Happy Anniversary to ME and a Giveaway for YOU!!

It is unbelievable to me that it has been 3 whole years since I hit publish on this:

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It All Started with One Conversation

To start, let me just say that if you are looking for serious how-tos for training for a triathlon, this is NOT the site for that. This will catalog my own personal experiences--both real and perceived--with multisport racing. It is my goal to show humourous depictions of my training in all three sports, two of which I have little to no experience in. I am a total klutz and the majority of my “athletic” background comes from eleven years of ballet and jazz; from the ages of 3-14, to be precise. I danced up to 4 times a week, and ultimately left due to artistic differences. I saw myself as talented,

and they saw me as klutzy, inflexible and not anorexic.

The full post is here.
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While the first thing that strikes me is how my drawings have evolved, I also love that I can look back on what I have done in my life over the past 3 years. I think that might actually be the point of a blog, isn't it?

Here are the best things about blogging:

1. I have met many fellow bloggers/triathletes/runners, some of whom have become my closest friends!

 

2.  I became an ambassador for FitFluential and Sweat Pink.

And I just joined the Tough Chiks!!

3.  Over time, I also got out of my comfort zone to try new things, like Hot Yoga.

It was nasty.

Indoor cycling classes and aqua jogging.

A Masters Swim class, and a Jillian Michaels Shred class.

 

Sometimes I do these things just for you, my faithful readers.

I got to join my sister and nephews as they ran their first 5k and became runners!!

And one year I was in a 1300 person flash mob!!

Most recently (you're not sick of me telling you yet, are you?)  I ran a MARATHON!

Over the past 3 years I have discovered that I can do so much more than I had ever thought possible.

Oh, and I also discovered that I really like high fives.

 A lot.

So.  In order to celebrate my 3 year blogiversary and to say thank you THANK YOU! A million times thank you!! for reading, I am  doing another...

DRAWING FOR A DRAWING!  

The winner will get their own personalized stick figure drawing, courtesy of TriGirl.  I promise to make it cool and totally awesome.

This contest is open to absolutely anyone!

You can enter by leaving any type of comment you want.  If you would like additional entries, you can: 

1.  Follow me on Twitter (leave a comment with your Twitter handle).
2.  Tweet this post (leave a comment with a link to the tweet).  You can tweet daily and leave a link to the tweet in the comments for an entry.
3.  Tell me a good joke.  Tell me lots of good jokes.  Just put each one in a separate comment so it counts as an entry.

Official stuff:
The drawing will be open until 12:00pm PST (Pacific Standard Time), Saturday December 14th, 2013. Winner will be chosen at random, using Random.org. Winner will be notified via email and blog post. If there is no response after 48 hours, a new drawing will take place.

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!  THE WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN AND ANNOUNCED HERE!

UPCOMING POSTS: REVIEW OF THE KOSS FIT SERIES EARBUDS FOR WOMEN, HOW I TRAINED IN PARIS, HOW MY SUPER-LONG MARATHON TRAINING RUNS WENT

Happy Birthday!!

It's my blog's birthday today! Yup, TriGirl is officially 2 years old!!

And so I thought I would celebrate by looking back at the important milestones.  To start with, here is the very first picture I ever drew for the blog.

In the second post, I introduced TriGuy (referred to only as "the husband" at the time).  Poor guy didn't get much hair or any attached limbs.  Not to mention, he didn't get a stitch of clothing.



Oh wait, there was a scarf and ski boots.



I seemed to frequently forget clothing in the early posts.

Guess my shirt fell off when I crashed.

And sometimes, my friends were missing clothes too.

She must've been going so fast her shirt blew right off.

At times, I had no pants.

I had more important things on my mind, (like figuring out how to pedal with no gears, chains, brakes and no revolving pedals).  Yes, this is in my header picture.  

Of course as time wore on and I got more practice, I tweaked the drawings.  I did eventually decide to learn how to draw a real bike.

As I began to become a more active blogger, I got to take my first big steps.  

I had a post featured on BlogHer.

