One day a year the city allows swimming in the Charles River - today! I swam in a one mile race that went from the Longfellow to the Harvard bridge and back. My goal was to not come in last, and I managed to do that! I was third to last, doing the swim in 54.01 minutes. Ha! The weather has been kind of bad, and I think a lot of the slower swimmers didn't come. So, I was ahead of the people who stayed in bed, also.
When I signed up for the race I didn't realize that we were supposed to get there at 7 am - I might not have done it if I realized the hour. I was going to blue bike there, but then I woke up at 6:15 and had to make something to eat. By that time I was just like - better drive. I was glad that I did because I was kind of tired after the race, and because it started raining not too long after.
One thing that was nice was that the water was really calm, just a little bit of a wave. That area can get pretty rough - I was glad it wasn't. The race itself started at 8 am with the first heat of faster swimmers. The horn went off, and they were off so fast! The fastest swimmers did the race in about 20 minutes, that's crazy! I was in the second heat. We jumped into the water and swam to a buoy to start. Standing on the dock, I was thinking it was kind of far down, and felt a little nervous. But then I just jumped, and it was fine. We all swam to the start and the horn sounded and we were off!
It was a little crazy when it started because there were so many people. They thinned out after a short amount of time, but there was this one woman who was doing the backstroke who bumped into me 3 times! After the second time I crossed over to the other side of her, and then she crossed back. And, she didn't stop or rearrange or anything, so I had to keep moving. One of the merfolk told me after that I should have just elbowed. Next time.
Once we got swimming the field thinned out and I was able to have all the space. I tried to follow a swimmer a bit in front of me, and to spot to the point they told me to, but it was hard because my goggles fogged up. For a little while I was struggling a bit with my breathing (probably because I only slept like 4 hours last night) and wanted to stop. But then I reminded myself that it would all be over soon if I just swam, and so I did. I finally got close to the first buoy that we turned around - it was bright orange and huge, but still hard to see for a while. I made it around and headed back - again thinking how long it was. But also, I was thinking "check me out, swimming a race in the Charles!"
It took forever to get to the second buoy, and by that time my goggles were so foggy I had no idea where I was. I kept having to stop and ask the kayakers (who were all around me, I guess in case I drown). Finally I got to the second buoy. From there it was just 100 yards to the shore, but I had no idea where I was suppose to do, which slowed me down even more. I kept popping my head up, and the kayakers would be like "go right!" And then I would go left - and then switch to the right. I finally figured out where the shore was, and headed over. One thing that was really nice is that my friends were cheering for me, it was great to hear people shouting my name! I had to tap my timing chip on a thing, which took a few seconds also, and then we climbed out of the water and were done. The guy in front of me was struggling a little, and after I realized it was because he was like 78. (I want to still be doing this when I'm 78!) I got out and to be honest felt a little funky and dizzy, but I was psyched to be done! And, the two people behind me were a good minute or so slower.
There were 5 merfolk at the race, after 3 of us when out for waffles with the son and mom of one of the merfolk. There was a waterpolo game happening after that I kind of wanted to watch, but everyone else was done. After eating, I left my stuff in my car and did a little shopping on Newbury street to celebrate. I blue biked to Athleta (just because I could), bought some shorts and a cute little bag, and then walked back to my car. I got home before 2, already having had a full day. Now, I get to be a bum on the couch for the rest of the day, and take a nap!
I might want to improve my swimming before doing another mile race.
One thing that happened this week that sucked was that they discontinued my site for the Lyme Vaccine. They offered me the opportunity to do it at another site, but the two closest ones were 2 hours away - that's 4 hours for a 15 minute visit. I just couldn't justify it. I asked them if they would let me know if I got the vaccine or placebo, and I have a phone call with someone on Tuesday to talk about it. It sounds like they won't let me know for 6 months, so I bought an at-home lyme test and sent it in. I figure if it's negative then I can be pretty sure it was the placebo.
No comments:
Post a Comment