This past weekend was the annual Pentatuel. Last year was the first time I participated in this event that has been around for now 11 years. The Pentatuel is a pentathlon that is done within San Rafael, which is a large department within the Mendoza province. (It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL in San Rafael. It is a lot calmer than Mendoza, which is difficult to imagine. There are three large natural fresh-water lakes, lots of areas to run/mountain bike, and the “city” itself is quite a fun and cute place to be. What is surprisingly about San Rafael, which is why I am mentioning a little bit about the department, is that there are many foreigners that have decided to live there. Mainly for how tranquil the area is and for the natural resources it possesses…and for the plain fact that one may easily live in peace, with farmland or vineyards, and know that there are other people around that are doing the same thing! I met a couple from Georgia at one point that had decided to move to San Rafael with their 7, almost 8, children to live a simpler and more natural life. They were not hippies, at all. The guy was wearing Abercrombie and the young woman was wearing Ralph Lauren. They just wanted a life of tranquility.) A pentathlon is swimming, motocross, kayak, biking, and running. The Pentatual is usually done with teams, but there are many people who complete it on their own! Man…that is my goal in life. I should probably start training now.
Last year, we had a rockstar team. Honestly. Swimming, I was 8th out of the water (second of the women). The motocross guy was 1st out of all the relays when he finished. The biker went from about 11th to 7th. The runner kept solid at 7th. The only problem was, since kayakers are, by nature, a little floozy, we had no idea the capacity of this chick’s kayak abilities. We lost about 28 minutes with her on the kayak and got fourth out of all the mixed groups. Honestly, I did not mind at all. I was just there for the experience, to swim in some open water, and to have a great time with a fun group of people. I loved the experience and I just wanted to have fun while doing the thing I love. However, my team was quite competitive so we all promised each other that we would find a new kayaker for this year.
The week before the Pentatuel, there was nothing organized. I had no idea if we would be participating in something that we had promised each other a year ago. I like to keep my promises so I was ready for it. Although, Tuesday night came around and I get a call from the biker stating that two of our athletes are getting surgery and we still did not have a kayaker. Great. I was not going to the Pentatuel.
Wednesday I receive a text from some chick asking if I wanted to swim for their team in the Pentatuel…AWESOME! Fate. Fate. So, I joined this girl’s ragtime team for the Pentatuel and had the time of my life! All the kids in my team were young and, to tell you the truth, if we did not have a girl running we would have done pretty well for ourselves…I think fifth out of the mixed groups. But, what was quite funny was that the team was literally just a ragtag group of kids. We were called “Scabio-team,” which literally means “drunkard-team.” Great. I was the only one of the group that trained more than once every 2 weeks. The motocross guy was the brother of the kid who got second out of all the complete pentathlon athletes, so he has some talent in his blood…even if he had only been on a motocross bike 4 times within the past year. The kayaker used to be one of the best, until he had an accident a few years ago and had to stop physical activity altogether. The biker was actually pretty good…although he fainted and had to go to the hospital after finishing the event (it was HOTTTT out). And, the runner, well it was her first time ever racing. I was able to run the whole 15 km with her after swimming…so yea.
It did not matter how terrible the team may have been, because I honestly had the time of my life with them. They were happy with any type of result and just enjoyed the experience the entire way. It reminded me of the “February Splash,” swim meet we had at TCNJ in which I almost always did great because (since it was probably the least competitive meet ever) I was having fun doing the thing I love. This year, I felt this way with the Pentatuel. I loved the team and I felt supported…not pressurized. I did better swimming-wise than I did last year.
My favorite part about the whole event, which is something that could never be done in the US, is that there was a caravan of cars following the runner (and a couple of people biking and myself) the entire way. With music, water, Gatorade-type of beverages, and beer…and LOTS of cheering. It was incredible.
K bye.
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