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Have you failed to come up with a costume but really want to dress up? Here are some ideas for a quick DIY costume from one of my favorite crafty sites, ThreadBanger
Yes - I am a closet crafter. I made most of my own clothes in high school. I love that stuff and I love it that there are young people who eschew the seduction of Juicy Coutour and Kate Spade for funk.
Signed - 21stCenturyPerpetualHippie
There are 2 really great things about having gone to do SOMA. First of all meeting with all of the bloggers was more fun than can adequately be described but I'm sure you are all getting the picture by now. Second of all I am DONE with triathlon for many, many months. This is a good thing. Also - I sort of came to terms with some stuff as a result of this race and that's good, too.
Swim - I was in wave 3 and, as always, was nervous about this swim. It was a water start which I prefer because it gives me a chance to get in the water and pee in my wet suit get used to the water. I think I figured out in this race that I need to use the time to swim 100 yards or so because I had my second minor anxiety attack in the water. I was stunned. If there is one thing I seem to like it is crazy swimming and I had just done an SF Bay swim and here I was in 70 degree water in a full body water wing thinking I just couldn't do it. Later in the day I figured it out. In any case I did the normal "breast stroke to get things under control" thing and the "swim way off course to add some distance" thing and eventually was out of the water - yay!
Swim stats - 29:17 for 2:56/100 meters (thank you anxiety). Overall place 438
T1 - 2:33 which was great considering how far I had to run to get to my bike and then get it out of there. Of course the swim time probably includes the wetsuit stripping time but I'm not sure. Anyhow I'm glad I figured out that sitting down to put my bike shoes on works much better for me than standing up and wobbling around.
Bike - I was a little nervous about my bike because when we unpacked it the brake cable had come undone and we didn't know how to fix it so I had to take it to the bike tech tent and have them do it. Also, I had trouble finding the marks on the seat post and had the seat up too high and had to adjust by feel. Then I had to test drive it in my jeans and flip flops because we had to drop the bikes on Saturday and I was not dressed to test. This was not ideal. The good news is that on race day while setting up in transition I finally found the mark and fixed the seat height.
My bike performed flawlessly and I felt strong. I even managed to drop a few people on the ride but sadly, they were not in my age group - they were younger. That was good but not good enough as we will soon find out.
The course was this crazy loopy thing with a lot of u-turns and crowding. The Half people were doing 3 loops and the Quarterman people were doing 1 and 1/2. As I came back by the finish I got totally confused about which way to go and started going in. Someone yelled "One and Half loops!!???" and I yelled "NO!" so she said "go back out and follow the signs for the quarterman". Okay fine.
Now the pre-race newsletter said they had changed the course and it would be 25 miles instead of 28. I rode and rode and rode and as my bike computer turned to 25 miles and I was nowhere near the finish I was sure I had gone the wrong way (which would be quite impossible on this course) or missed a sign and I was worried. Very worried. I probably rode for 3 miles just being worried before I realized there was nothing to be done but keep going and oh, by the way "SPEED UP!" This was where a woman in Tribe kit with "45" on her leg passed me but I had passed her long ago and I was not happy. I started to let her get away and then I thought "not a chance", got up on the pedals, called, "ON YOUR LEFT" and dropped her like last week's gossip. That felt good. Finally I could hear the finish line and decided everything would be fine. Here are my bike splits (click for a bigger view if you care).
I felt like i was working hard and doing well and, according to Garmin I was going 15.8 mps avg and according to my bike computer I was going 16.6 mph avg but according to SOMA - not so much:
Bike Stats:
1:52:42 15.5 mph avg 542 overall (losing ground by 104 racers. No news there).
T2 - 3:28 which seemed okay since it was a long run to my spot and I got a little fumbly with the helmet and hat and all that.
