Well, the sun was up enough at 7 that they transported us by pick-up truck to the start. The farther and faster we drove the more panicky I got...that's a long way to swim in the ocean!! We got a pre-race meeting at the top of the beach access stairs, which the bottom of were still under water. We waded out to the first bouy and they blew a start whistle. I was so nervous, I thought I was going to stroke out...I just couldn't believe that I was really going to do this.

The bouys were only placed every half mile. I looked at the second one from the top of the stairs and thought, "that's not bad at all". The race started and I dove right in and started swimming freestyle. I looked up to sight the bouy and I couldn't see it, it was so far away. I first thought about panicing, but then the wardrobe malfunction began...

--TMI ALERT--
I have lost just enough weight that my top has started to get just the slighest bit loose, that combined with the wave/current action, and the added bouyancy of saltwater sent my rather curvey curves flying! With every stroke of freestyle they were everywhere but in my suit!! It was like I was wrestling some sea creature! I would stop and get re-adjusted, start freestyle again and I was back to where I started!! Ugghhh!!

So I started swimming breaststroke arms with freestyle kick. The whole group immediately pulled away from me and in what felt like seconds they were out of sight. I was so discouraged. It's a very scary feeling to be out there with no one around. At this point one of the lifeguards and one of the paramedics dropped back and walked the coastline along with me.

So, I swam and swam and swam for what I thought was about 30 minutes. Still couldn't see the second bouy so I looked at my watch---9 minutes...oh, this was going to take forever!!

I continued breaststroke and thought how funny the irony in that was and continued on. Thought that maybe I would get out after the second bouy...well, I finally made it to the second bouy and the tide was still high enough that I would have had to climb over the big rocks just to get out. Plus there was a marker half way between the second and third bouys. I thought, "well, that really doesn't look that far". So after forever of swimming I finally got close enough to the marker that I could read "DANGER STRONG CURRENT". Again, that really didn't make me feel confident! I kept trying to do freestyle but continued to have the same problem, only now it was getting painful. I decided to make it to the third bouy...a mile was a really good swim for me and I could quit right there and it would still be a great day for me...

It was about that time that I noticed that the shrimp boat off in the distance was getting much closer. There had already been several times that I had gotten WAY out and off course and I was a little far out so I started to head in. Well, the boat had it's nets out and I started doing this whole...mother of 3 drowns in shrimp boat nets while trying to swim a ridiculous distance in the ocean for no good reason...headlines of the newspaper kind of fantasy! I really was wishing there had been another swimmer in sight.

Well, I was getting very close to that third bouy and decided that I would definately get out once I made it past it. The shrimp boat was on my left starting to turn the other way, and the bouy was coming up fast on the right when i noticed what looked like rain on the water...it wasn't! The shrimp boat was pushing a HUGE school of bait fish! Before I could even think I was covered in millions of tiny fish! I have to admit...I screamed like a little girl at first! It was the most disgusting thing I have ever felt!! For some unknown reason I stopped swimming and slapped the water a few times. It was then that one swam into my suit and down to my belly button. Got that one out and decided that I needed to settle downsince the thought hit me that sharks tend to follow the bait!!

As soon as that was over I was coming past the thirdbouy where I had thought I might quit. I got to thinking that after making it through all of this including the yucky bait fish that there was no @&$* way I was going to quit!!

I started swimming freestyle regardless of the other issues and found a reasonable rhythm and swam the rest of the way in. My husband and three children were there cheering me on! I was so happy and very thirsty!!

The volunteers and race officials were so nice. They said that the run had already started but to take my time and get ready and I could start the run and they would time me individually. I thought that was really great. I had only planned on the swim and thanked everyone.

I'm buying a suit one size down ASAP!

Drank water, ate a bagel and granola bar, showered off and headed home. Also, talked to a friend who did the swim. She does IM's and said the swim was awful since that there were so few bouys. She said she felt like she went all the way to Bermuda...hmmmm, sorta how I felt too!!


I think that all of the breaststoke added at least 20 minutes to swim. I have not done any ocean swims more than about 400 meters so this was a HUGE jump in ocean swimming for me!! I kept a very slow pace and was never breathing hard through the whole thing. I think I could have pushed harder. It really was much more mentally challenging than physically.


This was a small race that went along with a festival to raise money for the local sea turtle center. It was kind of nice because I knew about half of the swimmers.