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...

Too cute not to share!

I didn't have anything in particular to say today but this was too cute to not share :-)

Just the best photos of dogs in the poolA FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER IN CALIFORNIA DECIDED TO TAKE A FEW OF HIS FURRY FRIENDS, BALL AND A HIGH RESOLOUTION UNDERWATER CAMERA, HERE ARE THE RESULTS ENJOY!!!

      

Poop Everywhere!!!

So while I wait for official results from this weekend's race to post a recap I'll give you this little fiasco story about my ride to the race.  This race is really close to where my parents live and I drove up the night before to stay with my dad so we could go to the race together.  Well, here is the dilemma 3.5 hours in a car with a dog who has SEVERE anxiety about being in a car.  We've tried it all, in a crate covered and uncovered, harnessed, being held down by a human (it takes my entire body weight to try and hold her down.  My neighbors that watch her are gone and I didn't want to leave her in a kennel sooooo this time I tried harnessed in the very back after taking her for a walk and feeding her 4 puppy downer pills and this was the worst car trip with her yet!!!

Why? you ask?  Well the title might give you a little hint but before I get to that let me explain her triggers.  If there is a car coming in the opposite direction of us on a 2 lane road she will bark, lunge and bite at the car and if there are orange barrels for road construction same reaction.  So the 1st hour wasn't so bad on the 4 lane highway until we got to the construction zone then the last 2.5 hours was 2 lane high way with some  road construction.  So to deal with this I want you to notice in this picture what I resorted to:

Yes, those are earplugs in my ears and yes, that is the demon in the background!

And just to give you a little taste of what it's like being in the car with her here is some proof:

Now that is not the worst part!  We were almost to our destination thankfully but all of a sudden there was a strong smell in the car!  No she did not just let gas she actually POOPED in the car!!!  Now remember she was harnessed back there so other then lying down or moving from side to side in the back she couldn't go anywhere.  She freaked out because she didn't want to be anywhere near her own poop and decided that frantically jumping up and down and back and forth was the solution.  So as I desperately looked for a place to pull over she managed to spread poop all over the carpet, back of the seat, and plastic!  Then I opened the back door where she bolted to poop some more, cars were honking at me, and I was trying to scrape as much poop into a plastic bag with napkins.  Then she jumped all over me with her poop covered paws and refused to get into the back of the car again.  So the last 20 minutes I had to ride with her int he front seat next to me spreading more poop!  Instead of visualizing my finish that night I was cleaning a car full of poop!  Have I said poop enough times?  Well one more time she pooped again as soon as she got inside my parents house!!  My dad was a very good sport about all of this and I'm glad my mom wasn't around to witness this, please don't read this mom :-)

What is your worst dog story?  I love my doggie but think it's safe to say I will have to kennel her from now on or not travel!  :-(  Full race recap coming in a day or two I'm so proud of my dad!

Photos, races and more! aka weekend boredom...

I made this a three day weekend for myself and it was AWESOME!!  Of course I didn't get everything done that I wanted to but I needed a little break from work.  Do you get offended by the fact that sometimes you work all week just to spend the weekend running errands and getting ready for the next week?  How is that a break?  No, just me?  Ok   So the good news is that the sprinkler guy came over but apparently I fixed it myself as I was messing with it right before he showed up!

After I got boring errands out of the way I went and took some photos of my awesome running buddy:

I put the rest of the photos from this on my NA Photography Page.  (btw does anyone know of a better way to put photos on blogger it would be awesome if I could do albums on a page)

















Then Lexi got jealous so I had to let her have her own photo shoot:

In case you haven't noticed I shouldn't be allowed to have too much time off!  I did a ton of scrap booking (so not like me)  I also volunteered at the World's Toughest 10k and got to cheer a bunch of my awesome DM friends to the finish.  It was a point to point all uphill course and colder than normal (high 30s if you don't count the windchill) and unfortunately the shuttles never showed up!  Luckily we all banned together and helped carpool everyone back!  I also got a few run and bike sessions in myself.  I have a sprint duathlon coming up next weekend just to test out my race legs and it's really small race so shouldn't be intimidating at all.  It will be my dad's 1st race in probably over 20 years!!  He might have to walk some of the 5k but I know he will still do amazing!  I can't wait to do the race report on that one!  The best part of the weekend is that I got to Skype with hubs A LOT this weekend so we took full advantage while we could!  Happy Running!

