The 2012 race had the largest number of registered participants at 33! 13 of the 33 were females!! Of the registered swimmers 8 were Oak Streakers with 2 additional Streakers for support of a couple of the swimmers. It was awesome to be out there with a small pod of my swimmer friends.
Left to Right: Lynn, Patsee, Tanya, Me, Lisa aka Nemo, Brian aka Orca, Vanessa, Carol, Peter, Kelley
The day started out drizzly, foggy, and a bit chilly. There was the thought of possibly delaying the start of the race due to fog. Check in started at 7:30 am with an anticipated start time of 9 am. The race director did a quick little safety speech about 8:45 am.
I arrived with my Mom and the boys at 7:30. We watched everyone else filter into the parking lot of Goleta Beach removing their kayaks and SUP boards for their support.
Mommy and Me
Matthew, Me, and Samuel
Paige and Me
I started to prep myself for the race and I realized I was quickly going from being chilly with the outside weather to feeling warmed up again. It wasn't because the weather was getting any nicer (as you can tell from the pictures I posted above), but because I was starting to get anxious for the race to begin and it was exciting me creating internal warmth to move throughout my entire body. It felt good and oddly enough for the first time prior to starting the race I didn't have the butterfly nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.
This was going to be a big day for me. Not necessarily because I was swimming 6 miles. I have swam 6 miles before and a couple months ago when I first accomplished that distance is when it was a big moment for me. This was much more a big day for me all directly related to my left shoulder. This was going to be the longest swim I had accomplished with my shoulder pain for about a month. I was nervous and anxious to see how my shoulder would hold up. I really didn't want to have to call my own swim from pain out of my shoulder. In preparation of pain in my shoulder I had used an ibuprofen creme on the area causing me pain while I swim and also took a couple ibuprofen prior to my swim. I gave them enough time to move throughout my system. These two things coupled with me paying more attention to the placement of my arm with my left stroke is what I was hoping would pull me through this swim.
It was shortly after 9 am when the race director started the race. All the kayaker and SUP supporters were already out in the water and off went us swimmers into 60.3 degree water for a 6 mile stroll in the open water! I felt happy and was really excited to have this training swim with a support kayaker. While this was a race I looked at it more as my training with a kayaker.
Of course almost right from the start I started to pull right with my swim. Ugh! I swear I think I could finish at least 10 minutes faster than I normally do if I could manage to swim in a straight line one of these days. I spend a lot of time recorrecting my direction. Sooo, the start of my race left much to be desired!! I swam out to the edge of the pier and was far right. I heard Scott Zorning yell out to me from the end of the pier and I realized he was telling me I was too far right. I looked around and my kayaker was no where to be found. I just put my head back down and continued to swim using the other kayakers as my place to site as I couldn't really see any swimmers from the surface of the water. I also breathe right so I didn't have anything to sight from off the coast as it was on the left of me. I swam for about 5 more minutes and my kayaker was still no where to be found. I started to wonder if she ever got in the water. The other swimmers weren't significantly ahead of me at this point so I just swam on. Well...nearly 30 minutes into the race and I was alone in water I had never swam in, it was a little chilly, NO kayaker, and I started to question in my mind if this swim is really worth doing. I was contemplating if I should swim to shore and walk my way down the beach to the finish line or keep swimming. I stopped and started to wave my hands back and forth as I waded the water hoping one of the other supporters would see a random swimmer behind them and find my kayaker.
The entire time I just kept thinking in my head what in the world is she doing? Does she not realize she doesn't have a swimmer next to her? I wear a polka dot bikini for goodness sakes and a bright yellow swim cap how can she mistake another swimmer for me? Did she not get in the water? Does she just not know what the heck is expected of her? Why did I pay for a kayaker who has left me alone? Was she bored and decided to just take off with the other swimmers than stay next to her slow one? I had a number of other things in my mind during the moments alone, but I will keep those detailed thoughts to myself...
Well about 35 minutes in I had decided it was time for me to turn back to shore. The water was cold and a little murky. I had no feeds on me to sustain my energy for 6 miles. I deemed this would be far too risky of a swim for me to complete. Then I heard clicking of dolphins. I never saw them, but I heard the clicking. The chatter of the dolphins was enough for me to stop and wave again to give it another chance for someone to see me. I didn't want to give up and call it a day. I needed to see how my left shoulder was going to hold up! Shortly after I heard the dolphins I realized it looked like a paddler was starting to head my direction. Low and behold after about 40 minutes Paige and I reunited!! Her first words "I was looking for you". My first words "Well I have been right here". We pretty much left it at that and I didn't really have much else to say to Paige at that moment that would have been constructive. She did tell me I had dolphins only a couple feet from me. I told her I heard them, but I didn't see them. Off we went to swim together.
