Will Tri for Dilettante Chocolate

Well guys, my first race for 2013 is on the calendar, and it's the perfect race for me.  I've been invited to be a race ambassador for the Dilettante Women's Triathlon!  File this under a totally cool blogger moment.

This is my first race ambassadorship!

A lot of my local blogger peeps will be ambassadors as well so it should be a blast!  There's Jill, Kerrie, Becky, and Erika that I know of. Here are the race details:

Saturday, June 15th 2013!

Sweet calendar, eh?

Five Mile Lake Park in Federal Way (just south of Seattle).

Females only.  Apparently guys don't want to race for chocolate.  Also this will not be permitted:

All athletes must be 12 years of age by 12/31/13.  If they are too young to swim, bike and run, they can write nifty signs and cheer from the sidelines :D

What do you get?
Bragging rights!

Also:
Race day results!  Post-race food!

Yum!

Plus:  Chip timing!  Dilettante chocolate!  And a finisher's medal!

Oh yeah.

• They will have a Sprint Distance and an Olympic Distance (new this year! And pending approval).
•  Individual registration includes an Age Group, Athena, or Friends and Family category.  
• They also have 2-person and 3-person relays so you can ease your way into the sport if you're not ready to take on the whole enchilada!
• Bonus:  15% of the race entry goes toward supporting King County parks.

Want to come race with me?  Or beat me?  I will be doing the Sprint Distance in the Friends and Family category so we can start the race together!

You can get $10 off the race entry by using the code TRI-INGDWT13!

UPCOMING POSTS: BIKING, SWIMMING, AND RUNNING (since I will be racing, you know)

*Disclaimer:  I was given a free race entry in exchange for being an ambassador to help promote the race.

Some Michiganders and a Californian-My Rock 'n' Roll Weekend

My Rock 'n' Roll half marathon race weekend last month was EPIC.  Not only did I have a great race, but I got to meet some of my very favorite online friends in real life (IRL!) It was akin to meeting the cast from your favourite T.V. show.  The one that you've watched forever so you feel like you know the people, yet you would still be completely starstruck to be sitting amongst them.  

The switch from online friend to IRL friend can be tricky.  After all, everyone has their online persona.

Confession time:

The first person I met was Adrian from Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls.

She writes one of the first blogs I ever followed and is among my very first bloggy friends. When she first emailed me to ask for hotel recommendations for the race, I offered Casa de la TriGirl.

Once we both agreed that it totally wasn't weird to invite a sort of stranger to stay in your house, or to accept said invitation from a sort of stranger, the plan was set.

Adrian flew in the day before the race, and I recognized her immediately.

She kinda gets that a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

We drove straight to the race expo and chatted the whole way. It wasn't weird, for the record, and it took my mind off driving on crazy overpasses and into the middle of downtown on a weekday in the pouring rain, which apparently means that suddenly no one knows how to drive (because you know, it's not like it doesn't rain here EVERY DAY!).

After checking out some free stuff at the expo,

we met more bloggers for lunch at a nearby restaurant.  As we rounded the corner, another familiar face that I had only ever seen online was grinning at me.

It was Megan! And her boyfriend Ryan was right beside her! 

It was like a celebrity sighting; like Brangelina, but Rygan...Myan? Anyhoo, like that, minus the multicultural children, and the weird tattoos, and the creepy beard that Brad sports on occasion. Plus, Megan totally gets along with her dad and has even turned him into a runner!

Along with them were a few more familiar faces:  Megan and Kevin, and their baby, Charlotte.

Those blue eyes were soooo big!

Erika and Julia were there, 

(I just love the pigtails) 

along with some of Erika's friends.

Then more local bloggers joined us: Lindsay, Nicole, Tasha, Lauren, and Stacie!

After some more expo-loring (get it? expo and exploring?) it was time to go home.  Adrian had brought me a bag of gifts that was fantastically awesome.