What's your favorite weekend pass time when you just need to veg?

Weekend Wrap Up

Very fun yet exhausting weekend!  F says me and Lexi (the dog) feed off each others energy.  I can’t help it if we are both a little excitable, might expend all of our energy at once running around in circles, pass out from the sheer excitement of it all taking a little power nap, growl if someone disrupts our rest, and then ready for another round.  J    Friday was my rest day so I kept myself busy with a couples date at an indoor glow in the dark mini golf, I know I’m not 15 anymore but isn’t it fun to act like it!?  We then were very excited that Kiva Juice has a special on their frozen yogurt after 7pm it’s half off what a deal!  And yes, I only ate this because I knew I had a long run ahead of me the next day. 

Saturday I woke up a little later than my usual for my run I got on the road at 7:10am for a 10.5 mile run.  It had some easy rolling hills on it.  The humidity was pretty bad when I first started and made it feel hard to breathe.  I also decided to try and carry a water bottle this time but decided it was throwing me off and ditched it about mile 2.  Once I got to the turnaround point the humidity lifted and it was still a little over cast so I felt myself pick up my pace a little.  The rest of the run I felt awesome, I stretched at the stop lights and this helped a lot.  I had a negative split which was awesome but I was a little disappointed to see it still came out to 10 minute miles.  It felt a lot better than this when I was running it, not sure where I’m going wrong.  I seem to be getting slower and slower even though I’m training more, on my sprint days I’m able to run faster and pick up  my speed over time but as soon as I get outside for my long runs it’s like my brain is hard wired to do 10 minute miles now!!!  Grrrr ok I will figure this out!  

We then drove to a nearby lake and took the doggy for her first swim ever!  I so wish I had my bloggy with me and could have recorded her freaking out with the water.  The first few times we had to carry her into the water. But after a while of getting used to it she was loving the water, trying to eat the water when we splashed it, and was swimming behind me chasing me.  This was so much fun and the f packed a wonderful picnic he put together at Whole Foods which is quite the treat for us!  On the way back we got to watch a thunderstorm.  

Sunday I went for a 32 mile bike ride and felt great!  Averaged 20.5 mph and am happy that I’m at least not slowing down in this department.  Now I start taper week.   Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they open Cochiti Lake before the weekend which is where the Olympic Tri will be.  I would hate to have it postponed and drag out my training not to mention I already have another Sprint Tri the weekend right after that!

Happy Taper Week!

What it means to be a vegetarian girl living with a carnivorous boy (excuse me Man)…

I know there are many vegetarians and meat eaters out there alike and I’m not here to discuss the qualities or lack thereof of either choice.  But how food is such an integral part of our lives and what it means when you decide to cohabitate with someone with opposite choices….

Three key words:  Compromise, Flexibility, and an IRON WILL!

One way we’ve compromised is there is a veggie and meat side to our grill YAY! (we got a big grill) There are meat pots and pans and vegetarian pots and pans.  I cook vegetarian meals and if he so chooses he cooks some meat on the side to accompany it.  But the truth is sometimes I just can’t help the gross out factor when I find this:

on my vegetarian bamboo cutting boards.  Ahhhhhhh

My least favorite conversation:  “I want to go to a steakhouse”   “You can just have a salad”  Ok so let me just say I CAN just have a salad but there are some requirements to that salad.  If it is topped with a protein like garbanzo beans or baked tofu, if it has some healthy fat in it like avocado or sesame seeds, some flaxseed for good measure, and enough veggies to compromise the colors of the rainbow.  In that case YES I would love to “just have a salad” but the truth is that when you go to most steakhouses, the salad consists usually of iceberg lettuce, croutons, cheese, and some tomatoes if you’re lucky so in that case no thank you.  Don’t worry we say this all in good cheer! ;-)  In all honesty though I usually don’t enjoy eating out in general. 



