Salinas
The track and triathlon classes!
This past weekend I took a trip
to the beach with my track class to compete in a 10k road race. We left on Friday at
9:00pm by bus and arrived in Salinas at 7:00am in Saturday morning. After wandering around to find a hotel (apparently we didn’t have reservations) we
dropped our bags off and went for breakfast at the restaurant attached to the
hotel. We ate bread with scrambled eggs, fried plantains, pineapple juice, and
some badly needed coffee. Then we hit the beach!
We walked strolled along the sand for a bit and then decided to go on a boat ride for only $2 a person. We cruised around while
listening to music and sitting on the bow of the boat. When we returned, we
walked down the beach a litter farther to check out a stage that was being set
up and a few of the members of the team played some pick up soccer in the sand.
This whole sequence of events – the bus ride over night, the beach day – would
never have been allowed by my coach at home, so I found this whole situation
quite amusing.
Then we headed back to the
hotel for lunch and a nap before the race at 5pm. We left the hotel at 4:15,
walked over to the starting line, jogged for a few minutes, stretched, and
started the race (10 minutes late of course). I was very happy that the race wasn’t at a high altitude like Quito, but the
humidity was unbearable. It was about 90 degrees, on asphalt, and without any
shade. Luckily there were water and Gatorade stations along the way, and by the
end of the race I was drenched with pretty equal ratios of sweat, Gatorade, and
water.
I ended up finishing as the
fourth woman and third for my age group. Another girl on the team, who is also
from my study abroad program, also got third for her age group, and we both won bags
and a t-shirt. If I had run 30 seconds faster I would have won a fan!
Getting our 3rd place prizes.
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