This one's for the ladies!

The Deva Divas is an annual women's only triathlon held alongside the River Dee in Chester. You can tell an event doesn't take itself too seriously when the warm up includes a quick burst of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' and a Mexican wave in the water, which is just aswell considering I had done no training whatsoever. I had expected the weekend catch up with an old friend to involve a lunch and a glass or 3 of wine, rather than a swim, bike and run ... but then again, maybe I should know my friends a little better than that by now!

I survived the 750 m (NOT the advertised 500 m as they couldn't find a decent entry point apparently ) in the bracing 19 degree water and swear that next time I swim in open water it will not be old lady breast stroke. At least I didn't have a Lake Victoria style panic attack - being able to see both sides of the river bank is a definite comfort for a novice open water swimmer! I LOVED the bike section, especially since I flew along on my friend's speedy racer and had a lovely flat, smooth road! As for the run - well a little jelly legged to be honest!

Overall, it's a great event, with many competitors just aiming to achieve a personal goal. Bring it on for next year ... and next time I will remember to untie my bloody shoelaces before the transition!

The Sprint (?) Triathlon

There's probably something wrong with me for thinking that taking part in a triathlon constitutes a lovely day out of the city, but the Lake Victoria Triathlon always has a brilliant atmosphere. School was well represented, with six teachers participating as well as a few sporty parents and a brilliant eleven year old swimmer. 
At 2am on Sunday morning I was woken up by the most enormous clap of thunder. Not the best omen. I lay awake for an hour or so wondering whether my bike would hold out for the race or whether I would crash into something on the notorious dark tunnel under the airport runway on the bike ride. It was still pouring down when we left at 5.30am, making the drive to Entebbe horrendous. I used up all my adrenalin dealing with the glaring full beam headlights and trying to avoid knocking down any Ugandans taking an early morning bike ride without any lights on at all.
The event started over an hour late as the storm had destroyed the transition area. I then had over an hour to wait as we watched all the swimmers for the Olympic distance go first. We finally started our swim at 9.30am, so I knew it was going to be scorching by the time we got to the run.
I'm feeling a little pooped tonight, so in short: the swim in the pool was a little choppy and squashed but preferable to the bilharzia and crocodile ridden lake; biking past the lake is always beautiful and I enjoyed racing along with the other competitors; the run was exceedingly hot, my ipod decided not to work in my moment of need and I struggled up the hills, but did manage a sprint finish.
My training buddies and I all did a great job. One passed me out in the run and encouragingly told me to 'stretch out my legs' ... if only I could have! She got third place - fab job! I beat my target time of under 2 hours by nearly 20 minutes - and if I hadn't spent 5 minutes untying the stubborn double knot in my trainers it would have been even better! My friend also finished her first triathlon in under 2 hours and vows to better her time next year.
Today I am enjoying a little quality time with my sofa and the fact that I found a Galaxy bar in Kampala!

Final steps!

Phew - thank goodness all that's over!

Mind the step Laura!!

Tired but proud and happy training buddies!

Training buddies!

Practising the technique! Think my goggles were too tight!

I went the wrong way out!!!

Transitions are not easy!

Tri Again!

And the challenge for March is ... a sprint triathlon. This year, the organisers have moved the venue to a pool, so there's no risk of drowning in Lake Victoria or contracting bilharzia - phew!
 It's a 400 metre swim, 20 km bike and a 5 km bike. And it's in two weeks time! Luckily, Uganda has given us lots of public holidays recently, so we've had extra time to get some training in. Today was a public holiday because of the Mayoral Elections, since the first attempt last month resulted in minor riots after they found out that many of the votes had been fudged. As far as I know everything has gone fairly smoothly today, or at least I haven't received any text messages from the British High Commission to inform me of violence and areas to avoid.
I have a new biking buddy and she has taken to it like a fish to water. She has no problems with attacking the hills, but is feeling a little frustrated with the frequent shout-outs from random passers-by. Ugandans have a few lessons to learn in tact and diplomacy. How do you make somebody realise that shouting "Eh, you are last" or "Pedal faster, you are lazy" at a passing cyclist is not OK? Particularly when the said commentator is sitting on his rear end, guzzling a Nile Special, doing diddly-squat. On the other hand, rather a tactless Ugandan than an aggressive chavvy British teenager ...
This time I'm concentrating on the transitions, in particular the painful bike to run. My two fab training buddies and I have been egging each other on and the training has been enjoyable and stress free. Today we practised the whole thing, but in the wrong order. We took a 17km bike ride through the villages, passing the Baha'i Temple at the end, followed by a 5 km wobbly legged run. We finished with the swim and I now fully understand why the swim is placed at the start of the event and not at the end. I always thought it was annoying to have the swim first, as changing into biking clothes afterwards is going to be a bit annoying. By the time we hit the pool, after a hot and thirsty run in the thirty degree heat, we flopped into the pool and had about as much control as jellyfish! Lesson learnt! Then, to add insult to injury, the sky clouded over and there was a giant clap of thunder just as we finished the swim and hoped to relax in the sun.
Instead we consoled ourselves with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits, managing to undo all our good work in a matter of minutes! Perfect!

It's all go here ...

As usual it's all go in K-Town and I'm having a rare lazy evening in at home, vegetating infront of Glee (it's going to finish soon and I am in need of a new obsession - any suggestions?).
On Sunday I'm joining a team for the triathlon. I've guaranteed  myself no repeats of the near drowning panic attack incident last time and have only signed up for the bike ride. I'm a little concerned as I haven't even covered the full distance yet, but my team mates assure me that they are not feeling competetive ... I hope that really is the case as I am no Lance Armstrong at the moment! Anyway, a few of us are heading out to Entebbe the night before and I am considering the whole thing a social occasion with a 30 km bike ride thrown in for the hell of it.
I am barely going to have time to recover from this before I head off on the Outdoor Education trip. This time we are heading for the beautiful bilharzia-free (it's a selling point here) waters of Lake Nabugabu for two nights. The kids assure me that they are now all experts at the art of putting up tents and I intend to test them out and put mine up for me too!
This half term has to be one of the longest on record - so naturally my thoughts have turned to holidays. At the moment I am battling with my conscience as to whether I should stay in the posh lodge in Kidepo National Park or in the cheap and cheerful bandas. I'm told that staying in Opoka is a 'once in a lifetime experience' but after having 'once in a lifetime experiences' for the past four years my bank balance is suffering from serious malnutrition. The other big news is that my parents have just booked flights out to South Africa for Christmas and I'm doing a very good impression of a travel agent - infact I think I could have an alternative career in the making there! We have booked some awesome places just by the beaches in Cape Town and looking to stay in the winelands for New Years - hic!
So I as my head nearly falls on the keyboard from total exhaustion I will repeat the mantra 'holidays are coming, holidays are coming' ...