Photo courtesy of Gene MurrietaRunning up the first climb above Vail Lake
May 18th I competed in my first XTERRA triathlon as a pro just a week after finishing the G4 Challenge. I BARELY got my USAT pro license in time to race and probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for Dave Nicholas of Team Unlimited.
I drove down with XTERRA pro Dan Hugo and his girlfriend Ruth of South Africa who were great driving buddies and truly appreciated seeing the scenery off of 395.
We stayed with Brian Hinman at his home in Temecula looking over the valley. Brian and Lauren were amazing hosts and cooked us delicious meals every night.
I really wasn't nervous about racing pro--felt kind of funny. I guess in South Africa there's no pro and amateur and here everyone makes a huge deal about it so we made jokes about it.
The race was ridiculously hot so I'm glad I finished without passing out.
I finished 7th with a pretty tough pro field including Ironman champ Michellie Jones.
Made a major navigation error on the way home and did a detour through Death Valley or "The Valley of Death" as Ruth calls it. But things got back on track after we had Jack In the Box at 1am in Bishop. Made it back home at 4:30 am and had to work the next day. Luckily Dan and Ruth are still talking to me...must have been the JBX!
To read my Sierra Sun race report go to:
http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20080521/SPORTS01/380456417/-1/SPORTS
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