I have had a rough go lately posting anything to my blog, I have been really pool sour dealing with all variety's of people that lap swim here at the Tooele pool. I have not been swimming near as much as I needed to for my race at the GSL yesterday but I knew I would at least finish. I started out the morning heading to the marina at 5:45 when Chandra and I got there Gords and Josh were already there getting set up. I signed the required paperwork and got all my stuff situated for the ride to the island. I was able to see a few people that I haven't had a chance to see in a while and chatted until everyone was ready to go. Me and Lang got into Josh's van along with Sue and Kate. Chandra and Ryan took his car to the island to help drive the van back to the marina. C.J. rode with me to the island and he kept everyone laughing while in route. when we got past the gate Sue noticed a coyote using the bathroom on the salt flats and told C.j. that it was a kangaroo a few minutes later another "kangaroo" was chasing Antelope along the salt flats. we got to the stopping point and got greased up. I kissed Chandra and C.j. bye and headed towards the water. We ended up walking quite a ways before the water was deep enough to swim. everyone lined up and the countdown was on I started my watch and took off. the chop was pretty rough for quite a while and the way the wind was blowing was pushing us towards Saltair instead of Black Rock. It was quite a fight for a while. about 3/4 way thru the race is smoothed out for the most part and was a great swim. I really was doing better than I had predicted because of the lack of training, but I credit most of it to the time I have spent in the GSL. the longest feed break I took was about 45 seconds which I was proud of. the current pushed me basically to the marina entrance and at least from there I knew exactly how far I had to go. I took one more quick feed and swam the rest of the way to Black Rock. The finish was way different from the previous two years because the water was so low. the last 100 or so yards was walking in calf to ankle deep water, I heard Josh yelling at me that this was a race to get moving. I smiled because I was done no running for me. I probably would have fell down and stuck my head in the mud. All in all this was as usual an awesome race. Josh and Gords work there butts off to give everyone a great experience. and as usual they pulled it off like they have been doing it for years. There were a few things I learned from this race, and in no particular order here they are.
1) Sunscreen you Idiot. I have sun burn in places that should never see sun
2) Train more you will be happier with you time if you put in the effort before hand
3) Did I mention sunscreen.
I want to personally thank my support crew for being there for me Lang for paddling, Ryan for hanging out with my wife, and Chandra for putting up with my grumpy self and pushing me to do better. with out you guys I could never do these swims.
Up next BEAR LAKE MONSTER SWIM! I will remember my sunscreen.
smooth water
the "chop"
C.j on the way to the start
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