First Tri

What a great delight it is to spend the weekend at the beach and to participate in a triathlon as well! That is why i keep coming back to EXTRI, an off-road triathlon that features a 1km open water swim, 25km mtb, and a 5km beach run. The race is held every December at Laiya, San Juan, Batangas. This year would be my 4th extri. My first extri race was on Dec. 05 which was the first ever triathlon i had done. Being a neophyte in the sport, i decided to join the relay event and did the swim leg. Back then, the swim distance was only 750m. I just wanted to dip myself into the sport and see what would happen. There we went and after around 20 minutes, i emerged out from the water, head spinning, lungs hyperventilating, and legs wobbling. I ran up to the transition area and tagged my teammate who happened to be a visiting Ms. Earth contestant. I sat down still exhausted from what i had done. I wasnt really a swimmer although i decided to do the swim because no one else wanted to. As she came back, I found out that she had overtaken alot of bikers and that we were currently ahead in the relay category. Whoa! I was thankful she made up for my poor swim. My friend Ramon, who is an excellent windsurfer, then took over the run leg. Thirty minutes later he was back and we won gold out of 6 other relay teams. I was thrilled and as we were about to pop the champagne, Ramon found out that his lab was missing. Apparently, his dog followed him as he began his run. And i guess he was able to outrun his dog or his dog missed a turn and got lost. He retraced his route and was able to recover his worthy companion. We headed back to our resort and had a feast. So that was my first try at the sport. It was all for fun and we certainly had lots of it. It was only a year after, at my next extri, that i seriously considered getting into the sport. A sport that is very demanding although at the same time can be very rewarding. Until my next post, my 2nd Tri!