2 mile Open Water Swim

The 2 mile Open Water Swim with PurpleSwim Baltimore was yesterday. There were three options for the race: 1 mile swim, 2 mile swim, or do both for a 3 mile swim. I think 27 people did both!

Strangely, the 1 milers went first. After they finished, they changed the buoys and then the 2 miler began. (BTW: a chick won the 1 miler in 23:17... and then placed 3rd in the 2 miler... talk about sweetness! Go girl!!)

My friend, E, organized the DCTRI group to swim this event because she is a survivor of Pancreatic Cancer. The group had 4 swimming the 1 miler, 7 swimming the 2 miler and 1 guy swam both. We were very supportive and took lots of pics.

When E finished the 1 miler, she said that it was really hard to sight because the kayakers were in way of the buoys. This made me very nervous, but she said the water was a perfect temperature, so I decided to just view this as a 2 hour workout... I mean, I should be done in 2 hours, right?

It was time and we entered the water. It felt cool, but as I started to swim, it was refreshing. It was quite shallow and you could actually walk all the way out to the first buoy. I did not. The other thing was close to the shore was tons of "seaweed" - yuck!

After go, my nerves set in. I did have a hard time catching my breath, but sure enough by 200 m,  I was relaxed and settled in for a long swim. I couldn't settle enough to breathe every 3rd stroke so I just concentrated on counting every 10 strokes then sighted. I did a really good job with stay on course. Lots of swimmers did not... at all.

The buoys were marked by numbers. We swam out passing, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, turned at FIVE and passed another FOUR, THREE, TWO and One - which is when we were heading back to shore. Buoys ONE, TWO, and THREE were waaaaay closer together than FOUR and FIVE... and it seemed like it took forever to get to FIVE which was the one mile mark. Finally I made it... time: 35:12  according to my Garmin (pooey - I was hoping for 30 minutes).

Once we made the turn, we were swimming against the current and it was bad. Sometimes it felt like I was standing still. I looked behind me and could not see any white caps and felt for an instant that I was dead last. But the waves were higher and it made it harder to sight. I just decided to keep moving forward. I swallowed a LOT of the Chesapeake Bay on this part. Actually, I did not swallow any on the first mile. Again buoys FOUR and THREE were so spread out, this took forever. It was lonely out there too. Not like running, no one to talk too. I kept swimming... but my arms were starting to get tired. I decided to do the breast stroke for awhile and freaked the kayaker out. Each time I went under water, he got closer and closer. Finally, when I swallowed a LOT of water and gagged, he asked me if I was okay... "Sure!" I shouted. I still have 1/2 mile left.

The monotony of swimming gets tiring. I was able to finally breathe every 3rd stroke, but I was quickly becoming bored. TG  had complained that he got bored swimming, but today was the first time ever! As I approached buoy ONE (apparently, I had missed passing TWO), I was excited... I was almost done. I picked it up... thought, maybe I was just over an hour. Yeah... I was waaaay off.

Total time: 1:29:07

I cannot believe it took me almost an hour to swim the 2nd mile.... ouch! I told you it was tough and it wasn't just because of fatigue... swimming against the current was no joke.

I wasn't last, but was definitely in the bottom 1/4th of swimmers. It was the furthest I have ever swam. I survived. I celebrated by eating a nice hamburger. It was a well run event (minus small buoys) and supported a great cause. Maybe the 3 miler will call me next year.... yeah, about that!

And on today's MTP, it was 3 miles... boy was that tough. My muscles were so sore... all over. I knocked it out though, 27:54, on Milles. Hopefully by tomorrow's 7 miler, my muscles won't be so tight!