{"id":424,"date":"2013-07-25T16:12:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=424"},"modified":"2013-07-25T16:12:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:12:50","slug":"racing-racine-a-recap-part-ii-sink-or-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"Racing Racine: A Recap, Part II: Sink or Swim"},"content":{"rendered":"

I crawled back out of the waves and lined up with Tracy.\u00a0 We stayed to the back of the pack as it edged closer to the water.\u00a0 Kelly Clarkson\u2019s Stronger blared over the speakers.\u00a0 The wave ahead of us started.\u00a0 We moved up to the line.\u00a0 4 minutes to go. \u00a0They asked how many of us were doing our first half Ironman, a lot of us hollered and raised our hands, Tracy and I included. 3 minutes to go. I looked around for Kristin and Serena. I didn\u2019t see them, but I knew they were there somewhere.\u00a0 2 minutes to go.\u00a0 Wow, those waves are really huge.\u00a0 1 minute.\u00a0 I said, mostly to remind myself,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just a fun day of activities I love, with my friends.\u201d 30 seconds to go.\u00a0 Goggles on.\u00a0 One last fist bump with Tracy.\u00a0 We got this!\u00a0 I looked at the clock just over my left shoulder.\u00a0 3 seconds.\u00a0 Here we go. The horn went off.\u00a0 We set out into the waves.\u00a0 It felt like a slow death march at first.\u00a0 How far do I wade in like this before I try to swim?\u00a0 I stayed to the back and the side.\u00a0 Ok, here goes nothing.\u00a0 Waves kept splashing me in the face.\u00a0 Just make it to the turn, then it will get easier.\u00a0 I did whatever I needed to in order to get there.\u00a0 I tried to find what would work for me in that mess, so I alternated between freestyle, breast stroke, side stroke, doggy paddle\u2026you think I\u2019m kidding, I\u2019m not.\u00a0 I spent the entire first half of the swim having a major hissy fit.\u00a0 I complained in my head, it ISN\u2019T supposed to be like this.\u00a0 What the hell?!\u00a0 This sucks.\u00a0 Why did I even bother learning how to swim if I can\u2019t perform in this anyway? The waves weren\u2019t supposed to be this big!\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n

I heard an announcement, \u201cWe need a pick up between 4 and 5\u201d.\u00a0 I glanced that way and saw a kayak.\u00a0 Someone was hanging onto the side.\u00a0 I prayed that it wasn\u2019t one of my friends, prayed they were all ok. \u00a0(Unfortunately, I learned later that one of the approximately 200 swimmers pulled from the water was my friend Jen.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to report that she\u2019s fine, she just got a little seasick and determined it wasn\u2019t her day so she got cleaned up and was waiting for us at the finish) As I swam, \u00a0I wondered how Karen was doing, since I knew she was equally as scared of this as I was. \u00a0As the waves crashed over me, a song from my ipod popped into my head and I thought through the words\u2026\u201dYou look around, It\u2019s staring back at you, Another wave of doubt, Will it pull you under?\u00a0 You wonder\u2026What if I\u2019m overtaken?\u00a0 What it I never make it?\u201d<\/p>\n

C\u2019mon, Linds, you\u2019re almost to the next marker.\u00a0 Just get there.\u00a0 Is this even safe?! Should they have cancelled the swim portion?\u00a0 Well, they didn\u2019t, so keep going!<\/i><\/p>\n

