Meet Justin, Paul, and Josh

                                                             Josh, Paul, and Justin

As I mentioned previously, my husband will be competing in his first IM with his two younger brothers, Paul and Josh.  Since they are the reason I am writing this blog, I figured you might want to meet the boys.
Justin is a 35 year old Special Education teacher for Plano ISD.  He has been teaching for almost 10 years. When we met 12 years ago, Justin was always going to the gym.  Between 2 part time jobs and full time school schedule he'd still manage to fit in his daily workout.  My sister, Sandra, and I would tease him a lot about what we called his obsession.  We would invite him to come out with us to the bars, and he would normally meet us after 11 pm when his kick boxing class was over.    Once we got married and moved to Dallas, Justin started working as a waiter at a local restaurant.   I also got pregnant with our first child, and although I managed to keep my weight gain to a minimum, Justin seemed to pack on the pounds for me.   I look back at pictures and am amazed that I never saw Justin as an over weight man.  But, I guess love will do that to you.  Once Joey was born, we bought a treadmill and Justin started walking and eventually running.  Since I worked full time, Justin had to fit in his workout while taking care of a newborn.  And, this is how he started:

That baby peeking his head out at the bottom of the picture is Joey.  Joey is attached to Justin via a baby back pack thing, and Justin is on the treadmill walking/ running.  Eventually, Justin started running outdoors and started running races.  And the weight started disappearing.  Again, I didn't even notice his weight loss because to me he was never anything but the handsome loving man I married (I promise this will be the last time you hear anything mushy from me!)

Paul is 32 years old and a Lieutenant in the Navy.  We are so proud of Paul and the sacrifices he makes for our country!  Thank you Paul!  He has been in the Navy for 10 years, travelling all over the world, and is married to a wonderful woman, Patricia.  I am so happy to have Tricia to share this IronMan Widow experience with.  She understands when I call frustrated because the bike has been in my living room for 8 days now, or because I need to talk to someone about something other than training schedules or derailers (I don't even know what that is, but I have heard Justin complain about his recently)

                      Paul and Tricia (sorry Trish, its an old picture but its the only one I have of you two!)

Josh will be 29 years old.  He works for Arizona Outback Adventures (AOA) as a guide/ jack of all trades.  Of the three boys, I think he has the coolest job because he gets to do what he loves and gets paid for it!  He takes groups on extreme camping trips (think hiking down the Grand Canyon) and will be gone for weeks at a time.  Two summers ago, the boys took a trip to AZ to visit Josh and had an excellent time hiking, biking, camping, rock climbing with Josh as their guide.  They did some amazing things and created some awesome memories.

                            Josh, Justin, and Paul on top of some big rock AZ Brothers trip 2010

Even thought the boys only see each other only once or twice a year and lead totally different lives, the bond they share is amazing.  I love how close they are and how often they keep in touch.   They are not only brothers but best of friends!  They keep in touch as much as they can, often through text.  They encourage each other and support each other, no matter what.

Below is a text between the brothers (Paul is the one who initiated the texts, Justin's responses are in blue) that went out last week, I found it funny, and hopefully you can see the humor in it too as well as their personalities.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and meet the boys.  I am already so proud of them and what they have committed to do.