Today was the day I've been waiting for - really. You'd think it would be Saturday and yes, I am definitely waiting for that day but today, well, is the day I would see what swimming in the oean is really like. After suffering through two major panic attacks in two wimpy little lakes back home, I have been petrified that swimming in the big, bad-ass ocean would put me over the edge. Ha - not so!
We ventured down to the starting area after a breakfast I had to go to for the community fund people (that's me - I paid an extra fee to do this race, all of which goes to a really cool charity), and along with a few hundred other people, donned our wetsuits and jumped in.
Walked in, rather. The water was very shallow for at least 50 yards. It felt cold at first - colder than I expected, but after we got going it felt great.
I have to say that this swim will be one of the memorable moments in my life. After a year of stressing and worrying about swimming in the ocean, I was finally doing it...and loving it!
The water was very clear - I could see the bottom for quite awhile. When it finally got deep enough that I couldn't see it anymore, I got a little scared but quickly got over it. I swam and swam and swam, farther out than I had planned. But I didn't care. I was just so happy to finally be here and finally, swimming in the ocean. Mission accomplished.
The only bad part was....well, I swam way off course! Marshall and I started off together and I thought we were swimming next to each other. When I finally stopped to see where I was, I heard a faint voice that sounded suspiciously like Marshall's but was too far away to be his (or so I thought) saying something about "a straight line". I squinted and saw him waving to me....waaaaay over there, about 100 yards to the right. Oops!
I swam over to where he was and we ventured on to the next buoy. This may sound corny but there's something about swimming in open water, esp the ocean where you feel incredibly small out there, that makes you feel "one with nature". Ok, that is corny but I can't think of any other way of describing the feeling I had.
As we swam back to shore, I thought about how I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I felt incredibly happy and content and (it's been hard to say this) proud of myself. Here I was, swimming in the gulf of Mexico, getting ready to do my first Ironman triathlon. Wow. It finally hit me what I was doing.
I also thought a lot about my father. He had always been proud of me but I never knew it until my mom told me a few years ago. I was the only child that went to college (the only one in my entire extended family) and to him - a man who didn't graduate from high school - that was really cool. When I went on for a PhD, that was even cooler. I had kept my maiden name, Byfield, just so that it would be on my diploma - just for him.
And today, 3 yrs after spreading his ashes in the same ocean I was swimming in, felt comforting. I knew he was watching and probably shaking his head at how crazy this was, but underneath it all, pretty darn proud.
This may sound odd but even if I don't have a good race, I'm just happy being here...of making it this far....and swimming in the ocean.
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