After having to take off almost all of 2002, I am now healthy and very excited about the 2003 season. My first race was the Valle de Bravo Banamex ITU Triathlon on March 29.

My husband Pete and I flew to Mexico City two days before the race. At the airport in Mexico City we met up with my friend Gia, her fiance Mike, another pro triathlete Chris, and his coach Bettina. Mike had rented a minivan that was supposed to be big enough to fit 6 people and three bike boxes. However, we quickly realized that there was absolutely no way we were all going to fit. Mike then asked if we could rent "Blanco Grande" a big white suburban that was sitting in the rental car parking lot. I still had my doubts that we would even fit in "Blanco Grande", but with Bettina’s experience in traveling with cyclists we managed to fit all 6 people, three bike boxes and a lot of suitcases.

At this point we had what we thought was going to be a two hour drive from Mexico City to Valle de Bravo. Mike was driving while Gia and Pete were trying to read the map. I did not know it at the time, but they were basically just using the sun to make sure that we were headed west. After some wrong turns and a couple of close calls we finally made it to Taluoca, former home to Pancho Villa, where we decided to stop for dinner. We could not find any restaurants that looked safe enough to try, so we ended up at a Kentucky Fried Chicken – not my idea of a great pre-competition meal, but we just had to be flexible.

We eventually got back in the car, and four hours after we left the airport we finally found our hotel. Our hotel did not exactly fit the its description as "cozy cabins on a wooded hillside," but at midnight after a full day of traveling anything looks nice.

The next day, I went for a short run with Gia and Chris. I felt pretty good except for I was having some trouble with the altitude (4500 ft. in the downtown area) and the less than smooth cobblestone streets. After the run, we all piled into "Blanco Grande" to go see the course.

We arrived at the lake and were taken back by the awful smell coming from the water. We quickly realized the source of the smell when we saw a pig urinating right near the swim start. In addition, I looked down and saw that we were going to be starting the swim in a pile of manure. We all agreed to skip our day before the race swim feeling that there was no way we were going to swim in that water more than once. We would take our chances by racing in it, but we were not going to risk getting sick the day before.

Trying to be optimistic after seeing what we were going to have to swim in, Gia suggested that we go drive the bike course. I had heard that the bike course consisted of a 20k mountain climb up to a turn around and then right back down. However, I could never have imagined how challenging it was going to be. Even though I like to climb, it was hard not to get anxious as we drove the course. I felt like it took hours to reach the turn around and we were in a car. I did not even want to think about doing it on the bike the next day. It also did not help to know that we were going to be starting the bike at 4500 feet. altitude and reaching the top at 7500 feet. All I could do was try to stay positive and look at it as a great challenge. I could tell that it there was not going to be much drafting (in ITU races we are allowed to draft), so this race was definitely going to be a cyclists race. Since I come from a swim/run background I knew I was going to have to work extra hard on the bike to be competitive.

After driving the bike course we were all pretty hungry and tired, so we stopped at this cute little restaurant for lunch. The owners were very nice and I had what I thought was a good lunch until I was told that they were not going to charge me for the cheese I had ordered. Apparently, they could reuse it since I had not eaten all of it. That left me wondering whose cheese was I eating? All of a sudden, I had no desire to eat at another restaurant there again.

The morning of the race finally arrived! While I had second thoughts about swimming in the gross lake, I was extremely excited to race. After all, it had been almost a year since I had raced and I kept reminding myself that in 2002 I would have given up a lot to race in even bad conditions like the disgusting lake I was about to swim in. I ended up having a fair, but not great swim. I was a little too conservative at the beginning of the swim. After a pretty bad swim to bike transition, I got on my bike and had a great bike for me. I absolutely loved the climb. It was definitely hard, but I felt really good going up it and I was passing a lot of people so that made it feel even better.

I was still a little concerned about the steep descent on the way back, but even that went well for me. I got off the bike in fourth place with the 2nd and 3rd place girls not far ahead. I thought I would be able to catch them, but it was not my day on the run. I definitely bonked, but I did end up catching one of the girls. However, two others passed me so I ended up in 5th.

While I would have loved to have had a much better run, I was pleased overall with my race. After the past year, it was just so nice to be back racing again. As a bonus, I earned ITU points along with some money for 5th place. It was a great experience for me!