I immediately hit 'reply' and literally had "no way" typed out, but something kept me from sending it. A would be doing the 17 mile bike, a sort of test run for her individual triathlon taking place at the end of September, something you couldn't pay me to do. H would be doing the 5K run, an easy feat since she runs weekly. But as I've been writing about it quite a lot lately, I grew up a swimmer and was ironically in my swim suit when I got the email... but teaching swim lessons is different than being in the right kind of shape to compete, especially after 10 years since your last race.
So I wrote to the swimming guru (aka Mom and Summer League Coach) asking for advice: "Do you think I could really do this after 10 years out of the water and with only 4 (busy) weeks to train?" Afterall, she had participated in a Tri-Relay back in the day (after only 4 kids, ha!) and there is a picture in our house of her running out of the water that resonates with me as an adult. This is the image I imagined of myself.
My mom's reply wasn't exactly the vote of confidence for which I was hoping (and secretly expecting) but it was realistic. She provided a workout suggestion and I took it. I dug out my trusty cap and goggles, put on the single one-piece suit I own and hopped in the pool for a timed race against myself. Boy, was it a wake up call. This was going to be more work than I would've liked. "Should I just save myself the embarassment?" I wondered...
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| Swimming Finish Line, Auditorium Shores |
H had already replied to A's email with an enthusiastic, "I'm in! Let's do it!" so of course, they were waiting on me. Did I really want to be the Debbie Downer of the group? And past that, should I turn down a challenge I would never give myself? No and No. So after three days of what felt like a mental ping pong game of 'yes' vs. 'no'... I gave in.
During the 4 weeks leading up to the race I received more random emails and texts from A unknowlingly reminding me of how much of a slacker I was: "Swam 2200m today then ran a mile. It actually wasn't bad!" Yowzers... I had only swam twice so far and was huffing and puffing after 300m. Race day called for more than twice that and I was feeling unprepared. The thought kept creeping back into my mind, "What have I gotten myself into?" Then I would console myself with "I'll swim this weekend". Didn't happen.
I'll admit it was my own fault. If I was truly dedicated and/or worried about the race I would have swam more often and for longer distances. After all, it was never an issue of IF I could finish, it was my own personal standard of winning. But in a situation like this, after being humbled by 10 years out of proper swimming shape, I knew winning wouldn't be the case no matter what.
Well today was race day. We woke up at 5:45am (the earliest I've woken up in a while for anything except a flight) and were at Auditorium Shores by 6:40am, just in time for the start of the Intermediate Division. This was the part of the race that was twice as long as our Sprint Division... and these crazy people do it all by themselves. We saw the first guy out of the 1500m swim and I started the countdown to my race. I kept reminding myself that I shouldn't feel nervous because I had it easy compared to most: I was only responsible for one portion of the race while most people were responsible for all three.
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| Relay Transition Zone - Bike Rack |
My responsibilty included not drowning, something I joked about but was a real concern for some. I kept looking around thinking, "if they can do it, surely I don't have anything to worry about". And so it was time to get in the water. The green, dirty, dog furry Town Lake water.
I was sure to put on my goggles before getting in, and to cover my ears with my cap. I hung back as we all treaded water at the starting line, and so started the countdown. As the charming and funny announcer reached 3, 2, 1... everyone's heads were in the water. I guess this was it, like it or not. I stayed close to the inside, hoping to cut the corner without wasting precious oxygen. And as the red buoy was within reach, so was the front of my group. It suddenly dawned on me that I might be one of the better swimmers.
Aside from my foggy googles and naive swimmers in my way, the swim actually wasn't that bad. There were only a few peices of seaweed and some leaves that brushed me, but without it we would just call it Deep Eddy. As the longest stretch of the race seemed to take it all out of me, I noticed I was passing some of the groups that had taken off a good 5 and 10 minutes ahead of us. And with only one other blue cap next to me, I realized I could actually win this thing. If not to be celebrated the way you would in a pool, I wanted to win it for myself. So the forgotten and yet familiar feeling I had during most of my races in childhood returned and pushed me to finish hard.
I've said it before and I'm going to say it again: I feel very blessed to have had the swimming upbringing that I did. Because not only was I able to compete without much training, I was the first out of the water in my heat, faster than my goal time. Where's my blue ribbon? Just kidding.
I honestly feel kind of silly bragging about it, but I am truly proud of myself. [insert laughtrack here] Seriously, though: I had no idea how it was going to turn out and as swimmers know, it's all about what the clock says. My watch noted 12:48, a full 12 seconds under my goal time. For being pretty nonchalant about my actual performance before the race, I was surprisingly satisfied when I saw it.
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| Watch out for Jumpshot's "Kobayashi", my secret weapon. And now it's time to brag on my teammates. We finished under our goal time of 2 hours and I felt so proud to have been a part of such an amazing accomplishment. Watching these impressive athletes make it through the finish line (and with smiles on their faces!) just boggles my mind. These are people that are busier than I am, older than I am and they do it... I guess I'm just lazy. I can't imagine doing alone what we did together, and to think that my teammate is going to do it by herself excatly 26 days from now is inspiring. Her push and drive to create our team has generated some of the most magnificent memories of the decade. I know I'll remember how I felt today for years to come. |
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| Team Mur-End-Busch! |
Good Luck to A!!
