Recap

I can't even express in words how much fun I had at the Tri Expo. From the second I arrived, I was surrounded by friends and familiar faces. I also had the chance to meet some Internet/email friends in person. I swear, my mouth was yapping the whole day. I'm surprised I was able to stay coherent for it all. Didn't get home till midnight... so late for me!

One of the coolest new friends I finally met in person is Dr. Allen Lim. He works directly with Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack and is an world-renown exercise physiologist. He's probably the best resource I could ever imagine having as I go through my master's program and do my thesis. My friend/pro triathlete Jessi Stensland put us in touch a while back, and I'm so thankful she did... Allen is not one of those weird nerdy science dudes; he's way laid back and funny but still smart as hell, and I feel comfortable asking questions and picking his brain 24/7 even if I bug him or sound like a total exercise phys novice, ha. I'm trying to get him to take me along on Tour of California and Tour de France with Team RadioShack :)

Jessi Stensland leading a MovementU seminar; Allen Lim marching at the far right:

To top off a perfect day at the expo, we had quite a random/entertaining group of people together for dinner at Costa Bravo in PB. Tatiana, Kevin Koresky & Joe of finishline-multisport.com, Jessi, Allen and some of his friends. I don't think I've ever sat at a restaurant for that many hours while having fun and eating good food (like the paella below) the whole time.

The group (ps - Allen is the guy with the giant smile haha):
I was bad again, peer pressure!:

I'm surprised I survived my Saturday long run after Friday's craziness. But 12 miles later... it didn't go as bad as I expected. I have to thank my mom for inspiring to get out there and go (she was running close behind me on our whole loop). I almost took the day off because I was so tired and was suffering in the sleep department.

I made up for all my "sinful" activity on Saturday night by cooking a healthy meal and going to bed very early.

Sunday Sara and my CSUF friend David joined me for a 3-hour ride. I had lots of hills planned, with some good ones right around mile 30... perfect training for Oceanside! I have another post planned on elevation gain stats. Some of you noticed on FB: My Garmin said we climbed 5200 feet, my iBike said 3200 feet. I do have comments/thoughts on this, but also want your opinions!

Somehow I squeaked out a 30 min/4ish-mile run after the bike. Then Sunday night, Tatiana and I met with the RAHA Cycling Team. I am so thankful to be involved with an amazing group of people who (like I said on Twitter) care about helping others/giving back on top of racing hard and having fun as a team! These "individual" sports aren't so solo after all. Check out more about the "giving back" side of RAHA here: Bahati Foundation.

Lastly: FOOD. I am a total believer that good food aids in good performance (duh, right?). I also don't mind "splurging" on certain occasions; I think it's healthy and sometimes there's no other option... except not eating. However, 95% of my life is spent eating HEALTHY. One of the biggest things I strive for is getting in a lot of fresh foods and a lot of color... like my dinner last night:
Quinoa with mixed veggies, barbecue chicken breast (with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce), steamed sugar snap peas and sauteed eggplant/bell peppers/onions. Salt on all of it (I'm a salt fiend, but I can be!). If it's not this, it's usually broccoli stir fry, fish and a sweet potato, which I had Saturday actually--all things I NEVER get sick of for dinner!

My New Triathlon Team

I have no excuses now, I have to get my act together. I'm going to be on a brand-new triathlon team with some fast girls this year! Lucky me!!!

Meet the four girls of the RAHA Women's Triathlon Team: Me, Sara Davis, Lauren Chiodini and Tatiana Vertiz.

(More on RAHA to come.)

The story of how our women's tri team came together is really random, actually. It's a scenario all based on being in the right place at the right time. I'll try to tell it as briefly as possible.

I met Sara Davis back at Vineman, literally on the bike course. We've been super close friends ever since and have dabbled with the idea of teaming up. We sat through the USAT Coaching Clinic together and have bonded during some pretty mega workouts. We like Wahoos. Basically, I love Sara to death and we have a blast whenever we're together.

Then I went to Clearwater and ran into Lauren Chiodini, who I didn't actually know personally at the time, but I knew of her. I quickly befriended her because she's an awesome chick, my age, fast and fun. Good thing I did--she and her mom were like family to me out in Florida. Turns out Lauren and I have led parallel lives (volleyball girls from OC, etc, etc) and we've stayed in touch since 70.3 Worlds.

Then there's Kona star Tatiana Vertiz. I "met" Tatiana in Feb '09 at the Tritonman sprint in Mission Bay. I didn't actually meet her then, but was flabbergasted by the girl who kicked my ass in our AG (she was 1st, I was 2nd). Via the Internet, I found out more about her and that she was living in OC at the time. We met at Edge Cyclesports and soon became FB, blog and real-life friends. The best was having our "warm-up" swim/run before the Santa Barbara Long Course. (It was NOT warm... more like hello freeeeezing water/weather!)

Anyways, none of these girls had ever met each other. They knew of each other, but I was the only one who knew them individually & in person. So in late November-ish, the idea to form a young all-female tri team was seriously propositioned, and I immediately thought of putting these girls together. We're all roughly the same age (22-26) and have similar goals and aspirations in triathlon. Plus, we all like to have FUN, we want to do "good deeds" using sport as our platform and, most importantly, I knew there would be chemistry with our personalities. I contacted them all with the idea, and without even hesitating everyone was on board!

So where does RAHA fit in?

First off, RAHA Sports is based in OC and is a sports-marketing group, owns/operates a professional cycling team and much more. Check out their website and all they're involved with, like the Bahati Foundation. Really some fabulous stuff and I'm proud to be associated with them.

So... Sara's been good friends with RAHA's co-founder Brad Eastham, and she suggested that he take on our idea for a women's tri team. He was stoked out of his mind and immediately expressed interest, as did his partner, Eric Smart.

Fast forward to Monday... after weeks of countless e-mails, phone convos & mini meetings.... and we ALL finally met in person under one roof for lunch in San Clemente (meanwhile, it seemed like the rook was going to blow off with this crazy storm!).

I was definitely correct about there being good chemistry among the girls (and Brad of course). There was never a quiet moment, and I'm sure we all could have chatted for hours longer... that's what happens when you put mega tri freaks at the same table! Between the four of us, we have a lot of racing in store for 2010... some races we'll do together, some apart. But we'll definitely be everywhere this year!

There's so much more, and I'm sooooo excited... but I'll leave it at that for now.

Go RAHA!!!