Thursday, January 1, 2009

Sharky Swim 2009

Location: Lacamas Swim & Sport, Camas, WA
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Time: 1:52:00 (pace = 2:14min/100m)

Last year I rang in the New Year by running a 5k at midnight, catching a few hours of sleep, and then swimming a 5k at my gym. Last year I was also swimming on a regular basis. I haven't been in the pool much this fall/winter. Despite a 2008 swim total of almost 150,000 meters, I only swam a combined total of 2750 meters in the entire month of December. So instead of committing to the entire Sharky Swim, I decided to show up and swim as much as I could. I figured 3000 meters was doable.

The night before the swim, Ken and I celebrated the passing of 2008 with some good friends in Portland. It was a mellow evening of drinks and watching the countdown on television. We were in bed by 1am, but 7:30am still came too early. I reluctantly changed into my swimsuit and loaded up. Ken came along to help count laps and snap a few photos (however, I forgot to pack the memory card for the camera...).

Last year I had a perfect group of ladies to swim with, and I was also wearing a wetsuit. This year, I had no wetsuit and no one the same pace to swim with. I tried doing the first 500m with some fun gals, but it was a tad too slow so I ultimately climbed into an empty lane and continued solo. After 2000 meters I knew I could easily complete 3000 meters. At 3000 meters I thought, "well, only another 800 meters and I'll have finished the Ironman swim distance." After 3800 meters I had to complete 4000. And then I was just too close to 5000 to quit. With about 500 meters left to go, my friend Jon (also fellow IMAZ09 competitor!) hopped into the lane with me and helped me finish up.

Final time was just shy of 2 hours (that is including breaks). About 12 minutes slower than last year, but with no wetsuit and no one to draft off of. And with little recent swim training, I'm thrilled. Woohoo, 2009 is off to a fabulous start!