Pre-Race
I first found out about the event as I was browsing through my facebook timeline and I instantly shared this to my friends from Pex Swim Team and Team Titans. I joined through the online option where I had to pay through a bank account and email the registration form. My friends also used this option so I was confident that there wouldn't be any problem come race day since after 2 weeks I haven't received a confirmation email. The FB event was also helpful as they had continuous updates and replies to all questions. I asked about my confirmation letter in the FB event I was assured that my registration confirmation was on the way but it didn't come.
Dryrun
Swim Team after the Dryrun
Honestly, I had zero training for this event so I just planned to wing it. Good thing! My Pex Swim Team decided to do a dryrun for the aquathlon and that was my only serious training for the event. I clocked at around 18mins for 600m and finding out that I needed to practice my turns. We did a short run around Camp Aguinaldo. I didn't bring my GPS watch so we just ran for 15 minutes around the quadrangle.
Actual Race
Assembly at the Newbie Triathlon event
The race was scheduled 2 hours than the usual gun start of races so riding the MRT was a option. We got to the venue at the assigned assembly time but when I got there my name wasn't in the list. Even after the confirmation in the FB event, I didn't have my kit. The organizers gave me an improvised kit but it said triathlon and my swim cap was white when it was supposed too be blue. That was a little disappointing since I made my payment early and made numerous attempt to follow up on my confirmation and I was promised that it was on the way but it never did.
Cheering for the triathletes
Because of that, I didn't have a transition basket. Good thing that Gelo wasn't sick this aquathlon so he let me share his transition box. At around 9:30 am, we made our way to the pool where we started the swim leg of the aquathlon. As expected, turns slowed me down together with being bothered that I just kicked someone and someone kicked me. This was a norm in triathlons though but it doesn't make it less annoying. Anyway, I officially finished my swim at around 20 minutes and made my way to our transition baskets. Noel, Wins and I pretty much finished the swim leg at the same time but since running is their specialty. They pretty much zoomed to the finish line while I maintained a constant pace finishing at around 30 minutes. Since the timing was manual, there were a few errors in my teammates' results. Good thing we ran the course close to each other and we were able to correct this error.