Nice Compromise Veggie & Chicken Skewers



Lastly the iron will part comes in when he still has the metabolism of a 20 year old and can eat whatever he wants and as he is eating a tasty dessert playfully waves it in front of my nose and mouth “come on just try one bite”  The thing is if I give in and have that one bite my cravings come on full force and the next thing I know I’ve finished a huge serving!  The boy vs girl part is that I use to control my cravings by simply not buying junk food to keep around the house.  Now it is there staring at me, calling my name, pleading with me “EAT ME” and I have to say NO or ok just this one time.  Hence the weight gain in the last year and a half we’ve been together.  I don’t believe I should ask him to please stop buying these things because it’s his choice, I have asked for the enticements to stop.  So now it’s up to me to put my mental toughness training to use!  Lugging around an extra 10 pounds sure can make a difference on your triathlon times!

In the end we make it work now doing the dishes is a whole nother story….  How do you and your special someone compromise?  Does your active lifestyle take a part in that?

Coming soon to a blogger near you:  What it means to be a vegetarian, skiing , triathlete who was just told by her doctor to face the facts (that after 30 your metabolism will never be the same and buy a new wardrobe) who refuses to give up! 



Just for fun the token doggy pic:  Sleepy dog!



Woman's best friend....

When I first brought her home at 2 months old

When I am alone on the home front and left to fend for myself and look after the house my days seem to run even shorter than normal.  I get the inclination to try and take shortcuts.  For example, instead of doing my training run then coming home to walk the dog 3 miles (this is required on a daily basis to try and keep her semi-calm) I try to do a training run with my dog.  Seems logical right and usually before I even get through the first mile I’m reminded why I can’t do this as she jumps up at the leash trying to bite at it because it is what’s keeping her from running free!  She will also sit randomly while looking back at me as her way of begging me to let her go on her own.  The funny thing is that if I let the leash go she will grab ahold of it in her mouth and walk herself, but this only works until a car, cyclist, runners, or other dog comes along.

It’s a good thing she’s so cute……

She is:                                  Translation:

Full of energy                                     Will never leave you alone if you try to relax she will stop at nothing to get your attention (eating socks, barking at nothing, gnawing on you or any furniture you might have, even standing at the door and when you let her out she “fake” pees just to get you out of your seat!!!!)

Best training partner ever           Will push you beyond your limits making you run faster than you ever have (unless you would prefer to have your arm pulled out of its socket), creates an obstacle course for you to ensure you are always on your toes (by running in front of you or wrapping the leash around your legs or playing frogger with traffic)

Loving                                                   If left to her own devices would lick you to death (her favorite seems to be stinky toes fresh out of a sweaty running sock), will jump on unassuming strangers to greet them and thinks jumping on a dogs face is the quickest way to make friends, bonus is she never growls

Very Smart                                         Knows how to open doors to escape, will jump up against drawers to close them, can shake, high five, roll over and balance on her back legs to get a treat but the minute you run out of treats she will resort to eating whatever is in her sight ( we have found metal, plastic, tarp, cloth and string when cleaning up her poo – poo in the back yard)

Oh so cute                                          Can trick people into thinking she’s sugar and spice and everything nice which will lead them to do things like pet her even if she’s jumping on them ruining their clothes and yes, she’s been taught not too, give her food off the counter even though that is a big NO- No in our house

Path of destruction

Just a few of my favorite stories:  As I sat there one night trying to watch TV, first I heard an odd sound then I noticed the TV start to shake, then the modem fell off the cabinet.  I realized my dog was outside frantically pulling and chewing on the cable line.  Now it all made sense why my internet had stopped working the night before.

As I tried to sleep-in one day (that hardly ever happens) she figured out how to open the bedroom door and jumped on the bed and tried to lick my face and when I covered my face with the comforter she tried to dig me out from under it with her front paws!

If you are cooking and kick her out of the kitchen so she won’t eat scraps off the counter she runs over to the couch and stands on the very top of it so she can see what you are doing  and if she sees anything fall to the ground she will sprint back into the kitchen to try and get to it before me.

She is just a puppy and we have taken her to training school and we will get it right one of these days.  But I can’t help but think if a puppy is this challenging I can’t even imagine a child!  J  Now I get to go home to a wagging tail!

P.S. She must have known I was writing this post because yesterday I had my 1st successful run with her 2.8 miles!!