Which one would you pick?

I was trying to help out and come up with new logos for the next t-shirt for one of my local club's programs and came up with four designs and one of these is the existing design.   Which of these do you like best, let's take an unofficial vote.  Another appropriate answer would also be NONE, please start over!  In my field of work I learn how to take "constructive" criticism so don't be afraid you'll offend me.

1.

 
2.

3.

4.

5.

What's your vote?

p.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE.  You're chances of winning are REALLY high!!!!!!

"I Workout" Monday Funday Super Fun Prize Pack Giveaway!!

This week is going to be my longest training week of my entire Ironman training program and I am a little nervous and excited!  Only 4 more weeks to go and then it's time no more excuses!  My dad has been keeping track of the daily countdown and he is as excited as I am, I think! Now before I completely lose my sanity or become grumpy by the end of this week I thought I'd share a little fun on this Monday!

Were there enough eye catching words in that title to get your attention, or just enough to piss you off?  Well I hope it was the first cause I do hope you enjoy this giveaway that has been a long time in the making!  I had promised hubs that I would help pay for my IM trip by garnering support through the sales of some shirts and to date he is the one that's done all the work selling a huge portion of the men's shirts to Marines that wanted to show their support!  So don't be surprised if you see a flash mob of Marines wearing this shirt!  :-)  Just kidding I already tried to convince them to do a dance video and he told me not to push my luck! 

So I was going to do a giveaway with just the shirt but I thought what the heck I'll throw a little bit of everything in.  So here's what you get if you win: 1 shirt your choice men's or women's, 1 pack of greeting cards which will contain 2 of each (bike, running shoes, flower), some stickers for you to rock on your car or whatever other creative places!

Be warned you will get stares and smiles when you wear this shirt but it's so much fun!  And if you win one it would be awesome if you submitted your own dance video wearing the shirt... or not... your choice.


Now what I ask of you in return to enter for a chance to win this awesome prize pack is to do to 2 simple things:

1. Like my page on FB https://www.facebook.com/CautiouslyAudacious 

2. Share my giveaway on FB just click the share button.

For bonus entries share this giveaway on any other site, twitter, your blog, etc. 1 bonus entry for each in addition to the 2 things above.

You can leave 1 comment here or on my FB letting me know you've done this.  

I will draw the lucky winner randomly on November 6, 2012.  (I like even numbers)

Thanks in advance!  http://cautiouslyaudacious.blogspot.com/p/shop-cautiously-audacious.html

Happy Monday!  Happy Training!

Tribute Sport Giveaway!

I got a package this weekend and look what was in it!!

Tribute Sport was kind enough to send me some samples of their jewelry and I couldn't keep it all to myself now could I?  So let's do another giveway!  I'll draw two winners for one of the above pictured running inspired necklaces.

Let's keep it simple to be entered you just need to do 2 things and most of you have already done one of them.

Go to FB and "Like" my Cautiously Audacious page then go on over and "Like" Tribute Sports page.  Leave 1 comment (here on my blog) telling me you've done both of these and you are entered!!

Now of course you can earn some bonus entries.
+1 if you share this giveaway
+1 if you go to Tribute Sport's webpage and tell me what your favorite item is they have more than just jewelry!

So you could leave 3 comments total if you want to maximize your chances :-)

I will announce the winner on Friday May 18, 2012.

On a totally separate note look what my dog does as I'm hauling her food inside!!

My question is if she thinks it smells so good and can't wait to get a hold of it as she follows me through the house then why when I tell her "go eat" is she so stubborn?  Lately I've had a hard time getting her to eat I've had to start adding water and that helps for a while. :-)  She's just high maintenance...

Winner, winner! and Go DAD!

Let's get this weekend started off right with a winner!

 I used Random.org to generate a random number and the winner of the awesome technical hoodie is:

Maggie MagMileRunner!!!  Send me an e-mail or message me on FB with your address and which size and color you want on the technical hoodie!  Congratulations!  A special thanks again to Running Chics 

Also the giveaways don't stop there so don't be a stranger.  Actually don't be a stranger even once the giveaways stop :-)  I love getting comments from fellow athletes and support!   Happy Friday!!

Go Dad!