As I mentioned before I hadn't swam with the support of a kayaker before. This was something I had taken for granted in all my swimming. I didn't really think it would be something that would take much practice and skill to do. However, to a degree I was quite wrong. I think I was wrong for myself because I am a swimmer who pulls right. Paige had stopped her kayak a little ahead of me at a point. I don't believe she stopped directly in front of me, but she hadn't stopped too far right from me. As I was in my rhythm of swimming I slammed into the kayak full force with my momentum and I briefly had a flashback of a car accident I had about a month prior. My entire body crunched up and caused an instant leg cramp in the back of my thigh. At this point I just thought "wow this is clearly not my day". I stopped briefly to try and work out the cramp. I took my first feed at that point when I was about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the swim. I was hoping the fluids would help my cramp and it did! Yay! I was on my way again.
After the crash I had much more respect for the support of the kayaker. Maybe respect isn't entirely the right word, but I definitely was much more aware of her in the water. I didn't look at her being the one looking out for me and staying out of my way, but more so I watched for her and made sure I kept a bit of distance between us. I think she also paid more attention to my swimming and where I was. Neither one of us wanted me to crash into her again. She offered me the best advice anyone probably could have given me as my support paddler. Since I pull right she told me she is going to direct me with her kayak and I need to swim in the direction the front of her kayak is pointing. She told me I was too far right and I am going to have to swim more than I should by not keeping a straighter line.
Beautiful view of the cliffs lining the shore
Me swimming closer to shore finally
Paige really ended up being a great support for me. She took some cool pictures for me while I was swimming with my camera and she offered me words of encouragement. I really ended up enjoying my time with her during the race. I just had to get past the negative start.
While out I didn't see too much wildlife because the water wasn't completely clear, but I did swim over a beautiful jellyfish. It was just like the jellyfish I swam over at La Jolla Cove. Jellyfish are interesting to me. I feel like the ocean stands still when I see one in the water. It is like all my surroundings go silent and I only see the jelly gracefully move through the water. This jelly was about 3/4 the size of my leg with its top and tentacles combined. I wanted so badly to stop and take a picture of it with my camera, but I was too worried my hands were too cold from the water temperature that I would drop my camera and lose it in the water forever. I just lifted my head and told Paige about its beauty. There were a number of salps I swam through as well.
About 2-2.5 miles left in the swim I stopped for another feed and right when I stopped a few dolphins came swimming up to us. Oh my goodness it is moments like these on why I swim in the water. They were full of energy. At one point they were as close as 4 or 5 feet from me...jumping in and out of the water. As silly as this is even though I was in a "race" I swam backward a little bit so I could play with them. I looked under water for them as they dove under, but like I already mentioned earlier the water wasn't clear...not even clear enough for me to have visibility of the dolphins even 4 feet from me. It is amazing how much of a motivator the dolphins are to me and probably a number of other open water swimmers. I feel like I really needed to see those dolphins to really keep in a positive mind frame. Part of me wonders if those dolphins knew I wanted some encouragement. No one else that I know of saw or even heard the dolphins. I would like to think (in my crazy mind) they were there just for Paige and I to bond over.
Back of my head and my new friend
So we were off after my feed and everything progressed well for me. I wasn't really paying much attention to my time other than when I needed another feed. (Paige didn't have a watch on), but I did feel like I was being pushed quite a bit (that's always a nice feeling).
All of a sudden before I knew it she told me we were almost at the finish line. I stopped and asked her if she was sure because there is no way I had been swimming long enough to cover nearly 6 miles. She pointed out the flags that I was to swim up through and she was right! I was so proud of myself. My shoulder had held up well for me with very little discomfort and I didn't give up even though I had a tough start of the swim. I was so stoked! I knew at this point I was the 2nd to last person in the water, but I didn't care I was so proud of myself. Of course, I don't really ever understand how it feels like once you see the finish line it sometimes feels like it takes you forever to get there. I took one more feed to get me through my last 20 minutes of swimming around the buoy and up on the beach.
Finishing with a huge smile! (my Mommy is to the left cheering me on as always)
I was happy overall with the entire experience. I learned a lot from this swim and I regained some confidence in my left shoulder for my upcoming swim of 12.4 miles. I finished with 3 hours 20 minutes 43 seconds! That was a good 10 minutes better than I had expected with even the best conditions. Granted I do think I could have taken at least 5-10 minutes off my time had my start been more successful, but in the end I am stoked with the time I had and I kept swimming! I also got this really cool ceramic mug with whales on it to commemorate my accomplishment. I can't wait for next year!!
Still smiling with my mug of accomplishment
Samuel, Me, Mommy, and Matthew post swim!
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