Anyhow, I figured I should write a review of the day before it becomes all fuzzy in my memory. I have to say this was probably one of the most rewarding and challenging endurance events I have ever done. Now, since this was my first time swimming the bay, I have nothing to really compare it to besides a handful of other open water swim events with triathlons. I overheard people at the end saying that the current was very tough at times, the swells were rough, but that it was not as bad as previous years. I can say the weather was beautiful. It was sunny, it was warm, and the water felt fantastic. There were definitely cold spots going through, but overall I had no complaints on the weather or the temperature of the water.
So where to begin....
I didn't have to wait long for the bus and as I stood in line, I just listened to music to try and calm any pre-race nerves. I was actually quite calm. The nerves had hit on friday evening where I was reading everyone elses race reports from previous years. That was when it truly hit me and I felt overwhelmed by what I was about to do. I had swam an easy 3,000 yards on friday and felt great. But I was still nervous that evening. The morning of the swim-I was calm as could be. Excited even.
On the bus ride over, I sat next to this chick who was freaking out. And I mean freaking out. She asked me if this was my first time, I said yes, then she proceeded to tell me all about how she was pulled out at mile 3 last year for panicking and getting caught by the current. The rest of our conversation when something like this:
(Me trying to put in the other headphone so I could stop talking)
Her: So what did you do to train for this?
Me: Swam a lot.
Her: How are you so calm?! Have you done any other open water events before?
Me: A few with triathlons and some other open water swims..
Her: But this is your first bay swim? Aren't you nervous? Do you just have no fear?
Me: I just love open water swimming, you will be fine-stop worrying.
Her: Don't you ever think about falling to the bottom and dieing?!?!
Me: Uh..no...
At that point we had finally arrived at sandy point and I could pop my other ear piece in. Man, talk about casual conversation. I do hope she finished though, but she was not doing herself any favors by freaking herself out.
So we arrived at the registration, picked up my packet and went through the body marking. At that point it was 8:30 am and the pre-race meeting was at 9:30. So I had some time to kill. I accomplished this by messing around on my phone, texting people, playing on the book of faces. You know, the usual time killer stuff. The March of Dimes supplied volunteers to man the bag drop off section. I hit that up around 9 am and only held onto the things I would need for the swim: wet suit, goggles, cap, timing chip, race bib. After what I thought was an adequate amount of glide put on my body (it wasn't-more on that later), I tied up my stuff, put it where it needed to be and headed back to wait some more.
As I am re-thinking about all of this, it did feel like time moved slowly. I was so anxious to start. I met some really cool people. One dude who was swimming across the bay for his 18th time. 18 times across the bay. I am happy to have done it once. When we finally got to the pre-swim meeting, the race organizer Chuck Nabbit filled us in on all of the charities that this race went to helping. It is truly incredible the amount of people who volunteer and do this without getting paid. The organization, the safety-it is just very cool. He went over the tides and information on what to expect.
According to that pre-race meeting, the tides and current were supposed to be in our favor. The first half of the race the current would be pushing us to the right; the second half, to the left. Somewhere in the middle was supposed to be a "slack tide". I didn't quite understand all of it and while I know others were planning their strategy to this, I just thought "stay in the middle". That was my grand scheme. Immediately following this, we were told to head down to the beach. They have everyone divide up "wet suit swimmers" and "non wet suit swimmers". You walk over the timing belt and they are quite strict about this. One for race time records, but more importantly for safety and accountability. I must say, this race stresses safety which was good for me as a first timer to know.
Waiting at the beach seemed like it took no time at all. I chatted up this one chick who was also doing it for her first time. And when Chuck counted down to the start it, it was more of a "I can't wait to get in the water...can't believe this day is here" type of feeling. I adore open water swimming and I was about to have three hours worth of it.
It was incredible. The start did not bother me-thank you triathlon! I didn't really feel jostled or bumped or anything too bad/unmanageable. It was just incredible to be swimming towards the bay bridge. It was surreal. I don't think any other thought was going through my mind at that time other than "This is unreal" and reminding myself to "enjoy this moment-every moment". It is always, always over too fast and this race was no different. I remember getting to the one mile marker and thinking "huh, one mile already?". Looking up and seeing the bay bridge above me and leading out in front of me was simply incredible. That first mile to two miles was not bad and I don't recall feeling like the current or the chop was difficult. I was getting into a groove, finding my swimming stroke and just plugging along occupying my mind with different thoughts. It was a nice break from having to count laps when I would swim long in the pool. It didn't matter if I paid attention because I didn't have to remember what lap I was one! The thought of "no more long swims after this!" was also very dominant in my mind.