I am very excited and nervous for this weekend!  My dad and I have a sprint duathlon race near where he lives.  It is our 1st father/daughter race that we are participating in together and it is his 1st race in over 20 years.  It is also our 1st step towards our long 7 month training journey to the Ironman.  This will be an indicator of how much work we have ahead of us.  He's the one that 1st got me into the whole triathlon scene back in the day with Ironkids when I was 11 and now he's been inspired by me to get back into shape and get back in to triathlons.  Not many people start as ambitious as an Ironman right off the bat but I am there to support him every step of the way!  I will post a race recap next week to let you know how it all went.  Here's to a good race and weekend!

Technical Hoodie Giveaway!!

My goodie bag!

As promised another awesome giveaway!!  This one is courtesy of Running Chics!  These wonderful ladies were kind enough to let me try it and give one away to a lucky winner!  When I first saw this hoodie on their website I thought it was a sweatshirt style but it is a technical hoodie which means the material is perfect to run in or to throw on right after an event.  I got a medium and it fit perfectly.  I love the style and color and I was even happier when I saw they would put which ever "chic" I choose, of course I picked the "triathlon chics" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail on the back too!            

Notice there is a pocket on one side that is just the right size for keys or ID!  I liked the zipper in the front too!

Don't worry I won't quit my day job to become a model :-)  I think it's safe to say I am a little awkward in front of the camera.  But I had to show you how it fit....  Now all you need to do to enter is these two simple steps:  

1.  Like my FB page Here.

2.  Go to Running Chics website Here and let me know which is your favorite sports "chic" off their chic - er ticker.

Bonus entry if you share this giveaway!

Winner gets a hoodie of their own in their choice of color with their choice of "chic".  Also men don't be shy enter and win one for your significant other!  I've always dropped hints that the perfect gift would be sports related! :-)  Giveaway ends on Friday April 20th, I didn't want to end it on Friday the 13th!! 

Wall Humper and Road ID Winner!

Before I announce the winner of my Road ID giveaway I have to tell you a short story about my swim int he pool yesterday!  I'm swimming my laps in the last lane minding my own business while the spunky elderly ladies follow along with their aqua aerobics instructor in the other lanes.  BTW there is this one lady that takes that class and she sees me getting ready to swim and every time she tries to convince me how I should join them because I can burn more calories :-)  I don't try to explain to her the concept of triathlon training I just tell her I'll have to try it some day, is that wrong?  The other day she walks in and announces to the entire locker room "It must be Easter Guilt cause the gym is packed!" I love how the older you get you say whatever you want and LOUDER!!! 

But that's not my story, my story is then someone else gets in the pool to share a lane with me but I go a few laps without seeing him pass and I notice it's because he's doing this weird stretch that looks like a frog humping the side of the pool, that's the only way I can explain it and I'm such a good artist I thought I'd try to show you what it looks like:

Ok so I'm not a good artist but it was kind weird.  I still gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it's just a really good stretch I'm not familiar with.  Then out of no where he torpedoes under me and scares the crap out of me!!!  He would swim the length of the pool without breath under me close to the floor and since he was wearing flippers he'd be really fast.  Then he would do that stretch again then torpedo again, and repeated this about 10 times every time scaring me, then his workout was done.  THE END.   Hope you enjoyed my Swim Tale :-)

Now the winner of my ROAD ID GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!  I used the Random.org website to generate a random number... and THE WINNER IS:

Trish at Begin Again and Again!!!!!!!!! 

Congrats!  E-mail me your e-mail address and I can send you the code to redeem the Road ID of your choice up to $35 which for me covered the Road ID I picked, an extra arm band, and the shipping :-)

Stay tuned I have another fun giveaway coming up VERY SOON!!

Impromptu Midnight Relay for a Cause!

Good cause, good people, laughs, delirium, cops, Cujo, trains, stars, robbery, all in a night to remember.  I said I would never do a relay no matter how much my friend coaxed me.  On Friday at work I received a text from her "Call me now!"  I thought something was wrong so of course I called.  "We gotta do this relay!"  of course I said no but then she explained what it was for:


The Cause:

The Ulman Cancer Fund

The People:

Revolution3 Triathlon

They are doing a Run Across America to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund and there is still time to donate!  They have two teams that leap frog taking 8 hour shifts and they take turns running.  They contacted our running club because they need an 8 hour shift covered while passing through NM so they could nurse some injuries and get some well deserved rest so my friend decided to come to the rescue last minute and put together a team to take it on!  It was such a great experience and even though we only met them briefly I could feel the energy that each of them put out!  Some of us on our team had never met other than through DM or FB but we all had fun. 

