3 mile swim done! No jellyfish!

[KSH]

Well here's my RR ladies!

Total Time = 1h 32m 29s
Overall Rank = 11/43
Age Group = Under 44
Age Group Rank = 7/18
1m 51s / 100 meters

Pre-race routine:

Flew into Washington, D.C. Friday at 9:00 PM. Didn't get out of the city and to my sister's place in Maryland until 11:00 PM. Let me say, it was CRAZY TOWN in Washington on Friday night. Scary stuff. It put driving in Dallas to shame. Really. I have never seen so many stupid drivers in one place at one time. In fact, I have been in India, and it put India to shame. And that's saying something!

Finally got to my sisters house and headed to bed around 11:30 PM. I probably didn't fall asleep until 12:30 PM. 5:30 AM came all too soon! SO EARLY! We got out the door at 6:00 AM... and arrived at the Chester River location at 7:45 AM. Perfect timing.

Got in line for my packet pick-up, which was a T-shirt and a swim cap with my number written on it. I think my guy was distracted or something... as he gave me the WRONG COLORED SWIM CAP. Yeah.

Sat around waiting for the race to start... then they had a pre-race briefing. Found out it was 8:45 AM and since it started at 9:00 AM I headed over to get on my wetsuit. I should note that the water was warm enough to swim sans wetsuit, but I rented it and took it all the way to Maryland, so I was wearing it! Realized I forgot my body glide in the car. My sweet sister went back to the car and grabbed it for me. After I got my wetsuit on, I met Libby (xxblueeyesxx) from BT! Very cool! Also met her Grandmother as well. Then, the waves started getting in the water. I am pretty sure they sent the 5 milers first... and so on, counting down to the 1 milers.

It should be noted that there were NO JELLYFISH!


Event warmup:

No warmup. Figured the first 1,000 meters in the water would be my warmup.


Swim Comments:

I believe they started the waves with the 5, 4, 3, 2 and then 1 milers going.

The 3 milers got in the water before our start. I looked around and everyone had a yellow swim cap. I had a orange one. Huh? I asked and they were all doing the 3 miler. All right, guess I got the wrong swim cap. Dang. I got the 5 mile swim cap.

They sounded the horn and off we went! I ended up at the back of the pack, but I figured it didn't matter. It was a long swim and there was plenty of river for us to spread out in.

We basically swam out with the buoy's on our left side and once we saw the buoy with "3" on it we were to round it and come back with the same buoy's on our left side.

I looked for the first buoy. I am pretty sure I saw it in the distance. I found something on the horizon to spot off of and went for that. The wetsuit felt good and it wasn't bothering me at all. Oddly, my arms didn't feel fatigued or tired, like they usually do the first 800-1000 meters. Great!

What was not great was the hair that had slipped out of my swim cap. It was getting pulled by my wetsuit and was downright annoying. Annoying and a bit painful. This was something I battled with the entire swim. I even stopped swimming a few times to try to shove it back in the swim cap. It would stay for a few strokes and come back out again. Ugh.

Got to the first buoy and sighted for the second one. WHERE was it? Couldn't find it for the life of me. Mind you, while I'm trying to find it, I'm breast stroking and losing time. It should be noted that there were only the red buoys marking where people needed to turn around for their distance- no buoys in between the red ones. Gave up trying to find it and followed the pack. I was sure at some point I would find it. Finally found it half way to it.

As I got close to the second buoy, I got into a pack of swimmers again. Annoying. I liked being out there alone without having to dodge people. Got to the second buoy and sighted for the third one. It looked really far, but I just kept swimming. I saw people way off to my right side and I thought I was going the wrong direction. Nope. I see the buoy right in front of me. This happens a lot when I do an open water swim.

Started swimming for the third buoy. Again, it seemed really far. Started thinking how FAR 3 miles in the water is. Told myself to just focus on getting to the next buoy, small chunks.

Got close to the third buoy but I didn't see people swimming back on my left side. I wasn't in the front pack, although I was close, but I should have seen someone coming back on the left side. I did see someone swimming back on my right side. WHAT?

So I lifted my head and asked someone in a kayak if we were supposed to swim back with the buoys on our left. She said that yes we were. THEN I finally saw someone coming at me on my left. More time wasted, but I had to make sure I was going to head back the right direction. Since it took me awhile to see someone coming back, I guess that meant I was near the front of the pack. Cool!

Got to the third buoy and rounded it. Half way done! WOO-HOO! Headed back towards the second buoy.

I was feeling good and having a solid swim. I didn't feel fatigued and my shoulders wear not sore. I kept thinking to myself that I had a done a perfect taper for this race! I just winged the taper, but it was spot on!

Got to the second buoy with no issues and headed for the third buoy (originally the first buoy). Made it no issues and it was time to swim for the finish!

The finish could have been marked more clearly. It was hard to know if I was swimming for the finish! I knew there was a building next to it so I sighted off that. I saw two small (very small) red buoys and figured that was the finish. But I also thought it might be something hanging off a boat parked near by.

This is where it got hard. The wind had picked up and every time I lifted my head to sight I would get a face full of water. When I would turn my head to breathe, all water. Breathing was optional on this leg of the race. HA! I just kept stroking and reminding myself that I would be fine if I couldn't breathe every two strokes. I then started cheering myself on by saying underwater, "GO! GO! GO!", "You got this!" It helped me pick up the pace.

During this portion I started to pass people in blue caps- the 2 milers who had started after my wave. I always like passing people from another wave.

