Expect the Unexpected Down Here in Mazatlan..!

When I arrived in Mazatlan, the online hotel package that I had purchased came with a complimentary shuttle from the airport to the hotel. That was nowhere to be found! When I got to the hotel, they didn’t have me checking in until the following day. They also said there were no rooms available. After going back and forth for about 45 minutes, which included showing them my email correspondence with their reservation office/person, a room magically appeared! While crisis was eventually averted, initially these events weren’t the best precursors someone would want to see before an important, season opening ITU race!! Nonetheless, I weathered the storm, killed myself during the race and finished 6th and the top American!!! Not only was this my best ITU result, but it was my best pro result period!

I have worked hard on the swim as of late and it has paid off. As opposed to last year where my swim deficit from the leaders was 3:18, this year I was only down 2:06! There was a group of three Mexicans that came out of the water about 10 seconds ahead of me and I knew I had to haul-ass up the beach and thru T1 in order to get into their bike group. That I did and let me tell you, it was worth it! By the 2nd lap, fellow American Chris Foster and one other guy joined our group and from there the work started.

Before anything, I have to give major props to Chris for doing at least 70% of the work in our pack. I helped as much as I could, but I’m simply not a strong enough cyclist YET to be able to put forth more than that 30%. Chris’ relentless pulling got me to my 6th place today and there’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it!

Sure enough, our pack grew to about 12 and after the first chase pack caught the lead group, WE were now the first chase pack and closing fast! Our 2-min deficit out of the water narrowed to about 40 seconds at T2. I was so pumped to be starting my run around 20th that I shot out of transition like a bullet! Within the first kilometer, I had passed 6 people. By the end of the first lap, I was in 12th. As my casualty toll (passed runners) began to increase, so did my fatigue from the bike work (and probably my lack of tempo runs)! By the time I hit the last lap, it became a real fight for survival. I got my last casualty on that lap and I hung on for dear life thereafter. I crossed the tape in 1:57:13, 6th Mother F-ing Place!!!

While I may have run into a few bumps in the early stages of my Mazatlan journey, the remainder of the trip was smooth sailing from there! It just goes to show that one should expect the unexpected down here, south of the border! One should also expect to ride in pick-up truck taxis to dinner and witness the new and improved family mini-van!

Later this month, I will be competing in Tucson, AZ at the Duathlon National Championships. A fellow triathlete told me today that while I’m out there I need to do some cycling on The Shutes? She said the roads are pretty perfect for cycling. Thoughts anyone?

Seeing as how this was a mondo race weekend in the tri world, I hope everyone killed it!

Thanks for checking in, talk soon!

-HH