Run - Hot, Hot, so freakin' hot. I guess I was only the high 80s by then but running on white concrete in the blazing sun is not fun. Not fun at all. I started out doing exactly what I had intended to do - run the run and walk the water stations. I was good for the first couple miles but then I started to overheat. I don't think I took an unauthorized, intra water stop walk break until at least mile 4 but there was this shady part going under a bridge and I just had to walk it. And that set the stage for more walk breaks. I pretty much lost it on the run although it never got worse than a jog/walk 30 seconds on/30 seconds off sort of deal toward the end. What really did me in was being passed early on by a woman with a 53 on her leg who was running at a good clip. I never saw her again. And then, at about mile 5.5 a very, very thin woman with a 51 on her calf ran by me. I was sure she would tank soon enough so I kept her in sights for a while but then she got away from me. If only I had known in that moment that I beat her at the Tri for Real it might have helped. Then again, I was really, really hot and there isn't a lot that will get me moving fast in the heat so maybe I would have just sat down and had a good cry instead. Hard to say.
Finally I was close to the end and I was very happy about that and I ran... and ran... and ran... because it was along distance from 'almost done' to the finishers chute. When I got there, there were Momo and Stronger cheering me in and that was the most fun ever. I've never had friends at the finish line cheering me in like that and I'm guessing I'll see my best finisher pics ever because I was smiling like a loon!
Run Stats: 1:24:33 12:55/mile (ugh!) 527 overall so I picked up 15 spots from people who hate the heat more than I do. Here are my run splits
Total time 03:52:31 9/9 in my division 512 Overall.
I'd like to take a moment to thank Coach Bold for suggesting I do the Quarterman and have some fun rather than trying to kill myself doing my first half. Excellent advice.
After I finished I spent the rest of the day cheering with Stronger and Momo. We wandered over toward the run course to find Duane and I finally got to meet Benny which was great. I had missed him and Nytro on Saturday because I had to pick up my packet and rack my bike. Bold came along, too and hung out for a while shucking and jiving with us and just trying to cool down and then he took off to chase down Nytro. 
Duane came along with Comm and we walked with them on the last 1/2 mile of the course. I almost made it to the finish but I was in very desperate need of a porta-potty at that point so I went in a different direction and then caught up with everyone at the finish line. I was there to cheer in Nytro and Bold. It was a great day.
Conclusion - I came in last in my age group which was NOT the plan. This was NOT a Personal Best although it was my best ever bike speed. I had so wanted to end my triathlon season with a race Personal Best but instead of getting a race Personal Best I had one of the best times I've ever had doing a race and had a People Personal Best and that's the very best kind of best to have. Good times.
DPR and me in our awesome sushi hats.
Post race trauma is doing an investigation the results of which are you learning that the person who beat you by 18 minutes at SOMA is the same woman whose ass you kicked all over the course at your last sprint distance race and beat by 12 minutes. ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
I hate running in the heat - hate it. Can't do it..... failed at it.
And you know what else? I'll bet she trained for SOMA - damn her!
*sniff sniff*
Next up will be my real race report - promise!
When I thought up this title it was because I thought the classic movie was called 'The Treasure of the Sierra Leone" not 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". I thought about switching to 'The Treasure of the Sierra Momo" but it really didn't work so I'm sticking with my mistake because it's thematic to my race report.
This weekend, as noted by others was an epic bloggerpalooza. I met some people for the first time and others I had met before either because they came and visited or because I met them at Wildflower and/ or IM WI. What was so remarkable about this, though is that it felt about as comfortable and familiar as getting together with old friends from high school. In some ways we seemed to have just about as much history with each other as you would if you had really known someone for years. It was very fun.
What was more remarkable was how fabulously well treated I was by my hostess, Momo. She and her husband Big J were the most gracious and warm hosts ever. Momo deserves some sort of really special award for the endless shuttle service she provided. The weekend went like this:
Friday -
See what I mean? The woman is a SAINT! Love you, Momo.
Now I'm too tired to write the race report. But, as our govenator likes to say, "Ahl be baaaach" And yes, there are pics... they are coming. I just have to dig my camera out of wherever it is.
