Potomac 2010

First off I should say that the following blog is just a recap of last weekend events. No philosophical ramblings on how I'm a changed person or how inspiring I found the river.

I’m sitting here at my desk thinking how quickly the past 4 days went. Hell, the past year. My second go at the Potomac River Swim went well. I dropped 33 minutes from last year and have been recovering well. My only complaint is the tendonitis in my left elbow. That only tells me that I didn’t put enough distance swims in this year. Leading up to Saturday I was plagued with a pretty bad ear infection. The antibiotic I was on made me feel like crap and unfortunately I felt that way through most of the swim. Right from the start I had gone after a pace which should have felt pretty good but, didn’t that day. About 400 yds in my lower back was tight and sore. Less than 45 minutes in I was fighting off calf cramps. Now I should have left the wetsuit behind. 75 degrees was way to warm. I started off taking fuel every 25 minutes then quickly changed to 30. That way I could track my pace easier with Mike’s GPS. (Mike was my kayak support.) My goal from the start was to push 3 hrs. I was way ahead at 90 minutes and was pretty much looking at a 2:40 swim. I was pretty far ahead at this point so I decided to dial it way back in case I had to deal with the current like last year. In hindsight I wish I would have just pushed through. It’s easy to say that now; I was hurting pretty bad come 90 minutes. Thanks to the antibiotic I’m sure. By 2hrs I was ready to be done but, only had 2.2 miles left. I could see the shore and the orange finish buoy so that put a small hop in my step. I took my second roctane and washed it down with some Heed. 10 minutes later nothing happened. Dud. I could see that it was sheer will that was going to get me into that shore. There wasn’t much left. I did however think I was winning so that helped. In the last 800 yds I basically grit my teeth and pushed through the pain. At this point there is a lot going on. The kayakers are eyeing speed boats, my stomach is upset from the roctane, I am horrifically thirsty, My head is hurting and I feel a bit dizzy, my elbow is burning, my triceps shoot pain down to my pinky with every stroke, my left forearm is throbbing from a bit of man to kayak contact, my calves are cramping, I have my first side stitch in about 3 yrs, now my stomach is growling, my left goggle lense is half full of salty water, my wetsuit is rubbing everything, my wetsuits feels like a 1000 degrees, I just want a nap, yes, I feel sleepy. All this is going on in my head with every arm rotation. I finally finish, and was so happy to see Natalie and everyone else. I was in pretty good mood for about 5 minutes until someone mentioned that the winner already went home. Huh? Winner? I thought I was right here. Nope. I got beat by some guy with out a wetsuit by almost 10 minutes. So that sucks. Mission: Failed. Maybe next year.

The rest of the day was pretty good. I hung out with last year’s winner, Tim and someone I met through the forum e-mails. Her name was Christina and she had a pretty solid swim. The sun was hot, the food was good. We drank all the beer and I had some awesome littlenecks in June. My kayaker was great and is probably more responsible for the PR than I am. All in all it made for a great weekend. We shall return next year and will leave the wetsuits at home.