Happy Birthday to Karel!!

Sending a big Trimarni birthday shout-out to my amazing hubby Karel!!!

Here are a few fun facts about Karel: 

-Karel's first language is Czech (and he has a nice accent to prove it)

-Karel eats bread and chocolate.....daily. 

-Karel has an espresso in the morning as he waits for the coffee to brew. Karel loves (good) coffee.

-Karel has a cat that understands Czech because she was the women in Karel's life before he met me. 

-Karel and I were set-up on a bike ride in May 2006. I stood him up for 3 weeks because I was afraid to do the group ride. 

-Karel loves beer....IPA to be specific. 

-Karel eats meat but rarely red meat (on occasion). He is a great eater and Trimarni creation tester...he will eat anything, even tofu. He loves wings. 

-Did I mention Karel loves beer, coffee, chocolate and bread? 

-Karel is a cat 1 cyclist (loved crit races) and has raced bikes all his life, especially while growing up in Czech. He has finished the Pro race for the Athens Twilight twice (which is part of USA Crit Speed Week) and is a 2006 Tour de Gila finisher and 2010, 2011 Pro 1,2 Florida Cup Series Champion. You can see all of his cycling and running results on our website Trimarnicoach.com about Karel

-Karel loves to ride his bike fast...especially down mountains...like really, really fast. 

-Karel just learned to swim 2 years ago in the late spring of 2012. 

-Karel's first triathlon season started in June 2012, a sprint, followed by an Olympic, followed by a half IM (Branson 70.3 in 2012). His first IM was in 2013 (Placid)

-Karel has never ran an open marathon and doesn't intend to do one anytime soon. His marathon PR is 3:11:17 (after a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike). 

-Karel was the general manager of the Trek Bicycle Store of Jacksonville from 2008-2014 (the reason we moved from Dunedin FL to Jax).

-Karel has completed 3 Ironmans, PR of 9:22 in IM Austria and is a recent IM Kona qualifier (2015)

-Karel knows everything about bikes...seriously, everything. 

-Karel's family lives in Czech. 

-My dad loved Karel since the day they met. Karel impressed my dad with his knowledge of cars and electronics. My dad loved Karel's work ethic (and that he knew Karel would always take care of me). Karel learned a lot from my dad and he was the first person he would reach out to when he had a money, life, electronic, fish or car question. 

-Karel's dad and brother visited the US for the first time to come to our wedding in October 2008. Karel mom came for the 2nd time. We had the Sumbal and Rakes family together at our wedding. 

-Karel's other hobby (aside from tri training) is fish tanks. We have 2 fish tanks - a 55 gallon and 75 gallon (fresh water). 

-Karel and I work together, live together and train together. We pretty much spend every minute together most days during the week. To say Karel is just my husband is an understatement. He is my best friend, business partner, coach, training/racing partner and biggest supporter. 

-Karel is an amazing doggy daddy.