After much deliberation, hemming and hawing and after overcoming some bizarre dread fear of shipping my bike - I am on my way to SOMA today! My bike is currently in Tempe and will soon arrive at Big J's office (Momo's husband). I will arrive tonight in time for a repeat of last weekend's wine, Brie and hot tub experience. Not as crazy wild, though. I could live without the hangover.
Tomorrow I will meet up with a passel of blogger buds, some I have met before, some I will meet for the first time. I am so very excited to have a big community of triathletes to hang out with and to race "with". I use the quotes because I'm reasonably certain I will not actually "be" 'with' any of them on the course but I will be with them at the end. I am doing the Quarterman and most of them are doing the Half so I have faith that I will be at the finish line cheering them in. If not then it means I broke my leg or something.
I am so SO excited that this is last triathlon of the season for me. I won't do another until..... probably May. In the meantime I'm going to go pedal to the metal at this race in search of a final, season ending PR. This will be tough as my last Oly was basically short on distance and this one is a bit long. It's all about the bike, though and I intend to ride hard and just let it hurt, something I've never done before. Seriously. I usually back off for fear of not being able to run. This time - NO FEAR! I'm just going for it. If the run hurts it hurts. If I tank, I tank. NO FEAR! I need to break 3:10 - can I do it?
My transition bag is packed and checked and ready. My boarding pass is printed (flying SWA means printing it out EARLY people - I'm group C - 101 which means I'll have to choose who to piss off as I ask to take the center seat).
Think speedy thoughts for me!
I have a connection to this video via my daughter's friend. Make that my daughter's really amazing friend. I think aforementioned amazing friend probably created and directed this video but I'm not sure and really, it doesn't matter.
These people live in New Foundland where it is cold. Very cold. My brain would just freeze and cease to function and yet these people are creative - brilliantly so. I think this song speaks to those of us who get up at absurd hours and put our aging bodies through whatever it takes to maintain vitality and a sense of health and well being - and so we can stay young forever. It is also good music and a very fine video. Enjoy!
The Book Group is the Quilting Bee of the 21st Century. Although there are some book groups that are co-ed and some that are just guys, a vast preponderance of bookgroups are women who like to get together, drink some wine, eat some sinfully delicious food and talk. The talking may or may not center around the book - it just depends on the group. My bookgroup not only meets once a month to discuss what we read (among other things), we spend 1 weekend every October at a house at Stinson Beach where we up the ante on the extra-curricular book group stuff and just enjoy each other's company.
We bring some wine
and some more wine
and some champagne and orange juice
and food - lots of food.
Our favorite house has a hot tub, and an outdoor fire pit and an indoor fireplace and a lagoon on one side. 
The actual beach is across the street.
Friday I set out for this long anticipated beach weekend, stopping in SF to pick up my race packet for the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Then I headed over the bridge and through heavy, scary fog on the winding and scary road that runs along the cliffs with the waves crashing below. It was terrifying and all I could think of was what it would be like to make that drive at 0dark30 on Sunday morning. Thus was born my first crack at a cheap excuse not to race but as it stood I was still planning on racing Sunday and that had serious implications for how I needed to conduct myself Friday and Saturday. Somewhat painful implications as it turned out.
Friday night was my night to party and let me tell you - I got trashed. Seriously trashed. I drank and hot tubbed and ate about 5 pounds of Brie and made pizzas and laughed harder than I have laughed for years. I probably aged my face 10 years in the process but it was worth it - it was so well worth it. I drank quite a bit of water but alas, Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, complete with the kind of hangover you associate with crazy high school parties where you drink a concoction of whatever booze you could steal from your parents all mixed together and carefully blended with Coke - ugh. I drank some more water, my friend shoved 1/2 a banana under my nose and made me eat it and then I dozed for a bit, overcome with banana vapors and nausea.
When it was time for a beach walk I rallied, took some Tylenol and headed out. I love the beach and it was a perfect day 
The swell was high, the surfers were out and I would not be denied. I had the second moment where I started to think I would not go run the Nike - I would just send my chip back and write a letter asking for my necklace seeing as I had paid for it. After all, what is more important - running a race or spending another night getting wasted in the hot tub and then going for a beach walk in the morning? I mean really - I HAVE PRIORITIES!
