Jim Doty Swim

After the Charles swim I swore I was done with swim races, but some of my friends were doing this 1 mile swim at Carson Beach. I just didn't want to pay more $ to torture myself, but when one friend bailed I asked if I could be her for the swim. And immediately regretted it when she said "of course!" But, it is good for me to exercise, and it's early in the day so I knew I would at least be all exercised up by 10, so I did it.

We are at the start of a heat wave, but you wouldn't have know that this morning. When I left home a little before 7 am it was rainy and cold. The water in the ocean was 61, which is also not warm. This race goes in a square, with 4 turn buoys, which means each length is .25 miles ish - a good distance to talk yourself through. I started swimming pretty well, but also just wanting to quit, which I didn't. After the first buoy things got a little wavier, it was a pretty quiet day in the water, and the area is pretty well protected, but still I could feel the ocean. The middle half I really questioned my life choices and thought about avocado toast. I got to the last buoy and was feeling pretty tired, I really wanted to stop. But I didn't. I did get pretty far off course, which was a bummer. Fortunately a kayaker pointed me in the right direction. The last quarter mile was definitely the hardest because I really really wanted to be done, but about half way I saw one of my friends, and a little competitive streak came out as I wanted to beat her :). I was so glad when I hit the last buoy and was able to walk to the shore. After all the waves there was definitely a little staggering involved.

I feel like I swallowed a bunch of salt and a little part of me wanted to vomit. But instead I took a shower and swished some water in my mouth. After I got changed I saw there was a snack table that had some coffee, bananas, and other treats. I had a little coffee just to get the salt out of my mouth and a banana and felt a lot better. 

We went to shy bird for brunch, but when I got the menu there was no avocado toast! It was tragic. We had the nicest waiter and I explained how the thought of avocado toast sustained me through the swim. I realized that they did have a traditional breakfast with toast, eggs, bacon and potatoes, so I just subbed avocado for the bacon and put together a thing ad hoc. And it was delicious! Now I'm home on the couch, the weather is heating up, and I have no intention of going anywhere else today. It wasn't really that fun when I was swimming, but the brunch and couch time do make up for it.

Hours later: Just saw the results posted and I was #6 of 10 in my division. I'm pretty OK with that.