Most Versatile Blogger Award

Please note that Tri-Guy is now sporting his new IMC haircut.... very air conditioned and aero. Now if only Lori would stop calling me colonel.

Time to spend some time with the family before heading to Penticton on Monday. After that I will be out there until the race day. Thus, I took today to just hang with the kids and Lori and do whatever they wanted. Around 11:00 we went on a big bike and checked out the construction of the new Assiniboine bridge on the Perimeter. I am really wondering when this will be done..... by the looks of things they will be finished by summer of 2011. We had an excellent picnic lunch and visited three of the big play structures in our area. It was no wonder that we all felt like going for a nap when we got home.

Just a reminder that the contest to shave my legs closes on Monday. Register to vote.

In other Tri-Guy news... Two of my favourite bloggers (spo(R)ting life and Wife in the fast lane) have saluted Tri-Guy as one of the nifty blogs that they follow. Interestingly enough, they have both nominated me for The Most Versatile Blogger Award.

With this nomination comes a set of rules:

1) You must thank the one who gave you the nomination... well in this case, thank both of them. Done. I have sent them both personal messages of support and thanks.

2) You must share seven things about yourself.... okay here we go.

This has caused me loads of consternation, as I am completely unsure as to what to post here.... very public and all. However, it gave me something to truly ponder during my long run yesterday, so here we go...

a) Most people who know me in the "real world" (by this I mean mostly colleagues and friends that are not on the "inner-circle") would be astounded and somewhat stunned that I am a triathlete..... let alone a potential Ironman. I am kind of a Clark Kent that way. You can get so pigeon holed sometimes by what you do, that with it comes a certain expectation that what you do during the day, is who you are. To them I say... get a grip people... it is just a job... yes, a job that I love very much..... but it just a job, it is not who I am.

b) I know I mentioned it before, but I am also a neat freak! I cannot stand clutter or mess. If we were talking in a large room and in the corner you had turned over your trash can. I would at some point have to clean it up. It would eventually wear on me until I could no longer concentrate on anything you were saying. See my post on house-husbandry.

c) I am going to regret saying this, but I am a handy-man. You know, dry-wall, carpentry, electrical and what not. Last summer I built my own architectural shed from scratch based on a design I saw once in Disneyland and I have also done all of our landscaping and design; which also includes the design (interior and exterior) of our house.

d) Which leads me to hobbies. If I had the opportunity, I could spend the whole day working in my yard. I love gardening and landscaping. It is my little home away from home.... if you have seen my shed, you might say it is my home away from home, but I digress. Anyway, I am usually in the yard at least an hour or two a day. Over the years I have turned our backyard into our cottage/spa retreat.

e) I have a koi pond. I have: 4 Koi, 2 Sarassa and 4 fan-tail goldfish.

f) I have coffee in our hot tub outside every morning.... regardless of the temperature.

g) In my past life I played a lot of soccer. I started when I was about 5 and played through to University until an ACL rebuild sidelined me. I took up running to build my quads to take over for the gimpy ACL and that ultimately led me to triathlon.

3) Then, you are supposed to pass on this honour to 15 other bloggers. Well, I am very new to the blogosphere, so 15 is a bit much, but I will pass this honour onto the 4 blogs that I read pretty much daily and that I go to for inspiration or sometimes for just a laugh.

I would like to nominate the following four candidates for the honour of Most Versatile Blogger.

1) Wife in the fast-lane - This uniquely introspective blog follows my fellow Tribalistic member, Carly as she negotiates the world of triathlon, shoes, undiagnosed OCD and an apparent addiction to cool things of neat design. Her blog is very real and gives us a glimpse into the life of a young 20 something making a go of it. My wife and I agree that you must visit her blog, if only to see her movie starish wedding photos. Lori and I wanted to get married again after watching the video of the stills from the wedding..... Carly just makes it look sooooo hip. In addition, Carly is an excellent triathlete and brilliant competitor whom I have seen push herself to the limit. She's into the Olympic distance this year, and I think she's hooked.

2) spo(R)ting life - This intensely personal blog follows another of my Tribe teammates as she uses the blog forum to journal her life experiences. She is candid and honest and lets us all into her inner-circle and into her thoughts as she tests her mettle against the half-iron distance (go Calgary), work, motherhood and the break-up of her marriage. She is an excellent writer and is not so secretly crushing on the Schleck brothers.

3) my 140point6 mile journey - I randomly cam across KC's blog one night when I could not sleep. She comes to Ironman with a seemingly endless list of running accomplishments as in: Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Tampa and Disney marathons. She is training for the Great Floridian an Ironman distance race in October. She is an inspiration in herself with out any hint of ego. I find her blog completely inspirational as it was really refreshing to see that someone else was going thorough the same things I was. I read her blog for almost two hours that first night and after that I have been hooked. In addition to all her wonderful posts, through her site I have read some very interesting triathlon blogs from all over and found some really great advice within this really supportive international community we call triathlon.

4) Winnipeg Cycle Chick - I stumbled upon this blog as a link from spo(R)ting life and really fell into a groove with the aggressive no holes barred writing of Andrea. Her writing is witty and humorous with just a hint of fanaticism for cycling... which I truly appreciate as it is always neat to cross paths with passionate people. She is a self-proclaimed hockey mom who seems to still have time to foster her love for her Giant..... and as you all know I have a soft spot for Giants. I have laughed out loud while reading and I have speed read through her recent crash stuff hoping to get to the part where she is okay after biting it in a turn going 47kmph.... "takes three days... says grandma." I really can relate to her first post... sitting in the basement on your trainer staring at the wall or telepost wishing you were somewhere warm.

Thanks again for the nomination(s) and I am sincerely flattered that anyone out there would read this.