The Beginnings of Team Xantusia

Photo taken from the road just north of Mt Shasta. We left Oregon on Thursday around 1:30 pm and drove almost non-stop through northern California, stopping once for mexican food dinner (delish) and finally we pulled over and slept in the cargo van somewhere south of Modesto. We finished the trip to our first destination around 11 am on Friday, arriving at Xantusia (Dan and Monty's compound at the foot of the San Gabriel mtns). Since Marshall dog was with us we had to spend some time integrating him into their 7 dog pack, he handled it great and went on to have a great weekend with the dogs.

Friday night I had some wine with Cathy and we started working on the foundation for our women's triathlon racing team. It will initially be comprised of women who have attended past training camps at Xantusia and we will be called "Team Xantusia Slowtwitch Women's Racing" and our slogan is "Work Your Tail Off" which is straight off the sign at the entrance of Dan and Monty's place. FYI, a xantusia is a lizard (like a gecko but not one). Bill was tired on Friday night, he made an assault on the local mtn for an 11 mile time trial and ended up just short of breaking the women's record. Oops, I probably wasn't supposed to tell anyone that.

On Saturday we went for a run with Dan whose idea of a run is to just run straight up a mountain and then back down again. No problem. I walked with Cathy and Dan's wife Toni while Bill kept pace with Dan. He looked a little sweaty when he was done. After lunch we went on a short bike ride and ended the day drinking margaritas on Monty's new patio and watching the sun set. We are going to help Monty have some great parties on his new patio and there's even some rumblings about him getting a bigger hot tub which we'll help him use too!

We had a great meeting Saturday night about Team Xantusia, we set out some goals and needs for the team and made a lot of headway on figuring out what we want. We would like to inspire women to think big, work hard, and achieve new levels of success while having fun and networking with women with like-minded interests. We will have an element of volunteerism and we will hopefully inspire more women to join us at our future camps. The camps are going to kick butt, we've got some great plans! The idea for the team came to me over the past year as I made some excellent friends at past camps and have stayed in touch and cheered for all of the women I've met. Pulling everything together for an official team will be a major feat but the rest of the ladies have taken this one with enthusiasm and we have a great start and some good connections. I am really excited about this project and having another outlet for my energy and tribabe.com!

When we left Xantusia on Sunday, one of Marshall's new buddies (Nelson) tried to jump in the van with us and almost refused to let Marshall go. Goodbyes are always bittersweet, even for dogs.

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