The next morning we raced, and that evening, we went out for sushi.

We had a great time getting to know each other better, and after dinner we went to a pub. We sat around in a little side room with flamingo beer bongs and mustachioed guitars hanging on the wall. Suddenly, Erika noticed that Ryan had attracted some unusual attention.

Megan shooed the (presumably drunk or otherwise altered) woman away and asked Ryan what that was all about. He replied matter-of-factly,

Touche', Ryan.  Touche'.

The next day, TriGuy, Adrian, and I went out for breakfast, then we went downtown for some sightseeing. We met up with Erika and the Megans, with the menfolk and childfolk in tow. We did the regular, fun touristy stuff, but one of the highlights of my day was watching Megan walk backwards while she was talking, and knock over a magician's table with his magic trick movies on it.

It proved to me that she is exactly who she claims to be on her blog...and that we are most definitely kindred spirits.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, and the only sad part was having to say goodbye to so many good friends that I had just started getting to know.  Perhaps it's time to start looking for more races...

UPCOMING POSTS: MORE RACE REPORTS, YOGA (for real), LONG RUNS

11 Pictures for 11 Things

Disclaimer:  there is a section in here about Anta-Say Aus-Clay being ot-nay eal-ray...if your children (or you) are not ready for that, please skip that part!

I was tagged by the lovely Megan at On the Road Again.  She had a baby practically yesterday and has already run a 5k since then.  I would say that running is in her blood.

Here is what must be done for this post.

Rule 1:  You must never talk about 11 Things...thank you, and good night!  Ok, no.  Rule 1 is that you must post the rules.  So, here are (the rest of) the rules.
Rule 2:  Answer the questions provided by the tagger, then create 11 new questions.
Rule 3:  Tag and link 11 new people (is there anyone left on the internet who has not done this??)
Rule 4:  Let the people you tagged know you tagged them.  Yeah.

1. Marry/Kiss/Kill (from 90s sitcoms):  
Marry:  Berg from Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (click on the name, you'll thank me for it).
Kiss: Joey from Friends, because:

Kill:  Sondra from the Cosby Show.  What was up with her??  She was soooo annoying.

2.  You have one day to eat whatever you want with no caloric or weight penalty.  What do you chomp on?  This is seriously the hardest question to answer.  I'll go with grilled cheese, homemade pasta, chocolate-covered pretzels, and ice cream...I'll stop there.

3.  What's one thing that makes you smile no matter how angry or sad you are?  Great music I can sing along to.

Or, you know, the occasional 90s female rap song.

4.  Name a guilty pleasure TV show.  I told you guys this one before,

(hello, Jersey Shore) but my other show is American Idol.  Up until last season I never missed an episode.  Maybe it's because I used to sing a little on stage, but mostly it's because I love all the crazy auditions, from the joy of the golden tickets to absolutely clueless disasters.

5.  A time traveling machine will take you back to any decade you want.  Which do you choose & why?  The 70s.  At my current age, not as the small child I was back then.  Awesome fashion and no wars...oh wait.  Still, the fashion rocked.  If only we hadn't ridiculed my mom into swapping her 70s gear for hip, cool 80s wear.

That pink flower is a little allusion to some upcoming news.

6.  What fitness activity do you absolutely loath?  I ABSolutely hate working abs.

It might have something to do with my technique; I'm not ruling that out.

7. Wen Hair Care by Chaz Dean:  Does it really work?  Alyssa Milano seems to think so (and she was Tony Micelli's daughter), and that damn infomercial is so convincing.  Isn't this Jessica Simpson's hairdresser? (Don't ask me how I know that, but thank you Megan for sending me into a 10 minute vortex of hair info on that site).  Also, it just seems like a lot of work.

8.  Pancakes or waffles?

Anyone notice a theme with me and delicious food?