Alas, - the voice within wasn't letting me off that easy so Saturday night was my night to be good and good I was. I had 1/2 a glass of wine, ate a delicious dinner of sea bass, potatoes and salad and drank a lot of water. I thought about skipping the race one more time and then thought about how there is no honor in tossing off an event you have committed to because you want to defile your body with alcohol and go for a beach walk. Fun perhaps, but no honor. Then I thought, "I could have it all! I could have the beautiful beach weekend AND the race and then some more beach." I envisioned myself returning to the House of Debauchery, triumphant and be-medaled and watching as one by one my friends dropped to one knee in admiration of my triumph over sloth and depravity. It was with that thought that I got all my stuff for the race together and went to bed with my cell phone set to wake me up at 4:30 AM.
In the morning I tip-toed around but I think I woke up everyone in the house - but just for a moment. The ride out was fine - crystal clear. I got to the start line where I was consumed in a sea of women excited to toe the line - many of them for the first time ever. Finally we were o ff - through the financial district, through Fisherman's Wharf, along the water and then over the hill to a most spectacular vista of the Golden Gate Bridge. The sky was a perfect Cerulean and clear and sharp - you could see for miles. The run was a visual feast from the crazy people in costumes to the San Francisco vistas. I felt much better this year than I did last year and managed to jog up all the hills and run strong on the other side.
As I was coming close to the finish I heard someone yell my name - it was Jen, my new best blogging/triathlating local bud who has hopefully joined my run club with her husband. I crossed the line, got my necklace, got my t-shirt, tried to walk back and find Jen but got a little lost and finally struck out for my car. 40 minutes later I was back at the beach. Half of the group had already left and although everyone was impressed that I got up and ran my race there was a distinct lack of genuflecting... sigh.....
I enjoyed another round of hot tubbing and sun soaking but alas it was soon time to clean the place up, pack up our stuff and hit the road. We admired our handwork with the wine 
before tossing out the evidence of our once a year bacchanal.
My race was fine - I finished in 2:29 something. Not fabulous and not a PR but better than last year and more than good enough. I was happy. I did rather enjoy having it all this weekend but next year I'm going to make sure that the beach trip and a race do not coincide as we know it's all about pacing and racing Sunday has me going out too hard and fast on Friday - and that's not a winning strategy.
My favorite bumper sticker of all time reads "Moms know everything and they are always right"
And now I have a favorite video to go with that
Andy Baldwin is up for grabs again!!
"Truth overheard from the finish line announcer, “And here he is, Number 1549, Andy Baldwin, the Bachelor, and he’s still a bachelor.” Yep, Andy and Tessa have decided to split up and see where things are when he returns from the Persian Gulf. "
Now I feel doubly sorry for the 2nd runner up. I also feel doubly ooged out that he picked Tessa up and carried her across the finish mat at IM KY. It seemed very inappropriate and like a publicity stunt at the time and I kind of creeped me out. It's one thing to run across the mat with your family or give a loved one a piggy back ride (that happened yesterday!!!) but treating the finishing mat like a post-wedding threshold? ew.
Also, in case you didn't hear, Sister Madonna Buder did not make the bike cut off. How sad. She said she'll be back next year. 
>
ps - I'm totally hooked on the Bachelor this year. I'm almost ashamed but it's the truth.
I don't think I've written about it before but I have been under going a "suspicious cardiac activity" investigation for about a month. My issue is nothing like IronJennys but it has been really nice to have a kindred soul sort of in the same boat while this was going on.
My situation was that I went for a physical on 9/7 and they did a quick EKG. The doctor saw a rhythm she said shows up in 1 of 2 places. Either in the ER while a person is having a heart attack or sometimes with athletes.
