The big race!

Last weekend I participated in an open water swim race in Puerto Queztal in Guatemala. It was my first open water swim here in Guate and it went really well. Here is a photostory of my experience!

The view from our hotel room at our private beach! HA!! We scored this hotel last minute. I met the owners one day while walking through Antigua. I heard a group of men talking and I KNEW they were from Georgia. SO I simply said "GO DAWGS"! The responded as desired and then 2 days later I was on their plane home. One of them is a partner at a sailfish camp in Puerto. They gave us a great deal!!!



Just a quick snack! I love chips, salsa, and guac!



Gotta love the black sand beaches!



We had to take a 10 minute boat ride to get to my car from our "private island" getaway! The sun was just rising and it was beautiful!



Game time! #65! better watch out! I am tough! HA!



Last minute clarifications on the route! Thanks JuanMa! thankfully he was in charge and I know him!



Ready, set, SWIM! Wait... first you must run to the water!



There was a sandbar! I tried to run as far as i could!



Just keep swimming! I like this picture! see... I really did swim!



Our wave... we were the last to start, but we did catch up to many swimmers.



Coming in! One more minute to go! I can do it! Make it to the sandbar!



Back in the water to get to shore.



Almost there! I really swam hard that last 400 meters... I was tuckered out!



Time check! 56:35 minutes! My goal was under one hour.



My friend Patricia also swam. Notice our faces covered with the black sand!



Looking at the course. That big boat came in that morning and so we had to swim around it. It felt like FOREVER to pass that thing! Plus it was spitting out water! Then we turned right at the end of the boat and swam another 500 or 600 meters before turning back and following the same course. It was crazy, I know!



Getting my medal! 3rd in my category, 7th out of all the women, and 26th overall!