9.  If you were to get stuck in a hot air balloon with someone for 17 hours, who would that person be, and how would you pass the time? Someone with a strong neck,

because those things are a wind gust away from a plunging death.  So, I would pass the time begging to find our way back to terra firma, while trying not to faint...which would of course lead to that plunging death I just mentioned.

10.  At what age did you find out that Santa was not real? 

 How did you react?

Actually, I'm not of the Christmas-celebrating persuasion, so I found out early.  And kept it a secret from my friends for a really long time.  Like, a really long time.

11.  What's you favourite thing about Fridays?  That I can sleep in the next day!!

Now to tag 11 people to answer the following 11 questions (it seems like an even 5 would be an easier number, but rules are rules).

Adrian at Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls
Gillian at Craftzilla Conquers the World
Kristin at And She Ran
Ginga Ninja at Vapid Vixen
Ali at Running w/ Spatulas
Jennie at Well Shut the Front Door
The Sarcasm Goddess at For the Love of Writing
Pish Posh
Ricole Runs
Pickleope
Cranface

The 11 questions:
1.  What was the biggest surprise you ever received?

2.  What is your favourite thing about...you?

3.  What is your hidden talent?

4.  Beer, wine, or tea totaller?

5.  Do you have a tattoo?  What is it?  And where is it?

6.  How does Donald Trump make his hair stay that way?

7.  What is your favourite foreign accent?

8.  Can you drive stick?

9.  What's your stand on male facial hair?

10.  What is your favourite toy from your childhood?

11.  What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Anyone else want to answer these questions?  Feel free to do the post, or I would love for you to leave your answers in a comment!

UPCOMING POSTS: SOME THANK YOUS AND SOME YOGA.

I'm linking up with the Not Mommy Blog Hop this weekend. If you have a blog that is not a mommy blog, head on over!

5k Love 'em or Leave 'em: I loved the run but I'll leave the cold!

As you may or may not remember, last week I met up with some bloggers for a run.  Stacie and Rebecca were signed up for today's Love 'em or Leave 'em 5k, and Ann Marie and I decided to join them.

We did race-day registration, so we needed to show up over an hour before the start of the race.  I left my house with my phone, license, cash, a credit card, my health card, and my virtual run bib.

I met Ann Marie and we walked a mile to the race area.  I had dressed in my fleece-lined Nike Combat Pro shirt, Lululemon compression tights and shorts, Tommie Copper compression ankle sleeves, and a pink loooong sleeve thin Nike running shirt over top, just for good measure.  You will mostly see me back in my typical garb in this post, but I wanted you all to know that I did dress for the weather.

(It's a good thing I'm not a brand ambassador, because I love them all!  For the record, my shoes are Brooks Defyance.)  The pink shirt was a last minute decision, and it took a comment from Ann Marie to realize that it was a good idea since this was, in fact, a Valentine-themed race.

We went to the registration tent to pay.  I pulled out my cash.  And saw that I had not brought enough. And they did not accept credit cards.  Luckily, it was Ann Marie to the rescue with a cheque!

This is not the first time I've been completely clueless about race details. 

It was chilly cold enough to freeze a witch's...um, do kids read this? Let's say broomstick...cold enough to freeze a witch's broomstick (wink-wink, nudge-nudge), and I wished there were someone handing out coffee.  There was some great cinnamon chip bread and some Nuun, neither of which warmed me up.  I threw on the long sleeve shirt that came with registration, but the shivering had begun and I couldn't stop it.  We happened to be in front of the First-Aid tent, so I asked if they had any hand warmers.  I was told I couldn't have any.

Oh well.

With a good 30 minutes until race time, we met up with Stacie and her husband.  At that point, Ann Marie and I made executive decisions that we would wear all our layers throughout the race.  Ann Marie had to switch out her race bibs, and I had to take off my race shirt and pink shirt, then put them back on in the reverse order.  I offered to help Ann Marie with her bibs, but then changed my mind, as I was otherwise occupied trying to free myself from my bubblegum-coloured shirt...while still shivering.

