The Fuego y Agua Survival Run has unofficially begun. This morning was packet pickup all of the racers were instructed to meet at 8:00am to pickup their bibs and race packets. As soon as the clock struck 8:00am Josue Stephens, the race director greeted all the athletes and told us to go get our bibs.

Our bibs were conveniently located on a small boat about a 1/4 mile from the shore. Josue then added we had about twenty minutes to complete this task. Over the last couple of days I had pieced two and two together that this packet pickup would not be a simple stand in line with your ID and sign a waiver.

Finally last night I made the guess that we would most likely be going in the water this morning. I dressed this morning in underwear that could easily double as a bathing suit. As soon as we were told the task I was in the water second and off swimming, the water was the perfect temperature and as I swam I found myself ahead of the group, much to my surprise. My only goal was to not get caught up in a bottleneck and avoid treading water for a long period of time. As I swam up to the boat I was handed by bib, folded it into my sports bra and headed back for shore. Constantly checking to make sure I didn’t lose it along the way.

I popped out of the water 4th and second for women. All but one racer made it though this first challenge as he suffered cramps in the water and quickly DNF’d the race. AlthoughIt is nowhere near the start of the race but it was a fun warm-up this morning and now know my bib number is officially 29 and loved being in the water this morning, even with the bull sharks. (Thanks to Matt B. Davis for the photos)

The top 5 out of the water this morning. (Although it has no bearing on the actual race.)

1. Adam Jurcisin
2. Shelley Koenig
3. Olof Dallner
4 Margaret Schlachter
5. Isaiah Vidal