This heart thing is something I can feel, particularly after a race. My heart pounds in my chest much harder than normal and it sort of bothers me. After a couple of days the pounding goes away and I am not constantly aware of my heart beating in my chest. This has been happening for years.
She gave me a referral for some other tests and I picked 'athlete' as a cause and went on about my life including competing in 3 more events. During that time I had a 24 hour Holter test (where you wear a monitor for 24 hours and an echo cardiogram . No one called to tell me I should sit in a chair and wait for an ambulence so I didn't worry about it. Today I had a consultation with a cardiologist.
This guy was great. He explained in great detail how my pattern is just a mild idiosyncrasy of a normal patten (in fact it is called an idioventricular rhytm) and he told me how an athletic event would generate this pattern. He sat with a clipboard on his lap and drew this picture and wrote, upsidedown, as he gave me this explanation (click for larger image).
He dispelled some myths I had about the heart of an athlete pumping more blood because it is stronger or bigger. He said my heart is no stronger than any random 80 year olds (assuming they don't have heart disease). I'm not sure I really got what does make our heart rate lower but he referred to it as having better parasympathetic tone. That is, our hearts don't need to work as hard to deliver 02 because our parasympathetic system (which is chemical in nature) is stronger so our 02 delivery is more efficient. We have better parasympathetic tone because the training and racing elevate adreneline which elevates your heart rate and blood pressure. The parasympathetic system kicks in to lower it regardless of what you are doing. I guess the parasympathetic system is not sympathetic to your race - ha ha (that's a little lay person joke!). Anyhow, it seems that my parasympathetic system is still in high gear after the adreneline has calmed down so my ventrical assumes leadership for my heart beat instead of leaving it up to my atrial sinus. Okay so I took a little leap there but honestly - he didn't exactly fill in that gap. In any case, it all added up to me having a healthy heart so I'm good with that.
On the far right hand side of the page you see some more questions. He said my heart is perfect and healthy but my family history suggests that my arterial health needs some looking in to. It turns out that for women my age a heart attack is the leading cause of death and in 40% of the cases no one sees it coming. It also turns out that those garden variey cholesterol tests just aren't good enough. High HDL (which is good and which I have) is no asset if you lack a certain type of HDL (HDL-2). So I'm in for 2 more tests - a treadmill stress test which I have ALWAYS wanted to do (and sort of informally did when I had the Holter on by going running with it) and a more detailed cholesterol test called a VAP test. If those come back normal I will rejoice in my head to toe great health and continue to plan next year's race schedule. I have some ideas but since I'm not done yet this year (*sniffle*) I'm not quite ready to plan next year. Not even I know the answer to the question, "is there an Ironman in my future?"
Speaking of which - good luck to all the athletes in Kona!! The canon goes off in about 16 hours!
You have to go check out this web site I happen to have been given a box of these peppermint patties and OMG - you don't EVEN want to know how delicious they are. 
It's called Natural Candy Store and the stuff they have is oh so yummy. They have a fabulous selection of Halloween candy and they have organic jelly beans - a perfect replacement for Sports Beans. You just need to take them with a salt tab and voila! 
And yes, Stronger - they do have natural M&Ms... 
It is a spin off of another fabulous website called Artisan Sweets which has candy and honey and other delectable, sweet culinary treats.
You're hating me now but once you get some of this candy you will lurve me - you really will!
Make that stories..... see update below.
There was an amazing, come from behind win at the Chicago Marathon. The 2nd place winner got smoked in the last 50 yards.
The link above will give you better video than the embedded player below but they are both the same, totally buried story. I'm so sorry for the family of the young officer who died but I don't think that is the story that completely overshadowed this remarkable victory. It would appear that we as a culture would rather wring our hands and point fingers and complain about the race directors than celebrate the triumph and effort of a female athlete. For me that is the second tragedy of the Chicago marathon. I wonder if a male finish of this stripe would have gone unnoticed.
