Happy FLIPPING Valentine’s Day! I hope that you all have someone special to celebrate it with or plan on celebrating this day of caring and love with special people. Honestly, I miss you all so much and LOVE you all so much. Valentine’s Day, the way the people in the US celebrate it, is kind of a big deal. Here, it is just another day to get together with lovers, family, or friends. Maybe because in the US we have an abundance of Hershey’s Kisses and I have yet to find one here!
Yesterday, I had my first swimming race since February 2010. I swam 2500 meters in the Nihuil Lake of San Rafael for a pentathlon relay. The competition is called the “Pentatuel,” and it is kind of a big deal in the Mendoza-area. The race consists of swim, moto-cross, kayak, bike, and run. This event particularly, since it is in the pre-pre-mountain region, is more of a cross-country type of race for the cyclists and runners.
There are a good amount of individuals who complete the entire event. Crazy, huh? I find it wild since some of these sports are completely different from one another (swim + moto-cross?? If you EVER see me moto-cross be very afraid for my safety and everyone’s around me), but they get it done. Obviously, the distances of each part of the race are shorter for the individuals than for the relays, but it is still a 5/6 hour race for them. Honestly, I admire them. A potential goal of mine is to complete one in the future…just to say I could. The “Pentatuel,” however, is more competitive amongst the relays as everyone tries to choose the best athletes for each part of the race possible. And, there is a good amount of wine and money that goes to those who do well…
A few weeks ago, I was swimming with the usual midday crew when a friend, G, came up to me and told me about this “Pentatuel,” and how a couple of his friends are looking for a girl swimmer to compete in the mixed division. Obviously, all of the well-known fast girl swimmers in the area (most of them swim for the club team at Regatas) have already been chosen. However, since I was new and no one really knew about me, G’s suggestion sounded pretty awesome. My first race in Argentina! And in open water! So I agreed. 2 weeks ago, I met the moto-cross guy, S, and the cyclist, N, who are both supposed to be one of the best in their respective sports. I thought to myself, “Great, I might be the one to bring the team down!” So, I made sure to focus a little more on swimming hard in practice to perform well for these guys. As I got to know them more, however, they are not the type of athletes that are obsessed with the sport, as I once was with swimming. They are pretty hysterical, like to have fun, and just do their sports because they love it. So, it eased my worries a little knowing that they probably would not ring my neck if I did not do well haha.
We arrive in San Rafael on Saturday at my uncle’s house. He was kind enough to let us stay at his ranch, which is BEAUTIFUL and I have very fond memories of it. Since I was a kid, I had spent a lot of winters (here in Argentina) there with my family and we always had the best time. S, N, the runner, J, and I all stayed at my uncle’s place. The kayaker had her own accommodations. Apparently, kayakers here in Argentina are major “hippies,” in which they just like to camp in the mountains, very free-living, and somewhat irresponsible. As I will find out.
When it was time for the team to sign in to the race, the kayaker was nowhere to be found. We called her…for an hour. An hour and a half passed, she calls us explaining to us she is up in the mountain with her friends bathing in a lake. Uh…we had to sign in for the race. If we did not do it that evening, we would not be allowed to compete. SO, she ultimately decided that she would drive the hour to get to the city of San Rafael to meet us. An hour and a half of chatting with the guys, the chick finally arrives, we meet her for the first time, sign the papers, tell her what time she needs to check-in, and we are both on our merry ways.
Sunday arrives and the crew of 4 all go to Nihuil to check-in at 10 am. Since the race is so long, the cyclist and the runner had time to watch me start and then peace to get ready for their parts of the race. The Nihuil is about 15 minutes away from the lake that they kayak in and about 1 hour away from San Rafael where the runner finishes. I get to the check-in to find about 30 people from the club…I felt SO much better. If I was swimming amongst a bunch of strangers, I might have began to flip out, but since I was amongst familiar faces I felt wonderful. However, I was the only one without a “traje,” basically an open-water swimsuit. Great. But, to my surprise and just my luck, a friend from the club, we call him “monkey,” who was not swimming lent me his “traje.” What a great bunch of people I am surrounded by!
I was supposed to drag behind this older man who swims in the midday crew who is pretty darn fast. I thought if I could keep up with him, I would be set for my team. So I started the race making sure he was not out of my sight. Well, I decided I wanted to go faster, so I kind of lost him. I felt awful, because I made such a big deal about not losing him, but knowing him he would have been happier if I went faster. I ended up out of everyone pretty well and I was 2nd amongst the people racing in the mixed division. YES! I did well for the team. After passing the t-shirt to S, he was on his way to pull out 1st amongst all the teams, including elite. YES! The kayaker, after waiting an unexpectedly long time for her to finish, came out 8th of all the relays and 4th of the mixed. N, starting with an okay position, came out 3rd for J. J is darn fast (in the marathon, his time is 2:24…or something in that range. FAST) but the guy in the relay that left about 10 seconds after J did flew by J within the first 200 meters. Although J was gaining on him toward the end (obviously the kid was not a distance runner like J), he could not reach him. Totally fine! We did a great job anyway. 4th. Sweet!
However, we find out later that evening, after never seeing the kayaker again, after winning our “hand” trophy, a bottle of wine, and losing an opportunity to win a good amount of money, the kayaker texts us. She explains that she arrived at the check-in late and they added 10 minutes to our overall time. 10 minutes! 10 minutes! We would have gotten 2nd in our division and top 5 in the Elite division. Next year, either we get a kayaker who is slightly more responsible, or we get an awesome guy kayaker and compete in Elite. (What makes it worse is that the kayaker was staying about 2 blocks away from where she was competing. Great.) Nonetheless, the race was AMAZING, I had an absolutely wonderful time, it was a great success for my first race back, and I won WINE!
k bye.
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ReplyDeletealso i love you and miss you:)