This was my first race in open water. The water was pretty cold. Earlier in the week the organizers had considered shortening the swim if the water temperature had not come up a few degrees.
Getting in was cold on the feet and I got a tip to wear two swim caps to keep my head warmer.
The Race started and it was kind of fun. My wetsuit was great and kept me pretty warm. I put my head down and started to swim to the first buoy. Lots of people were trying to find their position so I just kept swimming and swimming and swimming. Before I knew it I was making the first turn. Everything seemed to be going OK. I thought I should do some sighting to make sure I was going the right direction. I swam the first of two laps and I did the crawl all the way. When I ran up on shore to start my second lap I saw Deb and Garnet and Karen standing on the beach cheering me on. I jumped back in and swam the next lap without too much trouble. It was longest swim I had ever done and as I found out later (by looking at my GPS watch that I zig zagged all over the course and ended up swimming an extra 500 meters. My swim time was 32:25.
The transition was pretty smooth and I rode out on the bike course without much trouble. It was a two loop out and back, I had a gel snack at the turn around point and did the ride in 1:20:52
This was not a big race in size, but it was a big race for me as I was able to complete the swim and this will give a lot of confidence and something to build on for my next race.
Mike Cooper from my team finished first in his age group in the sprint race and Chris from next door placed first overall in the Duathlon. Thanks to Deb for these great pictures.
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