Week 34: The Ridges 5K Swim: Lost at Sea

Sometimes it is better to go into something blind, not knowing how hard it will be before you do it.  The Ridges 5K swim was one of those things.

On Sunday, a small group of us set out to swim what we thought we be 5,000 Meters.  I say small group because I think it was just over 100 people.  And I say THOUGHT because it ended being a lot more than 5,000 Meters.

As a triathlete, I’m used to swim courses being short or long.  Being REALLY well marked to being just so-so marked.  And you deal with it.

But the directions on Sunday were almost a joke, like “you know the Smith barn, well, you don’t turn there, you go to where that tree fell 4 years ago and you turn kind of near there but not really.”  Swim under the power lines, turn left and aim for the 2 story dock, head towards some green things and eventually you’ll see buoys.  Ok, thanks!  For the record, there are lots of GREEN THINGS near a lake.

Strangely enough I start off the day without being nervous, and even with only 4,000 yards as my longest distance (which included breaks) under my belt, I get in the water and start swimming.  With so few people, there is almost no body contact.  And I’m thankful when a large guy swims close to me so I can draft off of him for about 5 minutes.  It was probably the highlight of the day.

I follow the directions and feel pretty good about it even though I know my pace is pretty slow.  I blame it on the century the day before.  But my head is in the game and I’m happy to be setting out on a new adventure.

Under the power lines, check.  Double decker dock, check.  And then where???  Oh, is that a buoy way off?  Looks like I can see some arms of swimmers.  I’ll go there.  Out in the middle of a lake and then the waves start hitting me in the face and I am wondering how far off the finish is.  My mouth tastes awful from the lake water so I flip over and suck down the pack of honey I brought along.  Unbeknownst to me, it must have been leaking a little and some critters got in my suit and were biting me.  I discovered this when I got home.  Nasty red bites.  Oh well.

I start to lose a little energy when a kayak passes me and the girl says “you’re almost there!”  Now, my definition of “almost there” is 5 minutes or less.  Seriously, it is.  It was the cruelest thing she could have ever said to me.  It was over an hour before I finished from the time she said that.  CRUEL!

I continue to swim and I start to realize that I’d be ok if I drown and this becomes a very scary thought to me.  You don’t want your head to think that way in the middle of a swim.  It’s not a good thing.  So instead I start counting because I remember Josh saying he counted all his strokes at his last race  1,2,3,4,5,6.  Over and over.  And I keep hearing Matt tell me to glide and Trey tell me to watch my form.  You MUST have good thoughts to replace the bad ones when you get in a situation like this.

What saved me during this swim is similar to what saved me during my second century.  A girl swims up behind me and bumps into me and we both stop swimming.  And we both voice our concerns over where the hell the finish is?!?  So we keep pace with each other and stop every 500 yards or so to regroup.  I finally see what I think are red flags…they turn out to be orange traffic cones.  But it is the ending.  I show it to her and we were like horses going back to the stable and I swear at that point we race each other to the finish.  She wins and I don’t care…I am happy to be back on dry land.  I had to hold back the wall of tears that were going to spill down my face.  There was a point during that swim where I felt real fear. Uncertainty.  Despair.  When all you can see is a black abyss below you, it gets very weird.

 At the finish, I hugged the girl who swam in with me.  And thanked her.  I look up and see my time of 2:25 which is about 10-15 minutes longer than I expected.

I spent the next two days feeling down.  Not because I didn’t meet my goal.  But because of how close it came to breaking me.  And today?  Today I woke up feeling amazing and creative and powerful again.  And I signed up for another one in 3 weeks.  This one, I know is well marked.  And thank heavens, it is typically short.  And yes, there is probably something wrong with me. J