Testing! 1, 2, 3....

So, I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but I think it could be pretty fun! I'm just typing some stuff now because I have no idea what it will look like and what I need to do to fix it.

Here are a couple pictures from the Ironman World Championship on October 12th where I won my age group!

[G]-rated 'G' for everyone

[PG-13]-partial nudity

My midriff was showing, so BEWARE! I was rocking the pink sunglasses in honor of October being breast cancer awareness month.... pulling it off.

OK, now I want to practice adding links to the blog.  Here are links to my facebook and twitter pages:
https://www.facebook.com/clayemgetri
https://twitter.com/clayemge

Hopefully those will work.

Alright, now let's try a video...

That was my friend JT Peebles recording me with his cell phone on the live Kona feed!  He wasn't even expecting me to come through yet, but just so happened to start recording with his phone and captured it.  Sadly, the announcers didn't seem to care much about me finishing...but JT did!

To conclude this test post, I would like to shout from the rooftops about the 2 major life events that took place over the last week....I will do this chronologically:

1. For the first time since high school swim team, I will be racing for a team!  Maverick Multisport is a triathlon team out of Louisville, KY that has pro and junior/youth teams.  Although I am young at heart, they feel that I would be better suited racing for the pro team! Works for me.  This team has some of the best partners in the sport of triathlon, Argon 18 bikes, ENVE Composites wheels, TYR swimwear and many, many more. You will hear much more about them later.  Also, my teammates are fast. Very fast. Needless to say, I am very excited about racing with them. 

2.  On Friday, December 6, 2013 at approximately 7:38 PM CST, I asked Kimberly Diane Blackwell to marry me! She said "*tear* *tear* *tear* yes *tear* *tear* tear*".  OK, maybe she didn't cry that much. Let me recap how this whole thing went down...

I had a plan in place for over a month... I was going to propose in front of a huge Christmas tree in downtown Dallas the night before the Dallas Marathon. Arrangements were made for her to find a personalized ornament in the tree - basically so I could create a diversion allowing me to get down on one knee.  Reservations were made for about 40 of our closest friends and family to surprise her immediately following the proposal at an Italian restaurant around the corner from the tree.  Did I mention, I had already booked/paid for hotel rooms for many of these people? 

Enter Iceageddon 2013, an ice storm of epic proportion that hit Dallas, TX wreaking havoc on the city...the marathon was cancelled at 1 PM the day before the proposal was to occur, so I had to improvise.

I frantically called/texted/fb messaged/emailed, even told some people in person that a new plan was in place.  The setting was moved to Tyler, TX, but due to my lack of creativity, a downtown Christmas tree and Italian chain restaurant were once again part of the plan. So I lured her downtown with the premise of eating at a fancy steakhouse....we walked to the tree, and I pointed out the ornament that I had hidden an hour earlier.  She refused to take the ornament from the tree "I don't think you're supposed to take the ornaments off the tree", so I forced it into her hand.  As she looked at the ornament, I got down on one knee and popped the question.  As I earlier mentioned, she cried a bit and then said yes!  So then I informed her that we weren't actually going to the fancy steakhouse, but to the good ole Olive Garden.  It just so happens that we met at our running club's Christmas party at this same O.G. 2 years to the day before this night!  We walked into the restaurant and I asked for a table for 2 under the name 'Clay'.  I winked at the hostess, but she probably thought I had a twitch.  She led us to the right, and as we rounded the corner Kimberly was surprised to see 40 or so of our closest friends and family members!  On 4 hours notice, I had contacted all of these people and informed them of Plan B, and they made it happen!  Some drove 2.5 hrs from Waco, others had a cake made that hadn't even been baked yet, and everyone else dropped what they were doing to be a part of our special night.  It was pretty awesome, and I think we have the best people in our lives. Here we are right after rounding the corner at Olive Garden, approaching our engagement celebration!

Isn't she beautiful?? I sure think so.  We're shooting for a summer '14 wedding!  More to come on that in future posts.

Alright, that about wraps up my first ever blog.  It was supposed to be a simple test run, but I think it ended up being a bona fide blog!

I'm going to try to make a point to end every blog with a Bible verse.  So I'll start with my favorite one:

Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

-Clay