Wow! what a day! I had a great time doing this race- We had a great time hanging out by the Bay before and after-- You can't tell from these pictures but it was a really pretty blustery day.
I know this seems vain but I'm just going to tell you that in picture #3 I am diving in the water-- I am not that chubby person in the foreground on the lower right of the picture! (You can't really tell which person is me diving in during what they call the "cuisinart chop" but that's that.
My official time was 49:46, however, that was the time I crossed the mat- we then waited in the water for a while-- you can see me dancing around in one of the pictures waving and laughing-- the goofy mom racer! According to my stopwatch, which swam with me, my time was 43:37-- not terribly fast but hey-- fast enough to qualify for the 4.4 mile race-- I'm doing that one next year-- what a hoot--
Anyway- I arrived at the race a couple of hours early- alone and I just snoozed in the sun listening to good music. There were sailboats off in the distance and these puffy clouds in the sky.The water was really choppy, which made the race more of a challenge for me. During the first 1/4 of a mile I was tempted to have one of the people in a Kayak pull me out but I didn't-- I kept going and I even managed to encourage some slower swimmers. It's all about having fun!. I am certainly no speedy swimmer, but I had a great time. I will admit that I felt a little ill out at the far buoys because I drank probably more red wine than I should have the night before and bobbing up and over the waves with your face in murky no-visibility water doesn't help the queaziness. At any rate- I loved it.
We had a fabulous time- the boys, my biggest fans as you can see in the one picture, enjoyed hot dogs afterwards. Okay, confession (and I'm sure Jason the personal trainer will lecture me about this) I had a really big fat angus burger- I deserved it-- It was good. This was a good day--
While I was swimming so many thoughts were going through my head, mostly how grateful I am to have the support network of family and friends. Many of you received calls before and/or after my race. You were all there in spirit! Thanks. And I just want to say, the more I swam, the more distance I made from the bad stuff that's been going on in my life-- It became so much smaller!
We tend to get consumed with the wrong things in life. It's so easy and I fell into that trap. Sometimes, and not to sound too much like Faulkner here, the whole world can be found a few feet from you. This is indeed important to remember. The good things don't always knock your socks off, but they are always there and those people who are most important in life will be there and be true. That is so much more important. This is a lesson I am going to pound into myself and unfortunately anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis. Sometimes it's really hard to be happy. It is indeed hard to figure out just what it is that creates happiness in our lives.
I certainly don't know all the answers to this, but I can tell you that the best happiness is the kind you can keep even when your feet are planted firmly on the ground.
This has been a great day! This journey continues for the 42-yr-old. There's many more things to see on my path and I am expecting there will be many more bumps and hurdles too. But, today was the giant vanilla soft-serve cone -- can life get any better than that?????
FIVE FAVORITE THINGS:
1. finishing
2. this smile that's making my face tired
3. distance from the bad stuff and strength to keep it that way
4. my fan club
5. this day!
I'm glowing!!!!!! I hope someone else does too after reading this! Life is good! It's hard, but it's good! Keep moving, keep loving and keep smiling. CARPE DIEM!!
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