Swim Across America

Its been 2 weeks since Swim Across America and it is probably too late to truly capture where I was emotionally on the morning of the swim but I decided to write this anyway. You never know who might stumble across this as they are nervously researching Swim Across America.
Race morning was beautiful. The water looked nice and calm. I was feeling nervous and overwhelmed so after saying hello to friends and applying my official and unofficial tattoos, I found my own quiet space until I could line up at the very back of the line with my hot pink swim buoy.
I debated over and over whether or not I was going to wear the swim buoy, but finally at the last minute, I decided
that it would provide me with a bit of mental comfort so I used it (it also helped the boy spot me along the course).  By the time I got in the water, the leaders had already completed their first mile. This meant that I started the loop surrounded by extremely strong fast swimmers. They literally swarmed around me. It was amazing to watch how they could just glide past me with such ease. Although they were "gliding" the water got pretty choppy for awhile. I trained doing a significant about of breast stroke and relied pretty heavy on it for my first mile. It took me about 36 minutes to complete the first mile.The second mile also took about 36 minutes but it felt a lot easier. At that point I was swimming with the 1 mile participants. There were still some very gifted swimmers but I felt a little in more in "my league" around them. There were more swimmers doing breast stroke, chatting with their friends and laughing. Scot stopped to provide some encouragement as he was lapping me and overall all, I was feeling pretty good.
The third mile....well it was a little tougher. Although I had done a decent amount of breaststroke while training, I was doing too much and my lower back started to cramp up a little. I was more comfortable doing freestyle at that point but the waves had picked up (from the boats lining up to come claim their space in Sunset Cove) and doing breaststroke made it a little easier to move with the waves instead of against them. Freestyle consisted of one pull forward to one wave back. Remember when you were a kid learning to swim and your parents keep walking backwards and telling you that you are almost there? That is what it felt like, like they kept moving the buoy further and further away. At that point the only ones in the water was me, the swimmer that I started with and the support crew on kayaks and SUPs. The support crew never let me feel alone. They were always close by and offering support.
About 200 meters before the shoreline, there was a big unicorn, swan raft thing that I stopped to sign and then headed towards the shore.
The last mile took closer to 45 minutes and it took just under two hours overall. This was about what I had predicted but I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to do it quicker.
I never at any point along the course thought that I couldn't do it. I never regretted signing up for the 5k instead of the 1 mile (or 1/2 mile). From the very beginning when I ran into Julie at a pool last year to when Scot "told me" I would be doing the 5k, I knew it was what I was supposed to do. That distance intimidated me and the mile didn't. I didn't want to do something that I knew I could do, I wanted to do something that made me question if I could.
Now that I know I can swim a 5k, a 10k is next right? Just kidding, I will do the Swim Across America 5k again next year but I want to do it faster. Now that I know I can actually do it, I feel like I can tweak my training just a bit. The swimming part is still in Scot's hands but I plan on adding strength training and running back into my weekly routine. I also plan on being a swimmer as part of a relay for a Half Ironman in May and might do another 3 mile swim in June.