I signed up for the race last minute. My friend Mollie and Adele were doing it, so I decided to be a follower (not a leader) and give it a try. After hitting the submit button, I regretted my decision instantly. What was I thinking??? I'll tell you what I was thinking..."that's some cool looking 10th anniversary medal they're giving out". Yeah, this isn't the first time I've signed up for a race because of a cool looking medal.
Tom and I took a ride down to Victory Park in Rumson NJ the evening before the race. I picked up our race packets and tried not to get myself worked up over the swim. But yeah, I admit it, I was really nervous. I even had a dream that I kept going under water and popping back up again and Adele kept telling me that everything would be ok. As I'm sure you can guess, I didn't get the best nights sleep.
RACE DAY
The participant list looked long and once again, I was worried about parking. Eh hem, story of my life. We were out the door at 5:00 am and arrived at Victory Park at 6:15. The sun was coming up and the sky looked beautiful. The buoys were out and the course was set.
The race began with the 1.2 mile swimmers followed by the 2.4 mile swimmers at 8:00 am. The first wave (1.2 mile Age Group Men) lined up on the shore. The horn blew at 7:30 am sharp, and off they went into the cold, murky Navesink river. Next it was our turn. Nearly 200 women lined up and at 7:38 am, the horn went off. I stayed at the very back of the pack and let them all go in. Myself and 6 other women were the last to get in. Three minutes later, the 1.2 mile Buddy Heat would follow and at 8:00 am the 2.4 mile swimmers would get in. That river was going to get crowded pretty soon.
I got in and decided to see if I could put my head down and swim. Nope. It was dark and murky and I had that horrible feeling in my chest. I took a few strokes with my head up then put my face into the water again. Nope. Still too dark and murky. As I swam with my head up, I heard a woman yelling for a lifeguard. A group of us tried to get a lifeguards attention. She was panicked and wanted to get out of the water. Slowly she calmed down and decided to see if she could continue. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking.
The first buoy was located at the corner of a dock that we had to swim around. I noticed most of the women around me were either doing a slow breaststroke, floating on their back, or bobbing and procrastinating. It felt crowded around the dock and I felt uncomfortable with the whole scene. I decided it was time to beat it out there, so I put my face in the water and swam freestyle. I found a jolt of confidence and decided at that moment that I wasn't going to stop swimming until the end.I turned the dock and entered into a cove-like area heading upstream. It wasn't really difficult swimming upstream because the cove seemed to keep the current to a minimum. I *believed* that when I made it to the turn around buoy I would be heading downstream, thus having the current at my back. I didn't know how wrong my *belief* was.
Along with the choppy water, I felt these random waves but I wasn't sure where they were coming from. And then I realized the waves were caused by boats going down the river. Several times I tried to take in air and got a mouth full of water instead. Now add waves to that and it felt a bit surreal and insane. "Keep calm and think about technique" was what I kept telling myself. I swam along going buoy to buoy upstream without stopping. If a wave lifted me up, I stayed relaxed and went with it. If I got a mouth full of water, I spit it out and hoped for air on the next go around.
FINALLY I arrived at the green turn buoy. I swam around the buoy and noticed a few women had stopped for a break. Apparently the water was really shallow there, so you could stand up if you wanted to. Nope, I'm not stopping now.
After turning the buoy I discovered what was in store for the rest of the swim "downstream". I didn't know it at first but the Navesink river dumps into the ocean, and the ocean was pushing the current up against us. Essentially we were swimming downstream, against the current. Like an oxymoron. To boot, the sun was on the horizon directly in front of us so sighting was very limited, at best. Luckily I wore my polarized goggles which cut the glare down a bit. I just kept swimming but wasn't sure if I was making progress. It felt as though I was swimming and not getting anywhere.
When I made it to the first green buoy I was relieved to know that I was actually making progress. There was a bridge up ahead and since I couldn't see much because of the sun I decided to aim for the bridge. Oh look, another green buoy! I just kept swimming. There were swimmers all around me but I realized everyone wanted their own space. Eventually I made it to green buoy #3, and I just kept swimming. I saw a man taking a break for a moment and some lifeguards in a rowing boat off to the side. What I thought about during the swim? I still don't remember.
I passed green buoy #4, and just kept swimming. "Aim for the bridge and look for the yellow buoy". Finally, there it was in all it's glory! Shining at me like a beacon in the sunlight. The yellow turn buoy where you begin your swim back towards shore. I was so happy at this point, that I kicked it into a higher gear (for me). I swung those arms and kicked those legs and just kept going until I reached the shore. When the water was about calf high I stood up and began running out of the river. As I ran towards the finish line, another woman started running as well. We both sprinted to the finish line together. My finish time was 46:09.
I received my beautiful finishers medal and felt elated at how well I had done considering everything I was up against. Wind, cold weather, cold water, I'm a head case, mass swim start, choppy water, waves, flailing arms, flailing legs, people needing lifeguards, nasty current, and water that was black as ink at times. In fact, our faces were covered with a black soot when we got out. What did we swim in? I have NO idea, nor do I want to know. Its too late now.CLOSING THOUGHTS
With everything that I went through, I cannot wait to do this race again!!! Yes, it was that great! I'm still in a state of disbelief that I (ME) conquered this. Will I do the 2.4 mile swim next year? I doubt it, but hey who knows. Obviously a lot can happen between now and then. I think about all of the things that have happened between last year and this year. But you know what? I'll worry about it when the time comes...next year.
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