The horn went off and I started swimming. Almost immediately, my googles started leaking. Swam parts of the race with my eyes closed, only opening them to check the landmarks every 5 or 8 strokes. Luckily, there are high rises all around, so I had some good sighting landmarks.

I made it the first turn bouy and was getting gassed. I don't think I went out too fast, but maybe I did. I know my breathing was all jacked up as I was not concentrating on it. I switched to some breast stroke in order to catch my breath. I then rotated back and forth between the two strokes, but probably spent more time doing breast stroke (probably about equal yardage.)

The course started to seem very long to me by the time I was coming to the end. I was happy to see the exit ladder, as I was blown out by the time I got there.

Well, lets start with opposite question, what would I do the same. First, I would enter the race. Second, I would get in the water :) Third, I would not quit. Other than that, it all open to being done differently the next time.

Ate a bagel with cream cheese. Cheered on KSH and other folks that I knew. Hung out for results with Karen, she swept 1st in all three swims in her AG. Nice....


Do a workout each week with no wall push and no "big" breaths at the turn in th pool. Do a OWS once a week as out at Lewisville - go to four swims a week. I am not sure what happened to me out there, I felt pretty confident coming into it, perhaps a little bit of the typical OWS freakout - I know I can OWS. I also need to learn to adjust on the fly in OW situations, fix googles, deal with the occassional mouth full of water, etc.


This was part of a bigger weekend festival. I think it was great that the swim races are offered, as they are hard to come by in the ares.