Race of Legends! Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2010

1.8km swim (1.2km in the ocean + 100 meter dash across the sand + 600 meters in a freshwater lagoon)

+ 55km bike (route with three long, steep hills and uncountable sharp curves … in the rain)

+ 12km run (on trail, pavement, cobblestone, and golf course)

= The Race of Legends!

I promise, I didn’t make that up.  (Check it out if you don’t believe me.)  I don’t consider myself a legend, but I did race the Laguna Phuket Triathlon this past Sunday. And what a race it was!

I won’t bore you with too many details of the race, like seeing the bottom of the ocean in the swim, or getting brushed by a jellyfish, or pushing myself past my goal pace on the bike, or getting a bit lightheaded on the run because of pushing at race intensity for so long.  But I will show you some pictures, including some of the baby elephant I brought home from Phuket!

Black Beauty (my bike) ready to go in the transition area, before the race

I was in the third wave start. I’m the one right there in the green cap…

yep that’s me and yep I just finished. DONE and DONE.

the bike looks almost as tired as I felt

Just outside of the transition area there was this tent pavilion set up for the King, whose birthday is next Sunday, December 5th.  In the tent you could write a wish or prayer for the King.

at the finish line after finding out results

To my complete surprise, I placed first in my age group (females 25-29 years old)!!!!!!!  There were 12 athletes in my age group, and 11 of us finished.  I came in at 3:50:19, and second place was 10 minutes behind me.

So instead of starting the drive back to Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon, we stayed for the awards banquet. 🙂  Time to celebrate!

enjoying the sunset before the awards ceremony and banquet

the editor of the Phuket Gazette presented the trophy

couldn’t believe it!

the elephant that I brought home from Phuket

And because the weekend just wasn’t exciting enough, the truck broke down on the way back home.  The clutch went out and the battery died at nearly the same time.  Thankfully, we were close to a garage and the mechanics fixed it in about 4 hours.

And that was the weekend of legends.