It was truly incredible. There were several times I stopped and would do breast stroke to just look around me. I wanted to not miss this moment.
I started feeling like it was getting hard after mile 2. I don't want to say too tough, but I noticed a change. I didn't feel tired-I generally always do a mental check in on where I am with my body. I stopped at the first food boat (stationed at mile 1.5 and not 2 like advertised-more on this later). I swam up, grabbed a hold, the sweet volunteer asked me "What would you like?" I responded with "Pina Colada!". Got some laughs from other swimmers and then took a small thing of water and a vanilla wafer. Not because I needed it, but because I love vanilla wafers.
They said they were at mile 1.5 which was upsetting because I thought they were mile 2. I was really excited to think I was already at mile 2 and when I found out it was just 1.5, well, I could only thing "well damn". So I let go and just kept trucking. This is when I started feeling the chop, feeling the waves and started to almost feel a little sea sick. I had to time breathing just right to not get face full of water (did not always succeed at this) and several times I had water in stead of air. It did not phase me at all, but after a while it got annoying. I think this is what hit me the most with swimming the bay. By the end, I was just tired of water hitting me in the face.
I started playing songs in my head (britney spears mostly-don't judge me). I would get halfway through the song, forget where I was, and then have to start over. It was amusing. It was also after mile 2 that at one point, I looked up and noticed I was really close to the right hand side of the bridge. This is where I pointed myself left and bee-lined it to the center. After recovering from that, I started to pay a bit more attention. I was NOT going to get pulled out. The thought did occur to me during the swim, I was fearful of this happening, but I did not want to have to try and enter again for the Bay. One and done sounded just fine to me.
I remember passing by the three mile balloon and just thinking about putting one arm in front of the other. Remember how I thought I put enough glide on the back of my neck for the wetsuit? Well at this point, I could feel it chafing. I tried to think of anything else except that. I arrived at the second feed boat. Asked again for a margarita this time (I have the best jokes), and instead took a bit more water and another vanilla wafer (those cookies are so good!). I was getting a bit sick to my stomach because of all the bay water I was taking in. The volunteers were awesome, but they told me (or I misheard) that that red kayaker I could see in the distance was mile 4. I thought "Hell yes! Not far at all!'. I don't think I misheard because when I got to the red kayaker, another swimmer was next to me and we both stopped for a second and said "wait, I thought this was mile 4? What is that balloon down there!?!" We were then informed that nope, no kayaker as mile 4 but the balloon that seemed way too far away was mile 4. Well damn. But the redeeming quality of this was that I could see the shoreline. I could see the other side. It was freaking unbelievable.
It was incredible. The volunteers at the end were fantastic, helping you up, telling you congratulations and taking off your timing chips. They help you out of your wet suit and keep you stable. As I was walking out of the finishing area, I immediately see my mom, friend Lynn and her mom. I see them and the first thing I said was "that's a long swim". But I also couldn't believe I finished it. I finished 4.4 miles across the bay. It was surreal. Of course, my mom snaps a picture:
There were no more vegetarian sandwiches left by the time I got there-that sucked. But I went to town on some donuts! Again, the volunteers were super incredible. The only disappointing thing was they did not hand out medals. :( I was really hoping to have a medal from this event, but alas, all I get is a t-shirt. A very bright, neon yellow t-shirt.
All in all-this was an incredible event. I know that I searched and read so many previous years races reports and so I hope that mine can maybe help someone in their decision and preparation for the event. In reviewing my training for this event, I probably could have swam more. I had been swimming all year but started increasing my distance around March. This probably should have happened earlier. I think I might do a separate post about my swim training and what I would change (if I ever wanted to do this again). I am still so happy to have done this. I am an endurance swimmer and nothing can change that. Never in my life did I think I would be a swimmer like this and I am just so incredibly happy.
<3
good work!!!
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