I finally saw where the exit was and picked up the pace more. I kept swimming until I hit sand with my hands. Stood up. WOAH! I was walking like a baby just learning to walk. It was funny! They had a nice little crowd cheering everyone on out of the water. Came out of the water and they took my timing chip. Found my sister and niece off to the side!

Funny stories:
So my sister said that a lot of people kept missing the finish line. Some swam up too far to the left... others... A PACK... swam for the dock to the right. The whole bunch of them just swam over to the dock and then had to swim back to the left to the finish line. This is why I don't follow people in the water. I have found that 95% of the time I am swimming a straight line for the buoy in front of me. If people are off to my left or right...they are usually off course. Too many people suck at sighting and swimming a straight line.

OH! She also told me that a pack of about 50 geese swam across the finish line, really slow.. she said it was so funny. Too bad I missed it.


Warm down:

For my warm-down I walked around some. Took off my wetsuit and then headed over to wash myself off in a hose. Chatted with Libby and my sister some.

Packed up and headed over to Annapolis! Met my bro-in-law at the Navel (Naval???) Academy (he is in the Navy) and ate lunch on campus. Got to walk around there and then in town. It was nice doing a little sight seeing!



Event comments:

This was a great open water race! It was easy going and casual and offered distances for all levels. If were going to be in Maryland again around this time I would do this open water swim again!


Pictures:
1- Sister and I before the race.
2- Libby (a girl I know from Beginner Triathlete) and I before the race.
3- Which one of these is not like the other? Yeah, that's me!
4- After the race! HA!

[Tri Girl]

WOO HOO!!!! Congrats on your swim!!!!!! No jellyfish= good times. I'm so glad you didn't have to worry about that. And your time is AMAZING (it took me longer than that to do only the 2.4 miles for IM). Impressive!
LOVE the pictures- so pretty and peaceful. Thanks for the great RR. I like the last picture when you're done- the look of relief on your face is priceless. Congrats!!!!

[tribogota]

Great placement in the ranking...and wow! one hour and thirty two minutes of just swimming, no breaks, no walls, no beach to rest on, IMPRESSIVE!!!
Congratulations.
and I agree with the not swimming with the pack, people suck at sighting...

[KSH]

Thanks for the kind words ladies!

Dang, I was finally able to look at the overall results.. I was SO CLOSE to moving up a couple of spots for women under 44!

1 Molly Bolek 1:22:19.6
2 Elizabeth West 1:27:39.3
3 Lindsey Messina 1:28:57.1
4 shara neidell 1:29:21.1
5 Claire Ciarkowski 1:31:10.4
6 Alison Wilson 1:32:11.8
7 Karen Hicks 1:32:29.7

8 Caroline Stein 1:33:33.4
9 Kelli Rostkowski 1:34:10.6

[Tri Girl]

only 10 minutes off the top- really awesome!!! You could've easily taken those two girls in front of you if you'd only known... that's why swimming is so hard- you can't see your competition, how close they are, and if they're in your age group.
Awesome job!!!

[HappyTexasMom]

Wow! I'm so impressed! I'm a terrible swimmer...I sink like a rock, can't breathe, and am a general disaster. It's one of the reasons I'll never try a triathlon (ok, that and I hate running ). Way to go!

[Grog]

Hey KSH, good to see you!

Congrats on the great swim. You look fantastic by the way!

[colby]

SWEET! Nice work, KSH! You ladies are sure inspiring for doing open-water swim-only events. Sometimes it's hard for me to imagine swimming and not having to get on my bike afterward... leaving it all in the water, that must be interesting, haven't had that feeling since I was, oh... 16 and stopped swimming competitively.

So much for "swimmers" being faster than fast triathletes!

[Alex]

Congratulations! The pictures are great! Thanks for sharing.

Alex

[Selkie]

Congratulations!! I bet you were so happy there were no jellies!

What airport did you fly into, National or Dulles?

Now you know why I'm always complaining about my commute (I have no options to bike to work or take public transportation--I live close to National Airport and commute out to Dulles )! The traffic here is awful and a good many of the drivers are horrible.

[HillSlugger]

Karen,

Awesome swim! I wish I had a little of your swimming speed. I'm glad the MD water was good to you and the jellies were not around. Maybe next time you are in the area we'll be able to meet.

[roadie gal]

Amazing. I'm so impressed.

[HillSlugger]

DC traffic is supposedly second only to LA. It's amazing we don't have more road rage incidents here.

[KSH]

I flew into Reagan International.

We missed an exit for the freeway we needed and had to drive around town looking for another freeway to take.

It was scary.

Within 5 miles I saw two wrecks with cops on the scene.

Then, there was a broken down bus in our lane on a busy and fast moving road. We would try to swing out into traffic and the stinking driver of the bus who was behind it, kept stepping in front of our car! I think he was trying to walk around the left side of the bus for some reason.

I also saw someone stopped for a red light... who left about 3 car lengths of empty space. Saw another guy who went speeding by us, slam on his brakes... then speed by us again.

IT WAS INSANITY!

In India it was chaos, but controlled chaos. They all knew what to do. In D.C. it was uncontrolled chaos and very scary.

Not to mention we were in a BAD part of town... two white chicks with a baby in the back... I was scared of being car jacked or something.

OH! And the roads were HORRIBLE! I've never seen more HORRIBLE roads in all my life. INDIA had better roads. It's so sad that our Nation's capital is such cr@p.

[katluvr]

Awesome swim....3 miles seems impossible to me since I am newbie. Maybe one day I'll tackle a long swim...
well, maybe.

Again, congrats. I have been hoping to hear a report (no Jellies!)