European Aquathlon Championships

The 25th of June was my final international race of this year, and what a way to finish!
Chateauroux is a lovely place, and it was very French!   Little cafes lining the streets, shutters at every window and door, and narrow lanes that form a maze!  I loved it!

The race venue was on the border of Chatearoux.  The lake was a comfortable 23 degrees, so it was a non-wetsuit swim which I was happy about.  Although the course was very different to normal!   The first 600m was in the lake, then we had to run out of the lake and onto a min beach.   After running around a barrier, we had to run back into the lake to complete the next 400m.  I have no idea why that was included, but it changed it up a bit!

The run was 2 'T'-shaped loops (2.5k loops), so perfect to see whereabouts you were in the competition.  I felt really good at the beginning of the run, and for once my chest wasn't tight from asthma.  I could see my closest competitor in front of me, and my mum told me that she was 50 seconds ahead.  So on the 2nd lap, I ran as hard as I could.  By the time I crossed the line, I had caught up by 40 seconds and I had nothing left in me!  
Thirty minutes later, I was standing on the podium in 3rd place receiving my bronze medal! I couldn't take the smile off my face!  To make it even better, I found out that I got a 2 minute PB on the 5k run and the 9th fastest run of the whole day!

What a year it has been!    If you had told me at the beginning of this year that I would be British Triathlon Champion, National Aquathlon Champion, 3rd in Europe for Aquathlon and 5th in Europe for Triathlon, I would have thought you were crazy!   Not because I couldn't do it, but that I didn't believe I could.  However, over these past 6 months, I have grown both physically and mentally, and I now know that I can achieve whatever I want.