Then I went back to Kona, our next race as Team Ichiban was The Malibu Half Marathon before we went to support Jenson at the Austin Formula1 Grand Prix, then back to Hawaii again. Then towards the end of the year the whole team came to Maui and Kona for our annual Ichiban Training Camp, believe me when I say that, this is like a "stage endurance race" where everyday is to the full and we do Yoga sessions to rest :)
I was training for my 3rd Full Ironman Distance Triathlon "Ironman Los Cabos" in March 30th but tragedy struck twice in 2014. First we lost JB's dad, Our Dear friend John Button who R.I.P.
So I went to Mexico to see my Dad, It was a very emotional trip. And then just a couple of months later, I receive a call...... I lost my Dad too "The Original Jano Soto" to an stupid stair accident. Loosing my Dad a couple of weeks before Ironman Los Cabos was very very "Unreal" is the only word I can find to describe it... I think I tried to keep training because I was still in shock, not only because of my Dad, but because of John too, every time I went out to train in 2014 I felt like numb, like in a bad dream... I didn't really wanted to race, it was only when my Mom told me that she would like to go with me to Los Cabos, so we just went. Obviously my rock Paola was there as always, also our family supporting and cheering and my super Ichiban Team Mates were all the time in touch.
It all started well, I was focused and didn't felt bad, thinking about my dad was a good feeling during the race, seeing my mom happy was good. The Bike was good and the Run too...... It was until km 25, right when muscle fatigue comes in, I was in one of those lonely stretches of the run course when it hit me in a sad way. I had to walk...... I had to cry..... But I also had to start running again. I finished in 10:02 far from where I wanted to be but also surprised that I finished after how I felt in some parts of the run.
I stayed only one more week in Mexico until we flew to Europe, and in that week I had a minor surgery done, at least that's how they call Vasectomy these days.. "Minor" Ha! I would find out weeks later.. We left Mexico and also Hawaii to arrive in Spain, a place that we "Love"
Too bad that my first hour in Spain was "Unlucky" obviously we had a ton a bags and I don't know how? But I managed to break a rib while trying to put all the bags in only two airport carts. I think it wasn't really broken in two but it was bruised, ribs are very special and I learned that the following week when I was training for the next race, Challenge Fuerteventura.
I was able to Swim bike and Run, with pain but I could do it, what I couldn't do was 17 kms of mountain running, that's where it snapped! Even breathing was hard.
And that's how I got to Fuerteventura, my first swim was one day before the race and I didn't run since my Mountain Adventure.
The race was "HARD" one of the toughest races I've done, and finishing was more than enough, I actually don't know my placing or my finishing time! I tried to look but the website is not working.
Anyway.... Being in Fuerteventura with my friends was like winning some kind of race, it was like changing chapters in a book called a bad start of 2014.
Challenge Fuerteventura was at the end of April and I decided to take a few weeks off, and that's what I did, Paola's family came to visit us for more than one month, we went to Monaco GP to watch JB race and I kind of ate too much thinking I could loose all those desserts when I got back on to the bike in a serious way, but that didn't happen only until mid June, I started to put in the miles just to find out that the inner stitches of that surgery I did in April were being rejected by my body.
Had to do it all over again, but this time was more complicated and the recovery was going to take longer.
We are already starting the 4th week of September and I feel like a triathlete again, I'm not there yet but I expect to race soon...
Life is not easy or hard all the time. Everyone.... and I mean "EVERYONE" goes through hard times at some point, and I also think that everyone has plenty of reasons to be happy.
The point is the way you want to see it, it doesn't matter what kind of problems you might have but I can assure you that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, or some perspective that might be better than other, the thing is that you just have to keep going... There's no way around it, you have to keep going forward, at least that's what this guy taught me.
