I really wanted to try a down river swim and Oregon was my chance. How can anyone get lost in a down river swim?

At the athletes briefing they said the water was 65 and the current was strong but not as strong as a few weeks ago. We were informed that we needed to stay on the right side of the buoys, keeping them on our left. The last red buoy would be on our right as we turned towards the swim exit. Easy enough, right?

As we walked towards the swim start, I tried to catch up with the 33-35 start times. As I tried to sneak up, I heard a voice behind me telling me she was following me. I named her stalker. Her real name is Jamie, but stalker was more fun.

I lost Jamie when we got to the morning bag drop-off. They had us drop our bags according to our bib number, but no one could find the 4000s. I circled back to the U-Haul truck and found it there.

Great, I had lost my stalker, the person who said she was going to guide me to the 33-35 start times when I had to give up my glasses. No problem! I'll just ask fellow triathletes!

Most were kind. However, more than a few pointed to the signs and said, "It says on the sign." When I explained that I couldn't see the sign another person would then tell me what it said. Men were way more helpful than the women. Not kidding.

Just decided to go with whatever time was in my area and not worry about it.

Got to the dock and they told us we got to jump off or we could sit and slide. The starter said it was good to jump, as it was deep enough. So, I told the guy next to me good luck and have a blast and I jumped in.

And I promptly hit a rock, felt my toe bend back as far back as it possibly could bend, and a snap.

Popped up to the surface, turned around and told those behind me to watch for rocks because I was pretty sure I just broke my toe.

The started told me I shouldn't have jumped so deep. I asked, just how does one jump shallow. Then we all had a good laugh and I swam away.

Watching the rocks under me was kind of creepy so I tried to move to the left but I was afraid that I would go on the wrong side of the buoys. I stopped, looked around, and noticed two things:

There was only one swimmer with my and a kayaker. The swimmer had floaties on.

Not kidding. She was barely lifting her arms out of the water with each stroke.

I asked the kayaker if I was in the wrong spot and he said we were the only ones in the correct spot. Then I pointed to the lady I had just passed and her water wings. He may have said a few bad words as he asked how she got in the water with those things. It was incredibly strange.

I was expecting to feel a really strong current, but I really felt nothing. I tried to move more to the left, closer to the buoys, but they were pushing everyone to the correct side so I gave up. I just decided concentrate on a good catch and pull. (I'm evil - I like to pretend I'm grabbing the person's feet in front of me and pulling them under as I pass them.)

I ran over some guy swimming backstroke at some point. Dude, you have an 1:10 from when you start, not the last person. Just start with your expected finish.

Soon enough I found myself being pushed back towards the exit by a kayaker. I didn't see the red buoy and I was thinking the exit was past a bridge. Nope. It was before. There was no arch like usual, but as I got a lot closer, there were a few volunteers waving orange flags. Like I can see those, haha!

Waited a few seconds before my turn to exit. Got out and saw my toe was pretty much sticking out sideways. Reached down and popped it back into to it's proper position.

The only thing I could do was laugh. Because only I could break a toe in a swim start. But like I told my husband and coach, at least it wasn't my ankle again!

Swim distance for me according to my trusty Garmin was 2466.


Not break my toe?

T1 was a really long slog and the concrete was kind of painful on my toe. So I walked.

Then I decided to pee before I got on the bike because there wasn't a line. (The line was 45 minutes before the race. Me thinks they need more port-a-potties!)

I also realized I was really hungry at this point. The long walk to the swim start and the wait burned through my pre-race food.

Order pizza because it would have been at my bike before I got there.

Got off to a good start after the mount line, only to be caught behind two women riding side-by-side in an area with crappy road surface and no room to pass. A few people crossed the yellow line to get around them, but I'm too chicken. Someone finally told them off and they moved to the side.

I cannot tell you how much I loved this course. There were a few little rollers but there is oxygen in the air in Salem and I didn't even feel them. In fact, my HR never went above 140 at any time, including the hill people were walking.

There were a few places the road was rough and people lost there water bottles and aero bar hydration bottles.

I joked with a guy as I passed him going up a hill that Ironman probably collects all of the Oregon 70.3 bottles, clean them, and then resell them on the website.

As he passed my going down the hill he thought that we should just stop, collect the bottles, and put them on ebay.

The turn-around was a cluster. You had to go up a little bit of a hill and make a narrow left U-turn. A tandem bike crashed, causing a bit of a domino effect. I tried to unclip so I could put my foot down, but my cleat got stuck. But I didn't fall!

The return was into a nice little head wind. I was also beginning to hear my toe talk to me a lot more. I had difficulty keeping my focus at times. Thankfully the last "big hill" was not a big thing. In fact, when I got to the top I commented "That was it?!" A girl passing me said she liked my attitude!

I think the best thing about this course was we got to see the pros as they headed back into T2. This is the first out and back race I've ever done, and I've never seen the pros before on the course. I thought to myself they would be done with the run before I got to the turnaround!

I lose my concentration a lot when I'm riding by myself in a race. So I start talking to horses and cows and even my bike. I need to work on the concentration thing.

This probably my favorite course and I would love to do it again.