Training is coming around after a couple of months dealing with a virus that left me pretty weak. Im now back on track to get my season going and my next 3 races will be the Life Time Fitness Cap Tex Triathlon on May 27th, the ITU Dallas on June 1st and the New York City Triathlon on July 14th.
I also want to let you all know that for now on at my ITU races I will be racing for Puerto Rico. In 2011 my wife and I came to the Island and felt in love with it. I became a legal resident back then and we decided to live here. My wife Pieri is from Argentina and doesn't speak english well and we looked for a place where we could both excel at our jobs. Puerto Rico is that place since its a US territory, we speak spanish here and the weather allows me to do my job all year around. I have found a nice set up close to the ocean for open water swims and the mountains for my long rides. We are both very happy here and I would like to thank everyone here that has helped us out these past couple of months. Living here reminds me of when I was kid growing up in Cuba, where the culture, the food and the weather are very similar.
Because Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth, puerto ricans are US citizens and I will be allowed to officially race for its Olympic Committee once I fulfill the requirement of living here for a certain amount of time and the Olympic Committee board approves my request. I hope to make history for the Island in 3 years when I become the first Puerto Rican to go to the Olympics in Triathlon and hopefully that will open the doors to many young triathletes here with the same dream.
Back to this past weekend's race in the Dominican Republic, this was my first of a few ITU races that I will be competing at this year since I will be focusing more on the non-drafting events. I won the race after exiting the swim with a small pack of 8 and after we finished the bike we had over 2 minutes on the chase pack. I paced myself the first few miles on the run since it was pretty hot and humid and broke away with two laps two go. This race was this year's Central America and Caribbean Championships and for the first time ever I won that title for Puerto Rico. Im back on my training routine getting ready for the Texas' double next week.
