Girl Power

(photo taken 6/08 --Danskin Triathlon in Austin)

It's that time again. Now that the Emmaus Walk is over, it's training season. Time to get ready for the Danskin Triathlon. A couple thousand chicks swimming, biking, and running their way to the finish line. Listening to shouts of encouragement by complete strangers the entire way.

I am a little behind in my training than I was this time last year. Still, I'm not too worried. The bike is my favorite event in the tri...and I know the route now. The run is only 3 miles. I say only because I ran 13.1 (barely) back in November. And, the swim? Well, to train for the swim portion I have the magnificent Coach Christy.

I've mentioned her before, but as I began working out with Christy again last week after a 9 month swimming hiatus, I was once again reminded that she is a rock star. Encouraging, motivating, and instructional all at the same time. Last year we spent the better part of the workouts just getting me over my fear of swimming. Yes, this former lifeguard had developed some sort of H2O phobia in my older age. Wierd.

But, last week I was in a better state of mind to hear, process, and perform the drills Christy set before me. And, today...all of a sudden...in the middle of a drill half way down the lane...I got it. When I finished the lap I turned to see Christy jumping up and down clapping her hands in sheer excitement. An entire pool of water-aerobic-ing onlookers glanced over to see what the fuss was about. The fuss was about me getting it.

Now, whether or not I'll get it next week remains to be seen. Whether or not I'll get it while I'm in a lake full of chicks who are kicking me and gasping for breath during the actual race is yet to be determined. But--today--the look on Christy's face as she cheered me on made me proud. Of myself. She was sharing in our girl power--her as the incredible coach that she is and me as the student who finally got it. For an instant I felt guilty about how proud I was of myself. But, I remembered Brene and her incredible work...and I stopped that guilt right in its tracks. I earned the right to feel proud of myself. Plain and simple.

I wholeheartedly believe as girls we should nurture that in one another...in our mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, aunts, co-workers. Instead of being jealous of someone we should encourage one another to go the distance, celebrate each other's successes, and provide comfort when things don't go as planned. Still, there's some celebrating to do in the fact that we tried in the first place--whatever that something may be.

Like Beth Moore says in the Esther bible study I'm doing (and I am paraphrasing)--we're really not the fragile creatures we've been brainwashed into thinking we are. Thank goodness.

Girl power really is something to be reckoned with, don't you think?