One week before departing to the second round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon Super Series celebrated in Seoul, Korea, I had the opportunity of visit my hometown and share some quality time with my family. Sharing this time with them gave me an extra breath and the usual inspiration that always invades me whenever I return to Liberia my hometown.

As you all know, now I live in Cartago a city which offers altitudes in the range of 1500 msnm to 3000 msnm. Weeks before I experienced weird sensations regarding my training. I hit personal bests during pool workouts, but during my running workouts things weren’t clicking. I struggle with this situation for a bit, but I kept in mind what Roberto (my coach) told me, “stay mentally strong”.

I have to confess, I do hate transoceanic flights, specially the long lines to get to the migration counter, anyways. I told myself, I was going to enjoy this trip from beginning to end. Being positive helped me save $200 of the bike transportation. I departed Costa Rica – Houston – Los Angeles, I stopped at LA to go for a swim and an easy run, and also to take care of myself having a good dinner and sleeping in a very comfortable bed.

The next day I took my flight from LA to Seoul. I was really tired, so as soon the airplane departed I fell asleep. Next thing I knew, I was in Seoul. I felt fresh and ready to go. Seoul’s airport is massive. I took my luggage and after a very nice explanation of a Korean kid and a quick google earth study of the city, I ended up in the Swiss hotel.

As soon as I hit the hotel, I change clothes and went for a run around the Korean Wall Street, I was impressed by the organization of the city. During this loop around the city, I locate key places of my interest; the pool. Later in the afternoon I went to swim, and I ran into my friends Ivan Raña and David Hauss. It was nice to share some time these guys.

Is hard to forget that during a walk around the city, everybody dresses extremely formal, suddenly a car started honking the horn and I was wearing surfing shorts, flip flops and a hat, it was hard to understand that this Korean guy was upset because of my outfit, people around me were laughing very hard.

Two days before the race during the recognition of the bike course, I had an accident which leads to an inflammation in my very low back. This inflammation was very uncomfortable; I could not sit on the bike seat. I went to see the ITU doctor, he gave me some medication to kill the swelling, and it seemed like if I had a two pair of Balls.

As part of the accident the front wheel got damaged and it was hard to fix. I contact Specialized Team Factory, located in Seoul; they helped me fix my bike very quickly and efficiently. Having the support of specialized makes a difference when racing at the highest level is about to start. I felt tranquility and confidence to have my war machinery ready to go.

Food in Seoul was an issue for me, all menus were in Korean and nobody spoke in English.

Although I learn a word in Korean RICE “PAB”; for chicken I had to make the sound of a chicken to get something close to it.

The day previous to the race the pain remain the same, but I told myself I have to erase all those thoughts and focus in the race.

Super series are my favorite races; these give me an extra motivation. The fact that, I come from a very small country unknown worldwide, Costa Rica is a country in which we want to change the way athletes approach execution at the time of racing. Minutes before the race I was ready to enjoy it and be smart, I wanted to be part of it.

I set my mind to omit the feeling of the cold water, different from my hometown where water is warm. I was focused on every small detail of the race; I studied every turn of the bike course which was very technical and dangerous. I felt very comfortable because during the course recognition, my friend Ivan Raña, showed me some tips to approach the curves of the bike course. Raña is a humble Champion.

The day of the race, I found myself in good position during the first lap of the swim, at the end of the second lap, I saw Javi Gomez very close to me, seeing him close gave me an extra motivation to make a fast transition and connect the first group.

During the cycling course the difficulty of it made it be very controlled throughout the eight laps. From the moment on I knew that during the running part every second will be golden.

After a second slow transition, I started to focus on the guys in front; I wanted to roll them one by one to find the best position I could. In the last 2 K I found myself in the top 20, that was my goal, but I still wanted more, suddenly I saw a pack of three guys in front, immediately I started the chase focusing on just shutting myself down until I cross the finish line. I finished 17th, a super result and hard to believe.

My Dreams little by little began to come true, I’m going step at a time.

From this competition I would like to highlight:

1. Before the race learn to read your body, in order to have feedback and know what to do.

2. If God puts an obstacle before a race, is not because God doesn´t want to see you achieve a positive result, simply God knows that you are capable enough to excide the obstacle.

3. Always enjoy and laugh the most you can of every moment you get to live, leave a side racing, life is short, we have to fully enjoy it.

4. The support I received from all my friends and teammates in Costa Rica and around the world is part of me in my lonely moments previously and after the race. You guys are the most powerful fuel that keeps me going, I highly appreciate your VIBES….