tri-ing not to drown

After a hiatus of almost a year, I decided to give triathlon another try. I'm a half-way decent cyclist, and had done a run/walk event recently, so I was comfortable with those parts of the race. Not fast, but at least able to feel confident. The swim was another matter. I had not been in a pool since I couldn't remember when and was not a good swimmer even when I was training regularly. I can swim back and forth in the pool easily for forty minutes, but swimming in open water with waves and other competitors kicking me makes me very anxious. But after four pool training sessions in four weeks before the race, I was as ready as I was going to be.

The swim segment of the race was a quarter mile, as this was a sprint triathlon, the shortest kind generally offered. I am the person in the yellow cap in the foreground of the picture. This event was well-organized, with lots of safety people in the water, as you can see from the boat that appears to be following me and a couple of other ladies. The orange floats on the left side of the picture were on a rope that marked the course. If you look closely at the swimmer in the green cap behind me, you can see lots of weeds (aka aquatic macrophytes) dangling from her arm. The dark object in front of me is my hand, functioning as an aquatic plant survey sampling device.

I finished the swim in 20 minutes. And no, I was not in last place.