Finally, we were set.  Stacie's husband took some pictures of us.  Pulling our shirt sleeves over our hands did not make us any warmer, and I, of course, continued to shiver.

We wore our Running for Sherry bibs on our backs, and it was nice to see other runners sharing their run in her honour.

We met up briefly with Rebecca, took another picture,

then headed off to the start line.  We joined over 3,000 people (and many dogs and babies in strollers).

The race horn sounded and we were off! ...to a slow walk.  Eventually the pack thinned out and we started running straight to a bottleneck.  After that, we were finally moving.  Rebecca was off like a shot, so Ann Marie and I ran a bit with Stacie, but very quickly lost her.

The majority of my first mile was spent worrying about my Achilles and trying to get feeling back to my fingertips.

The second mile was pretty perfect.

The third mile had me straining to see the finish line and trying to keep breathing while not falling behind Ann Marie.  She stayed with me the whole time and made sure I didn't slow down; then as usual, she told me to push it at the end!  I finished in fabulous form.

We went back to the registration area for more bread, and got some Honest tea (look for us, eventually, on their Facebook page!)  

We officially finished in 31:20 (10:07 miles).  And while I finished my tri 5ks in less time last summer, I am very happy with today's race time!

Oh!  One other odd thing happened:  After I recovered from the run, we started walking again and I got shoved by an old bitty kindly, elderly lady in a puffy white coat.  I may have yelled at her a little.

Yeah, that happened...more or less.

P.S.  Anyone notice my new URL?? Sayonara 'blogspot'!  Because my blog name is a mouthful as it is.


NEXT POST: YOGA, AS PROMISED.  THIS RACE (AND POST) JUST SORTA HAPPENED).

Don't Call it a Comeback!

"I been here for years!"* (Click link for "Mama Said Knock You Out" video.)

I know that when you think of me, you really can't help but compare me to LL Cool J.

It's uncanny, really.

If you don't know who I'm talking about then you are either:

A) younger than me,

B) older than me, or

C)  unaware of the amazing genius of the man who knows that the Ladies Love Cool James.
I know this lady does; can I get a

up in here?

Um, anyhoo.  If you follow me on Twitter--and actually read my tweets--then you'll know that January has been the month of #nomoreexcuses and #FitFluential (!) and #OpHardCoreFit (!!) and #makeitcount (!!!)

While I'm trying to be reasonable about how fast I jump back into training, I'm also trying to convince myself that I am fine and that I don't have to be afraid of every little twinge when I work out.

So, with that in mind, I started running.  Just a little bit on the treadmill.  While wearing my Tommie Coppers (again, I bought them and this is not a paid review).  It didn't hurt.

I started lifting weights again.  It didn't hurt.

I started running outside.  It didn't hurt.  I ran a little further with Ann Marie.  We ran again, a little further.  And then, last Saturday, we ran 3.1 miles.  That's 5k.  A race distance feels pretty meaningful.

AND THEN, TODAY I got to meet 3 girls from Twitter/blogland: Lindsay, Stacie, and Rebecca (who, for some reason I called Rachel for the first hour, and she was too polite to correct me!)  They joined Ann Marie and I to run 4 (FOUR, QUATRE, CUATRO) miles!  We celebrated our meetup by finishing up with some froyo!

*Full disclosure:  I have only been writing this blog for 13 months.

Hey, wanna join Operation Hardcore Fit?  Just click on the button on the top right side of my page and it will take you over to Megan's awesome group at Watch Mego Run!

Question Time
1.  Who's making a comeback right now? How are you doing with it?
2.  Who rewards themselves with food? (I know we're not dogs, but humans love food too...just sayin'.)
3.  Who loves LL Cool J? (*eyebrow waggle*)  Ladies?  Guys?  Just me on this one?


NEXT POST: MY RETURN TO YOGA