Twice.

I became a FitFluential ambassador.

And a SweatPink ambassador.

I've done the blog awards, hopped around...in blog hops (Hey, toddlers need play dates!), done guest posts, and met lots of new friends!!   

Through blogging I've even learned more about swimming, biking, and running.  Imagine that!

And, I started a Zazzle shop, where you can buy shirts (YOU CAN CHOOSE THE STYLE, COLOUR AND SIZE), mugs, stickers, aprons, coasters, bumper stickers, binders, phone cases...and calendars.

Last year The Force was not very strong within me and I only sold one calendar.  Maybe it's more powerful this year?  You can click through the sidebar on the right, or just click here!

And now, I have a question for you all.  I've been thinking about my header, and whether I should upgrade to a newer drawing; one that's more representative of my current style.   I am partial to the one I have, but it is a little basic.

So do I go with 

Option A:  Retro/classic (albeit pantslesss) TriGirl

                        or

Option B:  Fancy-pantsied/updated TriGirl

I will tally up the votes, weigh the pros and cons carefully, and then potentially just make up my own mind :)

As I've said before, I'm so grateful for all your comments and support.  Blogging has been so much more than I thought it would be and I am looking forward to all the wonderful things the future will bring!


UPCOMING POSTS:  BLOGGER MEETUPS, TREADMILL RUNS

The Danskin Swim: now with more arms and legs!

One month after the ChelanMan race, it was time for the Danskin!

And guess whose ear was still mostly blocked?

I SAID: GUESS WHOSE EAR...Oh.  Right.

Quick sidebar: here is an actual conversation I had with TriGuy around that time, when he was leaving town for a business trip.

(TriGuy, from another room): "I hope your hearing (mumbo jumbo bumbo wumbo)"

(Me): "What's that?"

(TriGuy now shouting, but still from the other room): "Are you SERIOUS??"

(Me, now shouting as well): "Yes. What did you say?"

At this point TriGuy walked into the room I was in:

I had been on two rounds of antibiotics and it was awesome awful.  I was pretty sure I would never hear properly out of my left ear again...remember, someone's a tad dramatic.

Anyhoo, back to the race.  As with Chelan, once Ann Marie and I were set up in the transition area (which was waaay bigger than Chelan) we set our sights on an end target and went for a warm up swim.  By the way, Ann Marie is in the red cap, which will be relevant in a minute.

We found each other and swam back to shore, then stood around nervously mugging at the camera for TriGuy.

Ann Marie was not overly confident about the swim and was wearing a non-tri wetsuit.  The benefit was that she did not feel like she was being strangled, but the down side was that it was less buoyant and colder.  I told her I would stay close to keep her going.

I made sure we were in a middle round of the mixed-age wave, and off to the side for the start.  We swam out into the chop with lots of flailing arms and legs (some of which may or may not have been my own).

It was so great to look around and see Ann Marie's red cap in a sea of orange, and be able to encourage her through the swim!

The swim was much more crowded than Chelan, with murkier water and lots of doggie-paddlers to weave through.

Finally, I reached the last buoy and headed to shore.  Luckily this race has a HUGE swim out ramp with helium markers and about 50 people standing along it to pull you out if necessary.  This meant that I did not overswim my finish, but the last 25 metres was full of seaweed (or as Tonya from Where Have All the Hobos Gone? calls it, the toilet paper of the sea).

Super.


In other news (in case you missed it):  My blog turned ONE YEAR OLD on December 7th! And I missed the day.

In this past year I've published 56 posts, started selling things on Zazzle (for a preview check out the sidebar on the right), and become a FitFluential Ambassador! But, most importantly, I have made some fabulous friends through blogging, most of whom I have yet to meet in real life!  I am so grateful for each and every one of you who follow, and for those of you who take the time to comment!

Oh!  One more thing:  if you're trying to follow and the widget doesn't work, try reloading the page.  That usually takes care of it :)

UPCOMING POSTS:  DANSKIN BIKE AND RUN RECAPS