These are the things I was thankful for on La Ruta Maya River Race
Day 15
The Rain
The first day we spent 7 hours and 10 minutes on the river and went 49 miles. I'm so thankful it had been raining for 4 days straight before the race! The river was high and the current strong, lots of rapids and we just moved right along. It was by no means easy, but without all that rain we probably would've been paddling another hour that first day!
Day 16
Cloud Coverage
The second day we spent 7 hours and 55 minutes on the river and went 50 miles. The current wasn't as strong as the first day and there weren't any rapids. The sun is so strong here it really takes a lot out of you being in the sun for too long. Luckily there was cloud coverage half of the day and it even rained which felt so refreshing!
Day 17
A Shower and Mass
The third day we spent 6 hours and 37 minutes on the river and went 45 miles. This day was the hardest for me. We spent the first 2 hours paddling hard to overtake a few teams and to (try) to keep up with the 3 male Canadian teams. The Canadians eventually pulled ahead :( Then the last hour or so we spent catching up to a Jamaican mixed team. They had a faster boat and two men but we decided we could take them and right before the finish we did! It was such a thrill, and then to find out we made it in under 7 hours (I was hoping to make it 7.5 hours) was great! We were pretty spent getting out of the boat but we were all excited to head into Belize City, take showers at the parish there, and go to Mass that evening. After consuming granola bars by shoving them in one bite, camping in muddy conditions, "bathing" in the river, and peeing in the canoe for three days a shower and Mass made me feel human again! It was so nice. Thank you Fr. Jeff and Fr. Dennis for lending your shower to some nasty canoe racers!
Day 18
My awesome teammates
and our friends that came to cheer us on!
I LITERALLY would not have completed the race without my teammates Lucia and Jonathon. They were so great. I was amazed at how patient they were in the boat and how they kept pushing and pushing and PUSHING! The fourth day we spent 3 hours and 45 minutes on the river and went 25 miles. In a lot of ways this was the worst day for paddling. The strong seabreeze coming against us and the dead water in the mangrove were tough to get through. The first hour into the day we pushed as hard as we could to pass one the all male Canadian teams. Then when we were in the mangrove we heard them talking behind us and said "The Canadians! Everyone go hard!" :) After the mangrove we pushed so hard to keep ahead of them and it was a big finish as we came in about one canoe length ahead of them! I was so proud of myself and my awesome teammates! What a wonderful sight to look up and see a whole bunch of people you know cheering you on from the bridge. Hugs, high-fives, and cheering really made the finish fun! The priests, sisters, and volunteers came out from Benque to see us finish, along with a former student of mine and friend from Belize City. Having people support you really makes all the difference! Thanks to everyone who came out and also to my family and friends supporting me from home :)
I'll try to get some pictures on here and on facebook soon!
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