Aquathon

I never really thought of myself as a Chasqui. More of a support staff/cheerleader for you guys. I will pretend to be an honorary Chasqui for this race though. I was definitely not as prepared as I wanted to be. I had only been on a road bike 4 times before the race, so when I went out to Lake Las Vegas to do the loop a week before . . . let's just say I really didn't feel very confident about doing the race anymore. Nick was really encouraging however since I'd been training at the gym so much. So I signed up, honestly expecting to come in last because I wasn't as prepared on the bike. I just didn't want to be last by an hour. I knew that some of the people would probably finish the whole race in the time that it would take me to do the bike. My fears were confirmed when I got there and all the guys looked ChasquiMorgan, but I put it out of my mind just went for it.

I was super nervous, but the organizers were so nice and helpful with everything. I even met a lady who gave me a swim cap, because of course I couldn't find mine the night before. So we went down to the start at the "beach" they went over the course rules and then started. I waited to go in the middle after all the super fast people, but in front of all the super slow people. I was happy with the first swim, being my first time in a lake swim. The water was a perfect temperature. It was a quick out and back swim- 400 meters. I only got kicked and swam over once, and even passed some people. Then I ran up the transition up to the bike. This is where is gets fun. I looked pretty cool trying to get my bike shorts on over my swim suit. After I got ready, I might have gotten on my bike and fell over when a guy stopped right in front of me, and had a bloody knee, because I had to sacrifice my knee for Nick's bike. Have I mentioned how smooth I am with the clip on shoes. So I start in on the bike. Man those hills are crazy steep, at least to me, I just kept talking to myself telling myself to keep going. But then you get to go down the hills, and that was crazy fun. I think I got in a better groove the second time around. Since I didn't know how to really do the shifting on the gears, Nick put the chain on the lowest chain, and I just shifted with the right hand. So I am sure I probably could have done better if I really knew how to shift. I transitioned back into the swim and felt a whole lot better on the second swim. Less people, and I was warmed up. I swam out and back I think faster than the first time. I still don't have the official times, but I think that I did it around 1 hour and 30 minutes. So no earth shattering times or anything, but I am glad that I did it.