Race Coverage

"Not What I Had Hoped For..."

Sunday, 13 March 2016 00:10

By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)

Buenos Aires 70.3 Race Report - Patrick and I took the ten hour overnight flight to Buenos Aires on Wednesday night. My goal for the flight there was to get as much sleep as possible so I could stay on a somewhat normal schedule. While sleeping sitting up is highly uncomfortable I was able to get at least six hours of sleep I suspect. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires I found another athlete, Greg, from my flight also anxiously awaiting the arrival of their bike on the luggage carousel. We got to chatting and discovered (thanks to the fact that I was wearing my Macalester Water Polo t-shirt) that his wife (Nicole) was also a Macalester graduate, she was coming later in the week to watch the race. ...

We ended up sharing rides to our hotel because the bikes wouldn’t fit in one of the cars, and we even had rooms across from each other. Such a small world! Two things I love, connecting with Macalester grads and connecting with people that love the triathlon lifestyle.

After settling into the hotel I got to work, literally work. Per usual I was working remotely Thursday and Friday which I find to be a good distraction pre-race. I took quick lunch breaks for some laps in the hotel pool. One end I flipped at a waterfall, the other end I flipped on the hot tub. It was maybe 20 yards but it worked for what I needed in the final days leading into the race. I met another athlete, Chip, and his wife, by the pool, from Atlanta (they were on our flight home, again small world). It was fun to chat about all the different Ironman races he had competed in, where we’d like to go next and plans for the year.