Like many aspiring triathletes, she came to triathlon's birthplace for one reason.

“I wanted to come to the best place in the world to train,” she said.

Pasqualini, 25, now rides a $5,500 bike provided by a sponsor. Another sponsor furnishes wetsuits and race clothing. Her coach thinks she'll soon be racing professionally.

It's a feel-good story, particularly given that the day after Pasqualini arrived in San Diego she couldn't keep up with her running group, got lost, cried and wondered if she'd made a horrible mistake.

A swimmer growing up in Brazil, Pasqualini transitioned to triathlon. Her tri coach in Sao Paolo knew Sergio Borges, a Brazilian and respected San Diego triathlon coach.

Pasqualini's mother talked to Borges by phone, e-mails were exchanged and Pasqualini, with $1,000 to her name, headed to San Diego.

Borges met Pasqualini at Lindbergh Field. She swam at a masters workout that evening. The next morning, Borges took her to a run workout on a Rose Canyon trail.

Borges explained the run, but he didn't translate in Portuguese for Pasqualini. Unable to keep up with the group, she fell behind and got lost.

“You know that feeling when you are desperate and don't know which way to go?” explained Pasqualini. “I was lost and nobody cared. I didn't have anybody to spoil me and say, 'Everything's going to be OK.' ”

When Pasqualini eventually found her way back to the group, she was greeted by what she perceived to be sarcastic applause.

“You made it,” one of the runners said.

Back at Borges' home, she walked into a bathroom and cried.

“Everyone was so fast and people didn't talk to me,” she recalled. “This was harder than I thought.”

To make money she worked at the UTC mall demonstrating massage machines. She worked at an Indian restaurant, soon discovering she hated the smell of curry. Within about six months she got a job as a server at an upscale pizza restaurant, even though her English still was limited.

She sometimes asked patrons to point to the item they wanted. If customers tried to strike up a conversation, she occasionally walked away, embarrassed.

“I wasn't very friendly,” said Pasqualini, who lives near UTC. “I was scared all the time.”

One language she spoke fluently, besides Portuguese, was swim-bike-run. Improving gradually since moving to San Diego, Pasqualini won her age group at three local triathlons this year and was the top amateur at the San Diego International Triathlon in June. The latter result qualified her for the Best of the U.S. Amateur Triathlon 13 days ago in Winter Haven, Fla.

Pasqualini finished a disappointing 24th in the Olympic-distance race.

“That was like a wake-up call,” Pasqualini said. “Everyone was so professional.”

Pasqualini and her new coach, another Brazilian, Felipe Loureiro, think Pasqualini's best distance will be the half-Ironman, the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run, which is more than twice as long as the Olympic distance.

“The Olympic distance is too short,” Pasqualini said. “I think anyone can go and do it. When it comes to the longer stuff, you have to be tough. It's something you have in you or you don't. It's a mentality. It's not easy.”

Few question her toughness.

Noting Pasqualini's difficult transition to the American lifestyle, Loureiro said, “She's a fighter. She's very brave.”

To improve her cycling, Pasqualini began riding regularly in January with top men. Like her first run here, early on the only woman in the group was repeatedly dropped.

Of the tempo, she said, “It's suffering.”

About her passion for cycling, she said, “If I'm depressed, I ride my bike on the 101. That's my free time. I like the feel of the wind in my face. I like to go down hills. I'm not scared of anything. I like the feeling of going fast. That's what I like the most.”

More than three years after arriving here, a scared young woman in a strange land, she has no plans to return to Brazil.

“I want to live here forever,” she said. “I think it's gorgeous. The weather's perfect. And the people here are beautiful, just like the movies.”