***UPDATE**** The men had a photo finish and a tie for the win (2:11:11) (Patrick Ivuti was declared the winner but it was sooooo close) with 3rd place less than a 3 seconds behind them. So this marathon should have been the story of fantastic efforts and nose to nose finishes and yet it all got lost. I want to clarify something, too. The stories of the finishers didn't get lost to a single death. Sadly, there are deaths at a lot of marathons these days. They got lost in the heat/closure/not enough water story. Too bad for those athletes who did their best to ignore the heat and try to win.
Congratulations Berhane Adere - you are an amazing athlete!
There is a woman with a company called SheRuns. SheRuns sells clothing for women who run. She has some cute shirts with slogans on them like "Mind Over Miles" and "Real Women Run" and "Marathon Mom"
She has invited me to invite you to shop her wares and to get a 10% discount when you use the code 'celebrate' at checkout.
Is it too soon to talk about gift giving? I think so but you get my drift.
Happy shopping!
Marion Makes History was the title on the cover of Track and Field Magazine just after she won 5 medals at the 2000 Olympic games. She's making history again - admitting to her use of illegal, performance enhancing drugs prior to those victories.
I am so disappointed and disgusted. Not only because she has fessed up, but because she was so adamant in her lies. She sued Victor Conte for testifying that he saw her inject herself and he spent a lot of money defending himself. Not that I care a whit for Victor Conte who founded BALCO and is responsible for the production and use of this substance known as 'the clear as well as other performance enhancing drugs'. I file that lawsuit under 'karmic back lash' and that guy can die and rot in hell for all care. I am, however absolutely deflated that she would assert her innocence so vigorously when in fact, she was lying.
She says she didn't know at first she was using these things. That's a little hard to believe when you look at pictures of her back then and look at how remarkably and miraculously her performance improved. Was it all wishful thinking? Did she really think some mystery substance and vitamins would lead to those results? Very hard to believe.
Marion Jones in 2000 and then again in 2004
The good news is that these doping scandals aren't going away. I honestly hope that her coming forward is part of a grand scheme to finally bring Barry Bonds down. His doping is more dangerous and nefarious than that of any track star or cycling star simply because of the popularity of baseball. He has set the bar that says if you want to set a record you have to pump yourself up with steroids. That leaves every ambitious man behind him in a position of defeat or cheat. I'm tired of cheat and he in no way deserves to claim that he beat Hank Aaron's record. He did not.
Let's keep the pressure on to force people to perform as best they can under their own power, complete with fully in tact integrity. That's what athletics is really about.
I found this student project which is a biography of Marion's rise to the top. It looks quite different in light of recent news.
I finally was able to see the results from my Saturday Triathlon and I'm very happy to say that there were 4 women in my division so my 2nd place win was for reals!
Just as a side note - there were only 2 women in the 55- 59 group, including my friend Melia, but they both kicked the hindquarters of everyone in the 50 - 54 division, half the women in the 45-49 division, half the women in the 40 - 44 division, and half the women in the 35-39 division.
So there's something to look forward to!
Here's my medal, front and back
Also, I forgot to mention that won something in the raffle. I have a ticket for 2 for the Wine Train (but not for the wine or food) and this beautiful plastic mug. It really was a great day!
It wasn't enough for me to get up at 5:00 AM on Saturday. I needed to do it again on Sunday, this time to go swim with the sharks in the SF Bay again. My friend Melia was in on this one, too. I picked her up at 5:30 and we headed over the bridge to partake of the YMCA's TI 2 Y swim (Treasure Island to the YMCA). Same set up as Sharkfest but a different area of the bay.
This event is extremely well organized. You start at the Y's fantastic facilities on the Embarcadero. They have 3 or 4 floors, one of which is a huge gym and some really big locker rooms. The prospect of taking a hot shower and putting on regular clothes after the swim made it all the more exciting.
We got our packets and went to put our stuff in a locker. I made an attempt at putting my Garmin in a baggie and putting it under my cap but it wasn't working out so I abandoned that idea and left it in the locker. We headed down for the pre-swim briefing where we were told where the ferry would stop and roughly how our swim route would go. The guy describing all of this mentioned that whereas last year the current was with the swimmers and created some really fast swims, that would not happen this year - the current would not necessarily be our friend. He wasn't kidding.
