A different challenge

At 8 a.m. on Aug. 7, Chenoa Simpson dove into the Pacific Ocean and felt the cold water embrace her. A blanket of darkness was all she saw and when she rose for a breath of air everything was a blur.

"I've never swam in the ocean before," she said. "In fact, I'm terrified of the ocean. I was just standing there waiting for the gunshot to go off and I'm, like, 'OK, I have to do this and I just need to go in there and swim.'
"My mind was blank," she said. "It was crazy."

So was the idea of being in a triathlon, specifically the 2010 Camp Pendleton Hard Corps Sprint Triathlon, which includes a 500-yard swim, 30K bike ride and a 5K run.

In May Simpson was surfing the Internet and came across the triathlon and proposed to her parents that she give it a try.  She had heard stories of her mother, Charlotte Simpson, who competed in triathlons.

"She's always been one to do different sports and different challenges," said Chenoa's father, Ron Simpson. "It was something different so I was, like, maybe you should. Life goes quick, do as much as you can when you're young."

"I wanted to challenge myself and to do something other than basketball," Chenoa said, "to try something new and it seemed pretty fun."

With the help of her parents, volleyball coach and others, Chenoa started training for the triathlon.

Chenoa's maternal grandparents are Edna Smiley and the late Jimmy Kanuho of Kirtland, N.M., and her step-grandfather is Harry Smiley. Her paternal grandparents are Buster Simpson and Lucy Simpson of Nenahnezad, N.M.

All summer an indoor swimming pool was her ocean, the fields at Navajo Agricultural Products Industry were her bike course and the hills of Nenahnezad were her running trail.

Her father timed her and her mother made sure she stuck with it. But the intensity got to her at least twice during her training.

"I'd be going out seven miles and the wind would be going against me and I'm just, like, 'Why am I doing this?'" she said. "And I'm, like, I can't do this, this is really tough. The next morning I just get more pumped up to take it all on again."

Her parents and her brother Austin arrived at Camp Pendleton a day early. Chenoa got familiar with the ocean, took a bike ride and ran along the beach to prepare for the big race.

The day of the race Chenoa said she felt the reality of it all. She was a long way from NAPI and Nenahnezad.

She dove into the ocean for the first lap of the event.

"The waves are five feet taller than I am," she said. "You have to go under it just to pass it. You can't even see underneath you. It's pitch black. All you can see is bubbles in front of you."

Then she put on her cycling gear in the transition area.

Everything had to be done quickly as she was being timed for everything.

She hopped on the same bike her mother used as a triathlete and rode the 18 miles in and out of the hills near the base.

"It doesn't matter what bike you take out there," she said. "That bike is five years older than me. I would say it's a pretty good bike, not as fancy as the others but it got me through the race. Biking was the easiest."

Then came the 3.1-mile run around the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

Her legs were stiff and didn't loosen up until two miles into the run. From there she said nothing was going to stop her.

"It was hard with my muscles tightening and knowing there's six people in my whole age group and I'm trying to compete against them and I don't know where they're at," she said. "Older people were passing me and I was, like, 'Why are they passing me?'"
She finished second in the 15- to 19-year-old female age group and 628th out of 1,200 participants overall with a time of 1:55:57.

Her parents said they were proud for many reasons.

"I'm just too proud of her," Charlotte said. "It's just a feeling you couldn't describe."

Ron said it was a late birthday gift from his daughter.

"I've been out there every single day she was training," he said. "It was a great feeling especially it being my birthday weekend. She said 'I'm going to win you a medal' and she did."

A volleyball, basketball and softball player, Chenoa said finishing was an accomplishment in itself and she thanked her family, the Marine Corps and National Guard in Farmington and Havens Bikes.

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