A couple of weeks ago my swim coach mentioned a 5k race in the area. It was tempting but hmmmm... A 5k? It is kind of far to swim, right?
I mulled it over and ended up registering for it. There was a promise of Olympians - Aaron Peirsol, Ricky Berens, Rowdy Gaines, Eric Shanteau, Rebecca Soni and Kathleen Hersey among others - AND - it would be a good distance before B2B. The race is organized by Eric Shanteau to raise funds for the Livestrong Foundation.
I got up bright and early this morning, grabbed my suit and goggles and headed out. I was amazed at the number of participants. They had 700 registered as compared to 200 last year. Lots of under 18 swimmers who were going to kick my butt out there. LOL
The 5k route was three continuous loops. The start was time trial which is always appreciated. Who needs the churn of a mass start? The first lap was uneventful, I just kind of did my thing treating it less like a race and more like a swim. Lap two is where the super fast people started to lap us. A large percentage of the people in this race were serious swimmers so it was rather humbling. I was told that at one point one of the Olympians went by doing butterfly. Hilarious. When I made the turn for lap three, there was no one else in sight. I had been swimming with a group of four or five people and they just disappeared. Very strange. At some point I thought surely I was the last person as the kayakers kept inching near me as if they were escorting me. I told you this was humbling, right? Anyhow, i made my way through the chop and through the finish.
Turns out I wasn't the last but was definitely towards the tail end. I was looking over some of the times and those people were flying! More than a few people finished under an hour which is insane! The one mile racers handed in times around 13 minutes. Crazy.
So glad I did it as I really did need to get a good distance swim in and despite the slow swim, I was freakishly good at sighting out there which is unusual for me. I'll take that as a win :)
Some pics from the day including a pic of my friend with Aaron Piersol.
7 comments:
Congrats! That is certainly a win!
Congrats on the long swim! I'm always amazed at the fast swimmers too. The fast swimmers are generally twice as fast as me, but 13 minutes for a mile? That is crazy fast and almost 3x faster than me!
Good timing for this swim with B2B a month out. Is B2B a TT start?
Wonderful, and inspiring! I think to keep up that pace over 3 miles is amazing! That is my average pace as well, and I always think I'm successful if I can just maintain over the long distances. There is a 3 mile swim in Quakertown, PA, where I do a tri every year, and every year I say I'm going to tackle it. You are inspiring me to sign up for next summer!
I have NO idea what kind of swimming competitions there are for grown ups, outside of triathlon. But color me impressed! Way to go!!!
I am impressed!
Great job on the swim!!! :)
I can't fathom that distance in the lake. You are awesome! And I bet none of them got up the next morning and ran/biked. So just remember that! :)
Post a Comment