Wow! It's been 9 years since I last swam the 10 mile DC Race. I swam it in
2010 (4:50) and
2011 (4:56).
While it's only been 9 years. I feel so much older now physically. It takes me longer to recover from physically difficult activities, I get sore easier, and I'm slower. But that's OK. That's life.
On Friday night, Sam, Oliver, Cathi and I camped out at the Great Horned Loop. Sam slept in his hammock and Oliver on a cot under the stars.
I misread the email. I saw that checkin started at 6:30, so I set my alarm for 5:30 so we could get up, break camp and get the Sea Doo in the water. I got checked in at 6:30 and was ready to swim at 7. There were only about 10 people there at that time and I was really confused, as I was already greased up, with my cap and goggles on, ready to go. I got out of the water back up to where Jim and Connie were still checking people in. I overheard him answer someone's question about start time. He said 8 oclock.
Oh my gosh I was an hour early! So I got some sweats on instead of just wading in the water for an hour. It was good though to notice that the water temp was actually warmer than the air temp. It felt awesome.
At 8 am we got started. Apparently I was the only 10 mile swimmer for today. Didn't matter to me. I am really doing this just as a milestone for this year, not to place or compete really. Except to maybe compete against previous years, which to be honest just wasn't going to happen. I was shooting for a low 5 hour time.
When I started I kinda went out too fast cause everyone was watching, and I didn't want to look like the big white whale that I resemble. Everything felt just OK, no issues. I noticed someone pass me just as I got to the 1 mile turnaround (.5 miles in). What the heck? If they started 10 minutes apart, that meant that he swam that 1/2 mile in 5 minutes. I think that would be a world record :)
The water level of the reservoir was quite a bit lower than last year when I swam the 5K. So the turn around at the end of Wallsburg bay was significantly closer than last year. Which I like. That is one heck of a bay.
When I got to the 5K turn around about 6 swimmers had already passed me. And once I got out of the bay and around the corner the 10K buoy seemed to be closer than the 5K turnaround. Once you get out of the bay, the wake and wind sure picks up and makes for less than pleasant conditions. When we got into the next bay I yelled out to Cathi to go to the "cigarette buoys" (no wake buoys). After which she noticed a big orange buoy at the beach and yelled out to me "There is the turn around!". In my mind I was like "Yeah, I wish!". When we got there she turned around and was ready to head back. I noticed the buoy said in big bold lettering "Keep Going". Haha. Even Cathi was wishing it was time to head back. So we kept going along the shoreline to the next bay. Man I was struggling. I was feeling sluggish and my arms hurt. I was having second thoughts about my abilities, but I kept going on as best as I could.
Soon Chad came along in his boat and I noticed Oli and Sam were there. That was nice of him to take them for a ride. They were bored as hell at
the start making stone towers and sitting there under the sun tent on their phones.
Those straightaway sections outside of the bays sure are torture. They're long, and boat wakes just keep on coming and I feel almost like I'm swimming upstream. At the 10 mile turnaround I was glad to finally be on the second half!
I had Cathi give me feeds every 40 minutes. The feeds consisted of various items: Flavored milk, Gatorade, yogurt. I should have packed more solid items, like a sandwich or some nutrigrain bars. But regardless, once I got back to Wallsburg Bay, I said a prayer and Bam! I hit a second wind and I was able to really feel stronger, with much more efficient swimming. It was also nice to have smoother waters. Although it was crowded with fishermen on boats. The final swim in the bay seemed to go much quicker and I felt great.
In the video, Cathi refers to the 10K turnaround. That's on the way back. But it was gone. I was looking forward to hitting that buoy, but where you're the last swimmer in the water, and it's later in the afternoon, the race volunteers wanna get home so I can't fault them for cleaning up a little early.
Cathi was awesome as the pilot. She was cheering me on the whole way, and especially at the end. I was pouring it on the last mile especially. My shoulders were feeling good and I felt strong. I swam around the final corner at the boat ramp and the buoy was gone, but I swam to the shallow water I could sit down. I wasn't about to go under the inflatable finish arch cause of the many rocks. In years past all you had to do was hit the buoy with your hand. I just think they were antsy to go home and took it our early. I stopped my stop watch at the point of stopping, and it read 5:21.
Official time: 5:21:25 So I was about 30 minutes slower than 2011. But hey, I'll take a finish any day regardless of time.
Cathi said after the race that she cried near the finish cause
she was so proud of the strong finish. Even 10 miles on a jet ski in the sun is tough. I told her next time about the ability to steer while resting the umbrella against her leg so she could be 100% shaded.
Another 10 mile open water swim in the books. And it was nice to see old friends: Chad, Jim, Josh, Sue.
As I was swimming the last 1/2 mile to the finish, I thought as I was finishing how big of a deal it was for Goody to do that UTC in 24 hours. I couldn't even imagine going to swim across Bear Lake, nor swimming 10K in GSL all in the same day. That feat is bigger than an EC crossing in my opinion! I highly doubt that accomplishment will be matched anytime soon. Goody Tyler. Now that is a legendary dude. I miss that guy.
