The Danskin Swim: now with more arms and legs!

One month after the ChelanMan race, it was time for the Danskin!

And guess whose ear was still mostly blocked?

I SAID: GUESS WHOSE EAR...Oh.  Right.

Quick sidebar: here is an actual conversation I had with TriGuy around that time, when he was leaving town for a business trip.

(TriGuy, from another room): "I hope your hearing (mumbo jumbo bumbo wumbo)"

(Me): "What's that?"

(TriGuy now shouting, but still from the other room): "Are you SERIOUS??"

(Me, now shouting as well): "Yes. What did you say?"

At this point TriGuy walked into the room I was in:

I had been on two rounds of antibiotics and it was awesome awful.  I was pretty sure I would never hear properly out of my left ear again...remember, someone's a tad dramatic.

Anyhoo, back to the race.  As with Chelan, once Ann Marie and I were set up in the transition area (which was waaay bigger than Chelan) we set our sights on an end target and went for a warm up swim.  By the way, Ann Marie is in the red cap, which will be relevant in a minute.

We found each other and swam back to shore, then stood around nervously mugging at the camera for TriGuy.

Ann Marie was not overly confident about the swim and was wearing a non-tri wetsuit.  The benefit was that she did not feel like she was being strangled, but the down side was that it was less buoyant and colder.  I told her I would stay close to keep her going.

I made sure we were in a middle round of the mixed-age wave, and off to the side for the start.  We swam out into the chop with lots of flailing arms and legs (some of which may or may not have been my own).

It was so great to look around and see Ann Marie's red cap in a sea of orange, and be able to encourage her through the swim!

The swim was much more crowded than Chelan, with murkier water and lots of doggie-paddlers to weave through.

Finally, I reached the last buoy and headed to shore.  Luckily this race has a HUGE swim out ramp with helium markers and about 50 people standing along it to pull you out if necessary.  This meant that I did not overswim my finish, but the last 25 metres was full of seaweed (or as Tonya from Where Have All the Hobos Gone? calls it, the toilet paper of the sea).

Super.


In other news (in case you missed it):  My blog turned ONE YEAR OLD on December 7th! And I missed the day.

In this past year I've published 56 posts, started selling things on Zazzle (for a preview check out the sidebar on the right), and become a FitFluential Ambassador! But, most importantly, I have made some fabulous friends through blogging, most of whom I have yet to meet in real life!  I am so grateful for each and every one of you who follow, and for those of you who take the time to comment!

Oh!  One more thing:  if you're trying to follow and the widget doesn't work, try reloading the page.  That usually takes care of it :)

UPCOMING POSTS:  DANSKIN BIKE AND RUN RECAPS