Thanks for all the encouragement/advice. Unfortunately, the lake where the tri will be held is normally closed to swimming, and they opened it just for the practice swim yesterday. I don't know of any other lakes nearby that allow swimming, so I'm stuck with the pool for practice.

I think I will definitely stay to the outside. The distance won't be a problem, but the traffic certainly will be. I think I'll be ok anxiety-wise now that I've done it once. The nasty green stuff in the suit was disgusting.

KY, I'll be rooting for you in your tri. We walkers may be slow, but we can go the distance!

Not sure why my mom was so freaked out about lake swimming (I grew up in Nebraska) but the "lakes" were really sand pits and maybe all the quicksand they showed on Bonanza and Gunsmoke made her think it was a real threat. I know I did when I was little.

I laugh when you ladies abbreviate my name as DB, because I had a friend in college we called DB, short for Dinky Butt. That certainly doesn't describe me! Another friend was MT, for Mushy Tushy. That's a bit closer...