388

Today....I completed my first triathlon!
It was a sprint -- 500 yard swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run. The Santa Barbara Triathlon has been on my radar for about ten years now. A keen desire I longed to fulfill but for some reason or another never did. I once trained for a marathon accidentally, trying to gear up for a triathlon without a bike or a nearby body of water. I spent two summers, first getting over my fear of cold ocean water, and then strengthening my swim. And this year, this weekend, today! I finally did it! And guess what was my strongest leg of the race...the swim!

It was certainly nerve-wracking. And I have a way of getting into a deep deep focus so that not a whole lot exists outside the inner workings of my head and the brief snapshots of what my senses are feeding me.

I started the swim in the back of the pack, to elude the kicks and swats of the crowd all splashing toward the course exit. Also because it takes me a little time to get used to the water and the swell, to get through the jagged breathing and nerves hitting full tilt. But I made it out to the first buoy and started my stroke in earnest. There were only about 6 people behind me just before I started it. And when I did I was still a little nervous. But then my breathing evened out and I was stretching into my stroke, all in an effort to relax...and before I knew it, I was cruising by swimmers left and right. I was movin'! It was such a cool feeling. I was getting somewhere.

The water was green-blue in my goggle-view, there were tiny bubbles rising to the surface from the splash of my hands, there were pink feet first ahead of me then drifting behind me, then another pair. There was the sound and the feel of my breath, in, then out in a an unleashing of bubbles, then sucking in, then face in the water again, lungs working it out, all the while flashes of white swim caps, bobbing against the view of mountains, and sky, then that green-blue, and the bubbles and the breathing. It was hypnotic. I was cruising along in my focus when from the corner of my eye, face in the water, I saw the black felt-marker number on my shoulder: 388. And I realized...I'm doing a triathlon!!! I'm swimming in the triathlon! And my speed picked up another notch.