Cops/Robbery - We were in the middle of no where between midnight and 8am with our hazards on going really slow following runners with a head lamp/vest and blinking red lights, so we got pulled over at least 5-6 times.  A couple of times the cops asked our runner if we had seen a guy in jeans walking and we had actually noticed 2 guys dressed in black walking together on this desolate road and thought it was odd but then we figured they thought the same about us.  The cops told us they had just robbed a store and took off with lights on.  Another one just wanted to make sure we were ok and once we explained he just waived us on.

Cujo - There was one small town that we ran through that was very scary mainly because each house had at least 6 vicious dogs protecting it and  Cujo was on the lose while one of us was running, luckily he just sniffed our runner a little and took off but he was HUGE and scary and when it was my turn to run my heart was racing so fast and I've never been afraid of dogs.  Once I looked over to see one racing towards me with gnarly teeth but then it came to the end of it's chain!!!!

Trains/Pooping in the desert - Another one of us was apparently scared to death of trains, we couldn't stop laughing (sorry) I mean seriously who's scared of trains :-)  I appreciated when the trains came by because I figured the loud noise was scaring away critters that might have been lurking in the dark waiting for us to pass by.  She did get over her fear of pooping in the open though on this trip we were all so proud she's officially an endurance runner now!!

Can you guessed who organized this for us?  Maybe the one that looks way too excited to be running a relay at midnight?

 After all that we made it back safe and it was an awesome experience.  Although it confirmed that I am grumpy when I don't get sleep and not a very good night runner I did manage to get 9 of our team of 5's 48 miles in and even though I wouldn't want to do a relay that was actually a race I loved the experience and my running friends and all for a good cause!  I then came home and went for a 2 mile hike/walk with a friend who it was her 1st time exercising and I'm so proud of her!  She did awesome and has a plan to get healthy!  Another runner rushed home because he still had to go pace his wife on her 1st 10k race ever and she did awesome!

It was a good weekend folks!!!  How about you would you rather do a 36 hour running relay or an Ironman?  IM for me thanks!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my Road ID giveaway HERE!!! ends April 6th

Salad a junk food?

For the last month I have been meticulously logging my food intake and energy output and it's been working I've lost 4 pounds since I started doing that.  Now on occasion I let myself splurge and yesterday I didn't bring my lunch to work so I decided to let myself eat something I wouldn't normally eat, a salad from a local fast food restaurant that is right next to where I work.  Now before you say anything hear me out.....   When I normally eat a salad I have a vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy dressing and the only fats in it come from either some olives or avocado which I consider good fats.  This particular salad had Ranch dressing (I'm going to guess it comes with about 1/4 of a cup) and shredded cheese on top, it did have some sunflower seeds on it.  So this salad had about 45 grams of fat and came in over 500 calories.  Now sometimes the salads aren't too bad but if we know the nutritional content of them would we always pick them over something more delicious?

Exhibit 1:

My favorite micro brew/restaurant I would always have the Spinach salad because I knew I was going to indulge in a beer.  Well this is what I found out:

Spinach Salad 590 cals 48 g fat

when my real favorite is

Vegetarian Calzone - small is 580 cals 21 g fat and that's with cheese which a lot of times I ask for it without cheese :-)

Exhibit 2:

How about Boston's I use to get their Greek salad and pass on the pizza then I saw this

Greek Salad   900 cals 84 g fat

 Now I know you can't forget about the nutritional value of some foods when picking what you're going to eat but I'm just saying I wish that all restaurants were required to give us their nutrition info. and I greatly appreciate the ones who do because then I can plan for when I splurge :-)  The last couple of days I've been having to dodge things like this:

But that's a whole different story!


Do you ever check for nutrition info online before going to a restaurant?  What is your favorite "splurge" food?  Don't forget about my ROAD ID Giveaway there is still time to enter HERE!!

1st Giveaway Stay Safe!