Melia and I decided to try to stick together if we could. We jumped off the ferry and lined up together and when the gun went off we did manage to stay together for quite a while. We were sighting on a large building and it all seemed to be going really well in calm water. We lost each other for a while but then there she was! All was great until all of a sudden the water started undulating and rolling and was not so calm any more. I lost her and I just started focusing on swimming.
I soon found myself all alone but there were kayaks just to my left so I (wrongly) figured I was on course. In fact, I thought the kayaks were there to keep you from getting too close to the Bay Bridge so I sort of swung right, away from the Bay Bridge and toward the ferry building. Then, I saw what I thought was a kayak right in front of me. I started to go right around it and I heard a voice say 'Get on - you're about to end up getting swept out the Gate" It wasn't a kayak at all - it was a jet ski with a SF Police officer on it. "Get On - come on - get up here".
I really didn't want to do that because I was sure I'd be DQ'd but he was a cop giving orders so I got on and held on and he took off passing a whole bunch of swimmers. All I could think of was "WAIT - I was right there - right with THOSE people... why are you doing this??? And I wondered as we buzzed past a lot of people if he was taking me in. I looked back and saw Melia and waved knowing she would have no idea who was on that jet-ski. In fact I wasn't positive it was her but I thought it was and then I was triply bummed out because we had been so close together and now I was being given assistance. What happened?
Then he stopped and said, "slide off the back and finish your swim".
Huh??
But I was happy because I didn't show up for a ride on a jet ski - I showed up to swim to shore and now I would get to. As I swam and swam and swam (because I was still way out there), I thought about what a surreal experience it was. There you are in dark, green, murky water doing something that is very unnatural. You put your face in the water to exhale and pull it out to inhale, all the while propelling yourself forward, mostly with your arms and hands. Bizarre. As strange as it is, it is very meditative and other worldly. You get that out of body, out of this universe experience without the drugs. Nice!
At one point I found myself swimming through a very warm current of water. I got a little frightened and started thinking "is this the hot breath of Shamu I'm swimming through? Am I about to be eaten by a sea monster? Is this some tropical, Portuguese man of war infested water?" I swam a little faster but soon realized that if Shamu were in the hood I couldn't swim fast enough to escape so I might as well keep a comfortable pace. 
I finally made it to the stairs to exit the water and I thought I felt a cramp coming on so I beached myself like a seal and told the handlers I was just going to sit for a minute - big mistake. When I was sure my leg wouldn't cramp up I stood up, crossed the mats and told the guy taking down times I thought I should be DQ'd because I got a lift on a jet ski. He told me not to worry about it and sent me on my way.
I walked a few more steps and there was Melia. WHAT??
"How did you get in so fast? I had to be picked up by the jet-ski and I buzzed right past you and waved!!!"
"That was you??? I got picked up, too!"
Turns out a lot of people had to be rescued from the current. They were just stuck and not getting anywhere and there was no way for them to break free. I just got picked up before she did and, I would assume, dropped off sooner. Or not. I think my aim on the final approach was wrong and I managed to have to fight the flood tide in, too. I really wish I had persevered with the Garmin because I would love to see just how far off course I was but alas, I'll never know.
I came in last in my age division. While I was sitting there getting back my land legs another woman in my division crossed the line - 5 seconds ahead of me. GGGGRRRRR.... But the important thing is that I showed up, I swam and I did not get washed out to sea. What a great weekend.
I got a very sad email this evening from our friend the Black Knight who tells me
Yesterday I got home after 13 days in the hospital for a surgery to rebuild my thigh bone broken in 2 parts with pieces everywhere. It was (is) painful and boring.
I don’t know when and how I will be back to run but for sure I don’t surrender.
That's all I know. Perhaps you could hop over to his blog and leave some comment love well wishes. What a colossal bummer.
