This is the second post where I recount my athletic life. In the last post I stopped at about age 12 so now I will cover my junior and part of my high school experience.
I lived with my grandmother and uncle when I was single digits but after that I was in boarding schools and at age twelve I went to live with my mother who had moved to Puerto Rico. She could not really watch after me as a single mother so she put me in a military school called Antilles Military Academy. I spent all week there and went to her apartment in the weekends. She lived in a nice condo called “Condado del Mar” in the Condado area of San Juan. The condos are right on the ocean so that was cool.
When I got to school they placed me in the sixth grade but that was a joke. They were teaching stuff I learned in Colombia in the fourth grade. I would literally sleep during some classes and aced the test. At some point I asked if I could skip a grade. They went for it so I moved to the seventh grade. Now I felt like I was learning something but I was still acing every thing. It was not me, it was our US educational system which really stinks. But I will save that for another day
Antilles Military Academy is a private school with kids from Kinder Garden to the twelve grade and every kid had to do PE every single day. I have to find a school like that for my kids for sure. I can not believe it is an elective thing in many schools. We even had swimming once a week. That is where it all started. Each day after school which ended around 4:00 PM I walked back to my dormitory to change and hang out. One day as I was walking I noticed all these kids swimming at the pool. The pool was right below the dormitory. I asked what it was all about and they told me it was swim lessons. So I went and asked if I could join in. The coach said sure get your trunks and we will see you for the next class. I was there and I loved it. Back then goggles were not existant. So my eyes were all red after every lesson. I remember looking at lights and seeing this huge white cloud around them. That was wild. Our coach was Ahmed and he was great. I remember the first time I swam across the whole pool including the deep end. That was scary. But I did it and I was hooked. I was learning real fast so Ahmed one day asked me if I wanted to join the swim team. Wow! Really? Sure when do I start? That was a wild experience for me but nothing like my first swim meet. I almost passed out.
Ahmed took me to my first swim meet at El Colegio San Jose. This school was the top ranked private school in almost every sport. They were the real deal. Their swim coach was the loudest in the pool. Needless to say this was very intimidating. The swim meet was not only against San Jose but against all private schools in the Island. Ahmed signed me up for the 100 meters. That is 4 laps of a 25 meter pool. I stood on the blocks and the gun went off. I had no idea what I was doing but I went as hard as I could possible go. I was so scared I do not think I saw anything. But I finished and although I was last in the heat I was proud. Ahmed was there to meet me and congratulate me afterwards. I really loved this man and more so now after I realized his influence. That is why I stopped racing triathlon for a while and coached kids as a volunteer. You can influence so many lives in a positive way.
The swim season ended and summer break came along. I spent my summers in El Condado where my mother lived. The condo had a nice 25 meter pool with lanes but no ropes. But guess where I was every single day. You got it. I was swimming laps and racing kids, lifeguards, 60 year old men with fins. You name it. I wore a Mark Spitz Speedo with the Stars and Stripes so my butt had stars printed as the sun tanned all but the white stars. I thought that was cool.
When the fall came I showed up to the swim team try outs and to my surprise and Ahmed’s surprise I won a couple of events beating the swim team fast guys. But the best came at my first swim meet against all schools. I swan the 50 meter free and took second with a 30 second time. By the end of the year I got that down to a 28 but the big schools loaded the event so I ended up 4th at the Championship meet. I needed a 26 to win. Oh well. The guys winning were on the Puerto Rico National team so I did not feel bad. But that got me thinking that I was not so far back and I did not swim with a team year round. More on that thought on my next post.
One day in the 8th grade the school teachers took us out to watch the high school guys do the “Maraton del Pavo”. This is the really the Turkey trot. It is about a 3 to 4 mile race of laps around the school. The whole school was there to cheer the winner who came across the line. The kid that won looked exhausted and almost fell to the ground. I was not impressed. I can do that was my thought. So doing the race became my goal for the next year. One of the weekly classes we did was a run and I was always the first guy so I knew I could do well. But going against kids four years older was going to be tough.
When the 9th grade arrived I was swimming with the swim team after school but I also ran late at night to get ready for the turkey trot. I usually ran 2 miles about as hard as I could. As I mentioned my school was a boarding school so I had a set schedule.
4:30 5:30 Swim Team
6:00 7:00 Dinner
7:30 9:00 Study Hall
9:00 10:00 Free time so I ran.
10:00 Lights out in all rooms.
To this day I love to run at night.
I was a good student and had clean shoes and a shiny buckle every day so I got selected to be on the Color Guard. That meant I would have it easier than your average student. But we had responsibilities. We were in charge of raising the US and PR flags every morning. Plus we went to other schools for big events to carry the flags in during big occasions and ceremonies. It is a huge perk. But a problem arose. The color guard was scheduled to go to another school the same day as the Turkey Trot. Oh no!
I talked to the guy in charged to see if I could skip the trip and run the trot. “Why do you want to do the run? It is not like you are going to win or anything.” He said. Oh no famous challenging word. “ I tell you what, if I do not place in the top three you can kick me off the color guard.” I replied. So we had a deal but I could run now, I was going for the win; third place would not be a problem.
Our school had a great judo program and I actually did judo back in Colombia. But I was not that good. The reason I am bringing this up is because the judo instructor brought a kid to our school that was on the Puerto Rico National Team and not just that. He was the Central America champion for his weigh class and finished in the top 10 at the Olympics losing in the single elimination tournament to a Canadian that medaled. This kid was older but he was a work horse too. He trained so hard and ran for endurance every day. On top of that he was in the 11th grade. He was going to be my main competition at the turkey trot.
Race day came and I was ready. My plan was to go hard and hang on. I think we did something like 5 laps around the school. I recruited my roommate to give me an idea of where the judo kid was. I was not going to look back. I learned that a long time ago. Don’t look back. The gun went off and so did I, giving me a huge lead. Something like 100 yards after the first mile. The problem was the judo kid was closer and closer with each lap. With a half lap to go my roommate said “he is right behind you”. He passed me and I could not react. I went to finish second but if someone had pushed me a little over the last 100 yards I would have probably fallen and there was no getting up. Well, I kept my Color Guard spot and became the new running star at the school. I was not going to surprise anyone anymore. The winner of the Turkey Trot got a turkey and the second place got a chicken. I brought it home and my mom cooked it. My mother was tough to please. She wanted to know how come I did not win the Turkey.
Spring time brought cross country season and I tried out. Well not really a try out. The coaches wanted me to be the captain already. The judo kid was not on the team as he was all judo and there was no time for racing cross country. So our team was fun, we traveled all over Puerto Rico and I was always in the top 20 or so at the meets of over 100 kids. I learned to come from behind instead of going all out. The picture here shows the start on one of the meets. I am the last kid on the right and my coach giving me instructions. I was the fastest on the team but was starting on the second row on purpose. Each school only gets one spot on the front row and everyone lines up behind. I remember barely being in the top 50 by the first mile but passing tons of kids in the last mile. These races are so tight it is actually not that hard to pass ten kids with a little push. In the championship meet my coaches and I decided to try the "go hard from the gun" strategy and I got 9th which was my best place. I remember the kid that won. His last name was Padro and we called him “The Horse”. It was an inside joke so every time we saw him walking around we all made horse noises. He probably thought those Military kids were wacked out.
One final fun story before I close this post was when Padro came to our school but this time as a Volleyball player. The whole cross country team went out to watch our school team play his school. But Padro was on the bench the whole time. Sometime in the last set we all started chanting “Padro”, “Padro” and finally their coach put him in and we went nuts. He loved it!