After years of training I was finally about to face the biggest race of my life - Ironman. There's nothing like two thousand of your closest friends, whom you've never met, all swimming in place waiting for Mike to tell us we can begin.
Imagine drowning rats in a washing machine all trying to claw their way to the top. I don't know if we looked like that but it sure felt like that. Minus the tails fortunately. When I was finally able to claw my way to the outside of the swimmers I was able to settle into the swim.
I was swimming along merrily when all of a sudden my head hit something hard and I thought it was someone's foot. So I reached out in front of me and to my horror it was a giant, bloated, dead fish staring at me through milky eyes. At that moment I started screaming like a little girl and went completely upright in the water frantically trying to scoot the dead creature away. Unfortunately I grabbed the attention of a lifeguard who thought I was drowning and tried to come to my rescue. I pointed at the cause of my terror and quickly swam away leaving him and the dead fish in my wake.
Other than the brutal swim start, bumping heads with a dead fish, a major foot cramp, a neck hickey and a few moments of hyperventilation, the 2.4 mile swim was pretty uneventful.
The one must have doing a long swim in a wetsuit is this - Especially where the velcro is on the back of your neck!