At about the half-way point, something changed inside me.\u00a0 I had been frustrated with the conditions and having a whiny pity-party about it, but I finally told myself, \u201cLindsey, yes, the conditions are terrible out here!\u00a0 But Girl, SUCK IT UP!\u00a0 This is the hand you were dealt today, so get over it and do what you came out here to do!\u201d\u00a0 At that point, I did just that. I got over it.\u00a0 I started to swim. I mean really swim, just like I learned how.\u00a0 Head down, elbows up, finger tips pointing toward the bottom of the lake, breathing as often as\u00a0I\u00a0needed to. It was way harder than in the smooth, even water of the pool at Crestview Middle School, but I pulled myself from one buoy to the next.\u00a0 I was tossed in the waves, I swallowed about a gallon of water, and I kept ending up way off course.\u00a0 But I swam.\u00a0 On the second half of that course, the waves got worse, but I got better.\u00a0 Every once in a while I would gag as a wave splashed in me in the face and I had to stop to catch my breath, but then I\u2019d get right back to it.\u00a0 My goggles that had never given me problems before filled up with water on the right side.\u00a0 As I breathed, I looked over and saw someone 4 feet higher than me, then I couldn’t see her at all, on the next breath she was 4 feet lower.\u00a0 I got passed by waves of people, but I passed a few people myself.\u00a0 I got knocked in the head, I felt like someone swam over the top of me and I had to change directions when I ran into several people, but I kept going.\u00a0 My mantra became \u201cJust get \u2018er done!\u201d I finally got to the last buoy before the turn.\u00a0 The waves were bouncing off the breaker wall and throwing us all over the place.\u00a0 Almost there, Linds, you did it.\u00a0 Just swim and let the waves carry you into the shore.<\/i>\u00a0 After what seemed like an eternity, I put my feet down on the sand.\u00a0 I tried to stand and got pitched forward.\u00a0 I tried again.\u00a0 The guy next to me said, \u201cThat was terrible\u201d.\u00a0 I responded, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a little choppy out here today.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 We smiled and made our way towards the shore.\u00a0 I thought of the Seinfeld line where George says, \u201cThe sea was angry that day, my Friends\u201d and made a mental note to say that to Steve when I saw him later.\u00a0 He was probably just getting started when I had that thought.\u00a0 I had been in the water for an hour. Nick was in the water somewhere.\u00a0 I figured Erin had passed me in the lake. I wondered where Tracy was.\u00a0 People were stripping off their wetsuits.\u00a0 I was smiling.\u00a0 I made it.\u00a0 My longest open water swim ever.\u00a0 In conditions like THAT.\u00a0 The swim, all by itself, was a victory.\u00a0 When it was all said and done, I was probably closer to 2 miles because I kept getting so far off course.\u00a0 But it was time to put the swim behind me and focus on the next part.<\/p>\n

I trudged through the sand and stumbled toward the transition.\u00a0 I heard several people say things like, \u201cWay to go FLEET FEET!\u201d, \u201cNo wetsuit! Wow, that\u2019s hard core!\u201d and \u201cLook at that smile!\u201d\u00a0 I\u00a0jumped through the little wading pool to rinse my feet and ran past the wetsuit strippers.\u00a0 I heard someone yelling my name, so I looked to the right and saw my friend and co-worker\u00a0Claire in her purple FLEET FEET singlet yelling and jumping up and down.\u00a0 I waved and smiled and kept on going.\u00a0 Claire\u2019s husband was competing and she was there cheering us on, that was the only time I remember seeing her on the course, but it was perfect timing.<\/p>\n

I got to T1, and it was more than half empty of bikes.\u00a0 I chatted briefly with one of the girls near me about how ridiculous the swim was, as I was putting on my helmet, socks, cycling shoes, sunglasses.\u00a0 I stuck a banana in my pocket.\u00a0 I grabbed my bike off the rack.\u00a0 Am I forgetting anything?\u00a0 I looked down and saw my gloves, so I bent down to get them and headed out for the bike.<\/p>\n

I made it to the bike leg.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t sink.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t drown. \u00a0I didn\u2019t just survive, I swam.<\/p>\n

\"Wave<\/a>

Wave 7, Females 34-39 (Yellow) lined up at the start and ready for take off…<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I crawled back out of the waves and lined up with Tracy.\u00a0 We stayed to the back of the pack as it edged closer to the water.\u00a0 Kelly Clarkson\u2019s Stronger blared over the speakers.\u00a0 The wave ahead of us started.\u00a0 We moved up to the line.\u00a0 4 minutes to go. \u00a0They asked how many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-6Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}