Blogging is FUN!

Izaac, Kelly, Donna, Calyx, Me, and Glenn

[my computer is being an A$$H^LE so I stole this shot from Calyx' blog. There is a similar one on my camera. There are also a couple of other shots of us at the house which I will post later]

When I first started blogging I did so as an outlet to write about something I loved. I figured that my family and a few friends might read it once in awhile, and once in awhile I would check out some other blogs, mostly for training tips. Little did I know what a huge niche triathlon blogging was, or that I would make such great friend, or that I would actually get to meet some of the people whose blogs I follow religiously.

Wes was one of the first tri bloggers to comment on my blog, and when he commented on every post, I honestly wondered why he would bother to read and comment on every single post. A few days/weeks/months of following Wes' blog I realized why. Wes is a great guy, a wonderful athlete and very generous with his time in commenting on lots of blogs. Through Wes I found Sarah's blog, and things began to steadily snowball from there.

Izaac commented on my blog a few months ago to tell me that he and Kelly live in Henderson and that we have lots of the same races on our calendar – thus came the true Godsend that are reliable and fun training partners. Izaac, Kelly and JT – at this point I would be lost without my local tri blogger buds.

Can't remember exactly when I started reading Calyx's blog but it was more recent. Calyx is fun to read and she is also easy to talk with. So when I got an email from her that she and Donna were taking a road trip out here and stopping through Hoover Dam/Lake Mead/Las Vegas I was SO EXCITED!

Reading about other blogger meet ups and training sessions is very cool and we were about to have our own meet up right here in the hot, dry, windy southwest.

Which is pretty much what Calyx and Donna said when I met them down at the lake yesterday. Something about it being really HOT here. And extremely dry. They pulled out their new wetsuits, I pulled out my Swim Safe Belt and we joked that at some of their other races it will be cold so they will actually enjoy putting the wetsuits on.

We got in the water, and decided to stick close to shore. This was fine with me as it was really windy and the water was pretty wavy. I still feel like I "need" the security of my wetsuit to swim out and along the buoy line when the water is wavy. Since this was a test swim for them in their wetsuits and an unstructured 30 minute recovery swim for me, there was no need to push too hard. So we swam in a line along the shoreline, sighting first on a silver pickup then (when the pickup moved) a blue cooler on the beach. We stopped a few times to talk, mostly about wetsuits, breathing and one thing and another. The waves pushed us back along the shore much faster than going out! All in all it was a great swim and for me it was my last workout before a rest day today. YES!

After the swim we came back to the house where we got to sit and talk for a bit and they met the pets, Brinley, Gaele, Clarence, Chloe and Lillian (Sammy always hides when company comes – honestly I don't know how she pulls such a complete disappearing act). We got ready for dinner and then met Izaac and Kelly at Henrys' where I proceeded to down a couple of beers. They were delicious! Since taking up serious training drinking has become almost nonexistent for me. Drinking even one beer can make me feel dehydrated in the morning and I just can't deal with that when I have workouts to do. But today being a rest day . . . bring it on! Summer Shandy – so DELICIOUS. So lemony. Mmmmmmm. Very refreshing.

Dinner was so much FUN! There was just so much to talk about in so little time!!!

I know we will see these girls again. They will either make another trip out here or we will see them in North Carolina. Turns out Glenn's sister lives very close to where they live in the vicinity of Raleigh. We've been there before and we will again. Now we have another reason to go. Calyx and Donna can show me their training ground and we can do some running or swimming together there. SUCH A SMALL WORLD!!

Here's to blogging . . . . and to meeting even more friends in person as time goes by!