"Swimming"

I really love it when I connect with the song that is playing at the start or finish of my races. Sunday was no exception..."Best Day of My Life" was playing as we walked down to get into the water! When I jumped in I had to question the song choice....

That water was COLD. Cold enough it took my breath away for a second. Almost cold enough I contemplated, for a SPLIT SECOND, getting back out and just throwing in the towel. 

Thankfully that thought gave way to my mantra for the next almost hour..."I KNOW how to swim so just SWIM".

There was NO CURRENT Sunday morning. It could have been worse-we could have been going upstream. But on that day it would have been barely noticeable!

There was a gal back on shore when we were waiting in line who I formed an immediate crush on...she was tan, thin and cute and had a cute sleeveless wetsuit. She had a short sleeved tri top on that was super cute. I pegged her as a very fast triathlete just by her looks. Well, as I was "swimming" along I looked up and saw her hanging on a kayak. She didn't look in distress at all as I swam by her. A few minutes later, there she was again, hanging on another kayak just up ahead of me! I realized quickly we were leap-frogging each other...I saw her the ENTIRE SWIM, along with another guy who was just behind me who was doing a modified breast stroke the whole time.

It was funny because I've never looked around so much in a race. I get in and I SWIM. When I sight, I just sight, I don't look around. In Augusta when we did the relay I looked around some, but the relayers were the last in the water so there weren't many people around me in that swim. But Sunday I spent pretty much the whole swim looking around! It was as if I was just having a lazy day in the river instead of being at the start of a 70.3 "race". Because I spent at least 80% of my "swim" looking around I saw SO MANY people NOT swimming! It was shocking! I didn't see anyone who looked like they were in trouble but I had to wonder how many of them were like me (very comfortable in the water, just not swimming) and how many were actually fearful and struggling.

I had estimated the swim would take about 45 minutes but I knew about halfway in I would never make that time. I based my minimum bike speed and run pace on that estimation, and I really felt like those times were probably all I had to give on the bike and run. As I watched the minutes tick by I had to throw out my plans for the day. What's that saying, "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face!"?

We were almost to the end and I heard my girl crush asking a kayaker how much farther until the end. So I told her, "we turn at that red buoy!" She said her goggles were so fogged she couldn't see the red buoy. I told her it was 10 of these concrete pillar things to our left, then around a corner and out. She said that was helpful and we both started swimming to our goal line. 

I never saw her again. She was probably really fast on the bike and the run!

When I got out of the water I looked up ahead and saw DWAYNE just seconds ahead of me so I took off running as fast as I could to catch him! About a minute after we got to our transition spot Cedric showed up! I was out in a very short amount of time but I knew it would be minutes before they would both pass me and I knew I would not see either of them until I crossed the finish line. 

I was right, and I was wrong.

Swim time: 59 minutes. It was the worst and the best swim I've done. Worst clock time but it was excellent people-watching!

Funny story...I found out later when I was talking to my new best friend/girl crush Dwayne heard my voice and spotted me chatting it up...he decided he was going to beat me out of the water and zoomed up ahead of me as fast as he could! (His time 58:27.)

Someone got video of me in the water! lol

Thanks for stopping by and sticking around!