It's story time folks.. so get cozy and grab a cup of tea and maybe a snack.

There once lived an ambitious young woman by the name of yaiAnn. yaiAnn lead a fairly normal life. Growing up, she was a fairly well-rounded student. She succeeded in school and participated in athletic, cultural and social activities. In her post-college years, she set out to define herself as an adult. She was beginning to establish her career and settle into a normal routine. One day she realized that there was something missing, something that she hadn't felt in quite a while, and that was the feeling of competition. Now keep in mind, it wasn't the act of competing with others she missed but rather the mental (and also physical aspect) involved in training oneself to push oneself to their limits to achieve a goal.

One of the sports she participated in when she was younger was swimming. So she quickly started looking into swimming. And through her internet search, she stumbled upon the sport of triathlon which involved swimming, biking and running. "Hmmm.." she thought to herself. "I can definitely swim. I know how to bike. And I've recently learned how to enjoy running. This actually might be something I could do." And so the first seed of triathlon was planted in her brain. A few more searches later, she discovered a few local triathlon resources that would be able to get her on her way to complete her first triathlon. However, she still needed a bicycle.

A year had passed and she still had not made any progress toward completing a triathlon. She was now in graduate school and working towards furthering her education. She had started to swim regularly and picked up running again. One day at the university bookstore, a magazine caught her eye, Triathlete. And in it, there was an article, part one of three on how to train for your first triathlon. Naturally, she bought it and the two subsequent issues. The seed started to sprout again. But of course, she was still missing one thing, a bicycle. And now that she was a student, she was also lacking the funds to purchase a bicycle. One fortunate day, she received good news that she was going to receive a stipend for her internship! Two months later, she was the proud owner of a brand new bicycle! After two rides, the bicycle sat unridden on her balcony, under a tarp for another year until she finished school.

But there was hope, yet! A month and a half before finishing school, she had a few conversations with her BFF and her boyfriend's older sister. She had discovered that they both had interests in completing a triathlon as well. With a little research, they had found an upcoming race. Could it be, that this triathlon would soon become reality? A few more conversations here and there and it was finally decided. It was now, or never. And now it became and they all signed up. Three months later, they all completed their very first triathlon.

Since that August day in 2003, when yaiAnn crossed the finish line, she was immediately hooked on the sport and has since completed over 10 triathlons of various distances. It took yaiAnn three years since the triathlon seed first got planted for her to finally complete her goal. And all that it took, aside from a little peer motivation and momentum, was to commit to a race.

Sometimes it's just not enough to make a goal for yourself. Those goals may have to come with a target date or other motivating factor to get yourself going. So kids, the moral of the story is, "Put your money where your mouth is." So just when you thought all SWAP hope may be lost, let me show you where much of my money went this weekend.

Craft allowance be damned! I'm determined to get this wardrobe going!