Making Good Decisions: San Juan 70.3

I arrived to San Juan with plenty of time to assimilate to my surroundings, but a bit hesitant in wanting to begin my season this year. The days before the race passed by slowly, but a few friends from the island and few travelling companions entertained me. Truly it is the island of enchantment, not only for its landscape but also for the warmth of its people. Once you enter the airport you sense there tenderness. I came full of expectations and I have never started a racing season with such a high level of competitors. I felt it as soon as I began the swim, I knew that I had to take off quickly. I lowered my head and moved my arms with fierce tenacity. I felt that I was being attacked from all sides. I was taking blows to my head, hands, legs and feet, but a pack quickly moved in front and started to break away and once I noticed it, it was too late to try and catch up with them. On a positive note, I did learn from my mistakes and this year, as opposed to last year, I did not wait for others to close in the gap either. Seconds was the difference between me and the pack (30-40), and I decided to place myself in the front of this second pack. I allowed others to draft off of me and the 1500 free style race that I completed entered my mind. During this race I was able to complete the race at a good constant pace. So I told myself “this is a good pace and I will try and go after the lead group”, and it worked. I cut off more time that the lead group had on me and I let go of the group behind me. Even though I was 8th I was no more than a minute behind the top three (Tim O’Donnell, Velez, and Zeebroek). I was able to catch up to the next four (Csoke, Amey, Billard, and Liatskiy) in the transition. For those of you that do not know what this entails, it is running 1 Kilometer on asphalt. Here I also applied knowledge learned from last years race. I did not slow down so that I would not loose precious time. The first 35 Kilometers were very active. The first attack on my final objective was hydration so I ate a few PowerBar gels to stabilize me. I almost did not make it to the lead pack, because I was still trying to recuperate from the effort of catching up to them. At Kilometer 35 my strength returned, my pulse became low and I started to feel strong. In the middle of this arrived Leon Griffen and Maxim Kriat who are great runners. In a quick distraction I allowed Griffen to get ahead, even though I went after him, it was too late. With only 15 Kilometers to go Michael Lovato reached us and because I was determined not to loose any more ground we both came in 8th to the transition area, which included Oscar Galindez, who caught up to us in the last few kilometers.
The half ironmans are often defined by the running and I came prepared to suffer. Wanted to give it my all going uphill and torture myself going downhill. But one thing is to plan this out the night before while sitting in an air-conditioned hotel room with room service and another is actually doing it with 86 degrees Fahrenheit, no wind and my legs feeling like they were about to explode. I took off in tenth place and I was able to stay at a good pace for about two kilometers with Amey, Lovato and Galindez. Suddenly I felt that I could not breathe, which was a good sign that I was really giving it all that I had. The first loop was very uncomfortable until my body finally adjusted itself and my strength slowly began to creep back. I again started to cut the distance between the leaders and me. This time I asked God and I trained myself mentally to make good decisions, I did not ask for a miracle, just that I would have the courage to make and fulfill the right decisions. I decided not to think about those who were chasing me, but I focused on those in front of me. With this mindset I was able to pass Billard and I was 19 seconds behind Paul Amey. An 8th place finished made me very happy for several reasons. First, considering the level of athletes that competed in the race. Second, it was my first race of the year. Third, I learned to suffer a bit more. Fourth, I decided to listen to my good thoughts and not the bad ones. I have struggled greatly to get in race form more than I have ever before, but I knew that inside of me is a sleeping giant. I thought that I could beat them and I applied what I learned from last year. Don’t give up and get frustrated.
Thank you to all of those who help me race in this distance. I think of each and every one of you every time my foot touches the time mat, especially my greatest supporter and girlfriend, Jineth and my friends from 226. Ramon y Javier from Puerto Rico, which has supported me in my housing, needs on this beautiful island. To Gyasy and Juan for the encouraging company. My sponsors: PowerBar, Cycleops, Aqua Shere, Mack Cycle and Terra Pack, Luis Vargas of Mark Allen Online, Jorge and Sujey Valdes who are reaching out from Mexico and finally God for giving me the gift of making good decisions. Speaking of good decisions, I am currently deciding where or not participate in the National Games because it is 15 days before St Croix which is May 6th.
Congratulations to the Juanes’: Sanchez my student who went below 5 hours and Valencia, who were able bring up the name of Colombia winning in the general categories.
I hope to continue to learn from each race, I do not want to rest on my accomplishments especially the ones from swimming. This year I raced on minute slower than last year… I guess I have to still have to keep on working.
On last thing to consider: This year I flew twice with Copa Airlines, they are not charging extra to take bikes like Avianca does. We have to support those who make life easier for us athletes 

National News: El Tiempo