Yes indeed been off the blog wagon for some time. But certainly not off the training/racing wagon...........................
After a handful of out of country competitions in 2016, culminating with 2 World Championships, busted out the door of 2017 with trip and race to Cuba. The Havana 1/2 Ironman held just a few weeks ago. The race, country, people: The total experience was off the hook. Their world is sooooo much different than ours. They have so very little. Yet so friendly, warm and engaging. I expected..... well I did not know what to expect honestly. But arrived and left there with only wonderful memories. From beginning to end.
The race was put on by The International Triathlon Union (or ITU) and was a legit good old challenging half Ironman. 1.2 miles swim in the Marina Hemingway. 56 miles on the bike. Which took through Havana, flipped it back through the city again and then on to 40+ miles in the open country. The half marathon run was totally up and down the beaches (on pavement) of the Malcedon. Spectacular. Simply put. Hot. Real hot. But spectacular.
I was stoked with another podium visit finishing a 5:09 race.
Looking forward to next year unlike any other destination/race I have done. Some I do not need to return to. Some I would like to. Some I do. This one I will. The race is just the dessert with the even larger main course of the meal being the overall experience.
That is my new friend Octavio's dog up on his roof looking down at me. A wiener dog named Robin Hood. Cool little bugger. And like Octavio and all the Cubans I befriended: Warm and friendly.