Road Trips, Sally Edwards and Tenacious D

See, it says NO SWIMMING, but that's the lake we'll be swimming in. I'm such a rebel. Well, me and about 2,000 other ladies. Check out that crystal blue lake! It was so pretty to swim in!

Before we left for Texas, I did a GIRLS TRIP TRIATHLON! What? what!? So, JulzHOLLA! and I drove to somewhere in Illinois and met up with one of her Ya-Yas, we'll call her Cricksta. And Yallison and her running pal and fellow super cool chick, Yashley met us as the Cricksta's. Cricksta and her family let us all stay with them and then the next morning we woke up and headed out to Wisconsin for the Women's Trek Triathlon. Oh yeah, we travel to far and unusual places like Wisconsin now for triathlons.

Yallison and I still get together every year. This year, it was girls trip time and we brought together our favorite peeps and Yallison and Yashley did their inaugural triathlon with us! It was the perfect girls trip.

First of all, it was so fun to roadtrip with JulzHOLLA! We put a lot of miles in minivans together, but it's usually with some kind of combination of 5 kids. This time, it was just us. We didn't cut up anyone's food, although she offered out of habit a couple of times. We didn't have any pit stops for diaper changes. And we got to listen to all the unedited versions of tunes. We might have had fun hooking up my fart app on to the speakers of the car. We laughed so hard, we cried. At some point, we went over a big bridge. I saw a bunch of houses on the shore of some water and said, "Wow - that's a big lake!"
To which JulzHOLLA replied, "Uh Les, that's the mighty Mississipi."
So see, I even got a geography lesson.

The day before the race, we went to the expo and heard Sally Edwards speak. Sally Edwards is brilliant. And she doesn't know it,but she's my new bestie. I've mentally added her to my ya-ya list. As a novice - and I'm pretty sure I'll stay novice for a very long time - triathlete, a communications instructor and just basic human being in general, this woman is brilliant. She's a great speaker, a great motivator, sincere, and an overall bad ass triathlete. See for yourself. I don't know how I've been doing tris for this long and haven't stumbled on to Sally Edwads yet. But I did this weekend - I stumbled onto the entire Sally Edwards experience on a girls trip. It was the perfect storm.

Here's a bit of a photo essay for ya:
Me and my Yallison! When we're apart it feels like our next meeting will never get here. And when we get together, it's like we've never missed a beat.

The whole crew with Miss Sally Edwards: Yallison, Cricksta, Miss Sally, JulzHOLLA!, Me, and Yashley.

Cricksta is getting her bag signed by Sally Edwards. Sally pauses and laughs at one of our very funny comments, I'm sure. You can't not laugh hysterically with this posse. Sally signed my bag too and set my goal for me. I was nervous I'd let her down, but I did it! Thanks Sally! And thanks Cricksta for bringing us all together to this amazing triathlon!

JulzHOLLA! always makes the best of every situation. Looks like she's making out with Sally, doesn't it? Hey, I'd make out with either one. I'm just sayin.

That woman gets every wave inspired just before we take off. She spoke of personal achievement and encouraging each other. She's there at your take off, and she's there at the finish line to congratulate you. As if that's not enough, Miss Sally makes sure that no one finishes last. And so, at the end of the race, she goes and finds the last person, and runs in with them, talks to them, inspires them, empowers them and then makes sure they cross the finish line before she does. Kind of makes me wanna hang back in last place, but since she was all motivating and stuff, she actually inspired me to rock out my best time so far in sprint distance triathlons.

Most triathlons we do are usually about 300-500 people. This one was 2,000 women. What, 2,000 bodies, let alone women, vying for space and changing clothes in a race? This can't be good. But it was and I actually had fun biking by people and checking out their triathlon accessories and clothes. It was fun.

I also got to see one of my favorite Tall Momsters who moved away a couple of years ago. Here she is with JulzHOLLA! It was so fun to see her and watch her do cross the finish line!

After the race, she came up to me and said she could hear me on the run talking. And then Yashley, Cricksta, JulzHOLLA!, and Yallison each individually, asked me, "Dude, were you talking the whole way you were running?" The last mile was a loop around the pretty lake, and they could hear me talking as I passed, or was being passed by others. Well, maybe. Look, I have a gift. I try to explain this to trainers and people at the gym who beg me to shut up, it's a gift - I function better talking than I do breathing. And Sally Edwards got me all motivated to do this and be inspired and be inspiring. So, I did. Sue me. Sally would be so proud. And she was, because she was right there to greet me as I crossed the finish line and she hi-fived me. And 1,999 other women too.

On the road trip back home I re-explained all that to JulzHOLLA! who was trapped in the car with me and my ipod touch, d-jaying. And finally, "I said, it's like Inward Singing."
"Uh, what are you talking about?"
"Sigh, hold on. I think Jack Black can explain it for you better."

After we pulled over in a desperate attempt to not pee ourselves from laughing so hard, again, atleast JulzHOLLA! understands a little better. And Jack Black, you made a joke about it, I made it possible.
That's how I roll.

Song of the day: Inward Singing by Tenacious D (Earmuffs, y'all. It's not for kids)