I had mentioned I have some super cool giveaways coming up and the wait is over!!!  My first giveaway is a Road ID you can pick which style you want, the color, what you want it to say etc.  Because I like you guys so much I want you all to stay safe out there.  1st of all let me just say everyone I have had contact with at this company is exceptionally friendly the customer service has been excellent.  2nd of all if you are like me this is one of those must have items for your gear bag that you keep saying you know you need but haven't gotten around to it.  So now is your chance!  I got 2 different color arm bands and I put 2 emergency contacts plus an inspirational saying for myself "Death before DNF"  :-)  NKA for No Known Allergies (they give you a run down of all the medical abbreviations you might want to use).

It comes in this nifty little box:

You can see the green arm band I also got a red arm band it's inside the box.

This is the style I got, very sturdy and it latches like a watch, ohh fancy...

I won't show you the actual Tag that has all my info because I don't want everyone calling my husband up :-)  but you can see what the tag looks like on the Road ID website!

So here's how you enter (leave a comment for each):

1.  Follow Me (a must)
2.  Share this contest +1
3.  Like My FB Page for Cautiously Audacious +1

I'll announce the lucky winner April 6, 2012

So which one is your favorite Road ID?  Do you have any stories of close calls on the road?

Ironman AZ Part I and Winner!

Where to start...  I have a winner for the MyMemories software giveaway and I will announce that here in this post.  Let's start with the fact that my dad and I are now officially Ironmen in training!  I spent the whole weekend giving my dad "outs" just to make sure he really wanted to do this and if anything his resolve grew stronger as the weekend went on.  Then after 3 hours of standing in line for the volunteer registration we did it!  It is getting way more expensive though, it's now up to $682 just for the entry fee!  I didn't realize active.com charges a fee that is proportionate to the cost of the race which made their fee alone $30!!  So starting backwards here are some pics of my dad and I signing up for Ironman 2012:

Hour 2 of the 3 hour wait in the volunteer line..

Signing your life away for the next year!

This will be our 1st father/daughter triathlon together!

Let me tell you if you have never volunteered for a race like this and always been a racer it is so worth doing.  Seeing the race from the other side was amazing!  I saw the emotion on the athletes faces and I remember what it felt like going through some of those same emotions myself.  Hearing the cheers and yells from the volunteers and spectators was thrilling and made me fully appreciate them.  The pros were amazing and non-stoppable seeing them in motion was one of the greatest experiences ever.  Not to mention watching everyone finish and seeing the proof that they left everything they had out there on the course!  I was relieved to see that the swimmers coming out of the water were as disoriented as I felt when I had done it.  It happens to everyone!  I remember when I race I am sometimes self conscious of how I look during a triathlon, I mean the bloated stomach, the wet dog look, the exhaustion that shows in your eyes you'd think that isn't a pretty look, right?!?!  But as I saw the athletes come out of the water or transition or finish all I saw was strength, determination and the will to overcome any obstacle it was beyond words and I will never again be self conscious. So because there were so many great pics I will have to do this in sections.

Part I - Swim and Transition I - These are the unedited pics.

Swim Start

Pros coming out of the swim no volunteers to help them!

Note the swim time..

Strippers, not as glorious of a job as it sounds!

Love the look on his face!

Remember to wear your bathing suit..

Unzipping duty

Add caption

It's hard getting out of the water because you are numb from the cold!

Worst job ever, taking the timing chip and telling someone they didn't make the cutoff!

Did I finish?

Ironman in to be?

Getting close to the swim cutoff..

All the kyakers coming in to guide the last people to swim finish as quickly as possible and cheering..

Being told she just barely made the cutoff

The "voice" of Ironman

Just found out she didn't make the cutoff

Heartbreaking...

Doggie support!

She was there to cheer on her dad..

My dad the real photographer and future Ironman

Already in the lead

Name that pro

Add caption

Getting bathed in sunscreen & a little booty shaking.

I am so thankful for having the opportunity to do some amazing things in my life and thanks dad for making this weekend happen!!!

Ok the WINNER for the My Memories giveaway is : Big Daddy Diesel!!!  Congrats, this might end up making a great Christmas present...  I will have a code that you will use to download the software.  Let me know an e-mail address to send the code and instructions to you.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!  Part II will come after Thanksgiving...