Some days the lobster buoys are faster than you.
Went to swim a second race today. It was overcast and cool, matched my temperament this morning. I checked in and got ready. I as always have to get wet first. I hate entering water that I don’t know how cold it is and I don’t mean knowing the temperature which was 63 today. It means getting wet.
The youngsters swam their 500 and I got ready for my 1.2 mile.
The race began and within 4 strokes I was immediately a whining baby in my head. It was cold. I thought of pulling for a moment but could hear my Dad in my head saying “you always say it gets better Laura” so I pushed on. The water warmed up about 100 meters from shore. I set off about mid-pack.
And then about 500 in there was a woman standing in the water. Her wetsuit gave her enough bouency to just stand there. Every the lifeguard, I stopped to ask her if she was OK. She had that look that said no and wasn’t talking. I accompanied her over to a paddleboard and made sure she could speak and was going back to shore. Then I took off again, now DFL (dead fast last) but OK with my decision to make sure she was OK.
Slow and steadily I started to pick off swimmers as I swam. The water was warming the further we got from shore. There were cold spots but they were nice. And yes what goes up must come down, I figured the temps would drop closer to shore.
A couple of times I saw what I thought was a swimmer catching me over my shoulder. My mind said ‘where they heck did they come from’. It was a lobster buoy and it felt like they were moving faster than me. Hence the name of this post.
I have been working to open up my hips and relax the piriformis muscle but not enough apparently. It hurt for some of the swim. It feels like a softball is in your buttocks which makes kicking a little uneven to say the least. On the other hand my shoulder the deltoid on the right shoulder is extremely tight. And I have been trying to stretch it out to loosen it and I was aware of it but not really pain.
I kept swimming, chasing down one swimmer at a time and rounding race buoy and finding the darned lobster buoys that didn’t even enter the race that were chasing me. Back to the middle of the pack.
I rounded the last buoy and there was the shore just 39 feet ahead, Swam my body in as far as I can and beached. I headed up and Chuck met me at the finish. It made the finish a lot easier. Thank you Chuck very much.
I did take the time to gather a few shells for my first ‘ocean race’ in awhile. It was hard not having anyone to call. I knew this would be hard.
So here goes “Dad, I’m in. Yes, it was OK. I wanted to bail the first 25 yards but I heard your voice in my head that ‘it would get better.’ It did get better. I swear the lobster buoys were chasing me. Sorry Dad, no lobsters for dinner, the lobstermen don’t find that funny at all. Yes, I have to work on speed now. I love you Dad, take care of Eric.”
It isn't the same but it helps.