The race is over and now I think I’m ready to talk about it. Natalie and I drove down to Point Lookout State Park, about an 8 hr drive with stops for veggie subs and Gatorade. The race director was kind enough to put us up in a 100 SF cabin, which was actually quite nice. After the drive down there was only one thing I could think about doing…and Natalie wasn’t up for that so I talked her into a run. I was also planning on a swim too but, some pretty nasty T-storms rolled in. Now of course I’m ion a panic. 12 hours from this point I’m supposed to be swimming. It rained until at least 10pm, after that I don’t know because I fell asleep.
I was up at 5:30, we brought a coffee pot so it brewing away making all sorts of noise. I grabbed a cup as I emptied out my fuel bag for the 5th time. 3pairs of goggles, Check. 20 oz. orange accellerade at 220 cal, check. 350 calories hammer gel, check. Powerbar in case I need solids, check, Vaseline, check, waterproof camera, check. I put on a thick layer of bodyglide and had the biggest PB&J w/ honey and banana’s ever! Off we went over to the marina to help load up the skipjack. You see, a swim of this distance isn’t done around a bunch of buoy’s. They feel the need to boat us over to Virginia and have us swim back. My nerves were running pretty high, my Ipod was full blast just trying to get a Rhianna song out of my head. I really didn’t want that for the next couple hours. I met up with Mike my kayaker and gave him my feed plan and the bag. I didn’t really know Mike yet but, he did tell me he has served in 2 branches of the military and id getting ready to retire. It didn’t take much for him to gain my trust. I mean really. Natalie put a thick layer of Vaseline on all my potential rubbing parts and then all of a sudden everyone’s yelling get on the boat! So I did, and off we went. You could see some very nervous faces, and why not, it’s a big day. The boat captain let us all know that it’s only an 18 minute ride and we’ll be there shortly…in 40 minutes. As we headed over the water was very choppy, my PB&J was not sitting well, more nerves than anything. Captain Jack took us about a half mile from shore where we unloaded all the kayaks. The race director announce that the race start is on shore…so get swimming. At this point I wasn’t planning an adding another mile to this day. Note: at this point. We were lucky enough to have the whalers take us in. So that’s how we got there. Not to eventful.
I heard the words “Time officially started” I guess that means go in open water swimming land. However, only one swimmer took off while everyone else waded in slowly. Water temp was about 66 so I wanted to get moving, problem was I didn’t see my kayaker yet. I could stand around and wait or just trust in something I can’t control. That’s big for me. Off I went, sorta. Immediately I was getting my ass kicked by the waves. I just couldn’t get my timing down. The good thing was that 30 seconds in up came Mike out of nowhere. It’s important to know that Mike is a rookie support guy and I am a rookie OW swimmer. So who knows if we are all wrong. Earlier I had set my watch to beep every 25 minutes to eat, and that’s what I did. After the first beep I popped my head up and Mike hooked me up with some Hammer Gel. Mmmm. We switched sides to get my face out of the sun, next stop…25 minutes. After my first stroke I took a mouthful of brackish water and up came lunch. I kept going after I chummed the waters to hopefully settle the stomach. I stopped at about an hour in and fueled again, Mike informed me that we had 4.6 miles left. I was moving at a good clip and I was catching the guy in front. At this point I was in second. At my next fueling I past the leader and felt great. Then we hit this current, It was like I came to a stand still, I’m swimming as hard as I can using tons of energy just to move a little. I got to a point where I was getting pulled towards a monitoring station, this thing was scaring the crap out me. I just didn’t know what it was so of course I was nervous. I took a quick fueling and started to swim hard to get away from it. At this point I could see the finish , looked 10 minutes away….I decided to stop fueling because I was so close. The watch kept beeping I kept swimming. At 3 hrs I just wanted to be done. I was back in second place and not catching up. I was whooped. Every stroke hurt, a lot. Mike didn’t have to be supportive, he probably knew by now that all I need is data. He kept me informed and guided me in. I finished in 2nd place out of 28 starters. When I was done everyone wanted pictures, all I wanted was some recoverite and Mike. He was a part of this just as much as I was. (Little easier for him tho…) It was really great to see Natalie, may parents and my brother too. So after 3 hrs and 28 minutes I was all done, and hurting. I got one hell of a sunburn, so I learned that. I also found out we swam closer to 8.5 miles. That current was a bitch. Sunday morning hurt more than I expected. Couldn’t even lift my left arm By the time I hit the pool Monday morning I was pretty much A OK. I think I’ll go back. Still need to get the W.
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