On their 28th wedding anniversary, Seymour’s Brian and Sara Reedy celebrated with ibuprofen.

The high school sweethearts, 1983 grads, competed in a half-Ironman and sprint duathlon in Richmond on June 4.

Three years ago, the couple started getting involved in multisport events together and have been training side-by-side since.

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“Brian and I have been married for 28 years but only started exercising together four years ago,” Sara said. “The first thing we did together was a three days and two nights backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trial with our friends Steve and Rhonda Wetzel.

“We found out we really enjoyed hiking together, and things just took off from there.”

Following their expedition on the trails, Sara decided to get involved in CrossFit, and Brian followed suit.

She said Andy Luedeman was her first coach.

“I was always the one watching from the sidelines wishing I had the nerve to join in,” Sara said. “I finally worked up my courage to attend my first CrossFit class three years ago.

“That class changed my life. I’ll never be able to thank (Luedeman) enough for the encouragement he gave me. It made me want to keep coming back. Through CrossFit, I gained the confidence and physical strength to compete in duathlon.”

Brian got started in competitive multisport races by recommendation from a friend.

“My first sprint triathlon came about because a friend had heard about the Columbus Challenge, wanted to try it, and convinced me to go for it, too,” Brian said.

“Dr. Nathan Otte, one of our coaches at CrossFit Seymour, is also a USAT certified coach and trained us over the last several months to take it to the next level, which, for me, was the half-Ironman, and for Sara was the long-course duathlon at Richmond.”

Typically, the Reedy’s attend strength and conditioning classes at CrossFit Seymour and the Seymour Multisport Club throughout the week.

They also go out on long runs, bike rides and swims together on the weekends.

The Reedy’s have competed in the Columbus Foundation For Youth Challenge the past two years and plan to go again in 2016.

While they train together, they don’t usually compete in the same races.

“We do a lot of our training together, but actually, so far, we’ve competed in different races,” Brian said. “Each event we’ve gone to has had more than one type of multisport race available. Usually, participants can pick between triathlon (swim-bike-run), duathlon (run-bike-run) and aquabike (swim-bike). So far, I’ve done triathlons and Sara’s done duathlons.”

Brian is now working toward a full Ironman event, among other triathlons and biking races, after completing the half in Richmond for 2017.

“I would recommend any endurance event, because there’s no feeling like seeing the finish line after that much effort,” Brian said. “For newbies, there are a lot of event choices out there. At trifind.com, there are 76 events listed for 2016. What’s neat about this site is that there are races that are just for kids, there are different distance races, including some short sprints for people who don’t want a longer race.”

Sara currently aims for the Columbus Challenge Olympic Triathlon in August.

Both said that Richmond’s event was the favorite thus far.

“My favorite part of the whole day was seeing Brian cross the finish line,” Sara said. “He had worked so hard for many months but was apprehensive before the race wondering how his body would hold up. Being able to see him accomplish something so difficult was awesome.”

Brian also said they have grown closer through their multisport ventures.

“I think training for Richmond, and competing there, has brought us closer together, because we’ve been through a grueling, but incredible, experience together,” he said.