides (especially back in 2006) and that ride would be my first time riding with other people. Having just finished the Florida Ironman 70.3 in Disney I was still a little sore and very very nervous to ride with people I didn't know.
2 days before my b-day I received an email from Karel. It was a very nice email, introducing himself and telling me that he'd like to get to know me. Finally, I decided that on my b-day I would try to suffer as long as I could and I would go to the group ride.
To start off my b-day, Karel sent me an e-card wishing me a happy birthday. How sweet! I still have that e-card saved in my email box.
Our introduction was quick since there were 20+ people around and the ride was about to start. I thought Karel was super cute and of course, how could I not resist a guy in cycling shorts :)
Well, to no surprise the ride was so hard that I could barely make the warm-up of the ride. Luckily, Michelle (a wife of one of the riders) rides in the opposite direction during the Wed night Landsbrook ride (3-mile loop course). I met up with her, introduced myself and as we started chatting she had nothing but great things to say about Karel. After telling her more about myself, she said that Karel and I would make such a cute couple. I was smiling pretty big....but again, I had convinced myself that I couldn't handle a relationship right now in my life.
After the ride a group of people went to the Varsity Club sports bar for a post-training drink and some food. For my b-day, this was a great way to celebrate me turning 24 and of course, I have a really nice guy sitting next to me.
Seeing that Karel and I have been together for 2 years, we have had many opportunities to get to know each other. When we met, Karel was a bit worried about his english and for the fear of saying the wrong thing or messing up on a word, Karel kept pretty quite for our first couple of dates. However, once he started talking cycling, he was like an open book ready to talk.
The evening went great and after exchanging numbers we continued talking via email, a little on the phone and on instant messenger.
During the next few months, Karel and I went to each other's races and Karel came to my first IM in Panama City Florida. We even traveled to Lake Tahoe to visit my grandparents and with our bikes with us, we rode the mountains in Reno and even biked around Lake Tahoe (around 75 miles to cover the entire lake). I threw Karel a surprise b-day party on Sept 22nd for his 30th b-day and I think it took him a good month to get over that surprise. I did my first century (100 mile) ride with Karel and Karel did his first (and probably last) 10K with me at the Clearwater Turkey Trot. Most of all, I discovered that a relationship doesn't have to be difficult when you have your best friend to spend your life with. Karel is someone who accepts me for me and doesn't try to change me. He supports me just as much as I support him and we both enjoy spending time with each other. Although our relationship may seem crazy to some people, it works for us and we make it work because we both have similar lifestyles, yet different passions.