Friends & family -
You can safely assume that since I'm writing this blog I am, in fact, alive. I survived my first(!) ocean race sans a thunderstorm thank the Lord. Nor was I attacked by sharks, jellyfish or large tangled piles of seaweed. With a full-length wetsuit & neoprene cap, the water temperature was actually pretty bearable. All sounds pretty successful, right? WRONG.
I was very concerned about everything except for my actual ability to swim. If you have a grandmother, or know any grandmother actually, & you asked her to swim 1000 meters, she would have beat me. My "swimming" more closely resembled a person trying really really hard not to drown. There were a few lifeguards out in the water monitoring the swimmers, & I'm pretty sure all of them were thinking "is she ok? is there a new swimming stroke we're unaware of? do we help this sad non-swimmer swimmer & drag her to shore to save her dignity & possibly her life??".
I'm not exaggerating. That's what they were thinking. I could clearly see the pity in their eyes even from my super sexy fogged-up goggles*.
I guess the point is, is that I did it at all right? I keep telling my ego that. My new friend Amy said it best: we're starting with our bar very low (I speak for myself, she's actually quite decent) & we can only improve from here on (unless I drown or get eaten by a shark).
What the most awesome thing about all of this is the people. Well actually... also challenging myself. But let's get back to the people. Everyone is so great! And helpful! I feel so blessed to be in such a great community of people committed to athleticism and positivity. Everyone is so willing to share their knowledge & tips and offer words of encouragement. Some even have gone so far as to offer to train with me (probably a nice warm-down for them). Even though I was feeling pretty down about how awful I did, I had so many people say how great I did, that I'll get better in no time, etc etc. By the way... this is one of the rare times in life I don't mind people lying straight to my face.
Even though my water talents are less than adequate, I'm fully committed to racing every week. I will definitely need to increase the amount of days I train but I'm determined to be more like Michael Phelps and less like Kate Winslet in Titanic.
Will keep you posted on my progress (which will not be happening this weekend)! Also please don't show up to any of my races until I get a lot better :)
Off to STAGECOACH, Y'ALL!!!
<3, E
*Goggles, full-length wetsuit AND neoprene cap??? I bet you have an awesome visual. ~I don't think you're ready for this jelly~
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