We packed our swim bags and left after breakfast this morning, headed up north to Lynnwood. Brjann decided to come with me, he probably had a feeling he needed to be there for support. (Thank you!) Martha Lake 1 mile swim, that’s only 1,6 km. Not much! My problem was that Martha Lake is not a pool, it’s an actual lake. And I had to leave my flippers and my shoes at home.

It was a nice day for a swim and it was a big crowd getting ready by the water. I felt too calm, it felt easy. The water was warm, sky was blue and I will be on my way home in a heartbeat. Yeah, really.

We all got in to the water in waves. The 2 milers took off and 2 minutes later it’s time for us with the pink caps. I decided to go slow and took off. And here we go… I’ve got this! I swam beautifully last night into the sunset. Not a problem. Easy!

I stopped breathing after 5 strokes and then I basically never started again. So I decided to breaststroke for a while to calm down. Tried to go back to crawl and no… not breathing again. Gliding on one side… not breathing. Awesome, it’s going to be a very long mile. Brjann swam beside me and told me to inhale/exhale and go on my back for a while. Not going to happen, I just need to move forward. One buoy down, two to go. Let me tell you, this was the longest mile in my life. I could have jumped on one leg faster than this, in the water. But now I know I can breast stroke for 1 mile.

The interesting part is how I felt. I guess this is how you feel when you panic but stay in a very good mood. I didn’t understand that I panicked until after I was done, I just thought I had breathing problems. It felt like my wetsuit was too tight over my chest, like I put it on wrong. I had problems with this a couple of weeks ago but it’s been all good since then, getting better and better every time. Last night when I swam I felt like a million bucks, fast and strong.

We chatted the whole way, breast stroking slow around Martha Lake. I had time to check out houses and boats and I realized pretty fast that I will be the last one in. The only reason I didn’t turn back was that I don’t do DNF’s. My heart rate was really high the whole time, too high. I could actually feel my heart in every part of my body, it was all over. And my breathing, not good. After the second buoy I heard wheezing and and squeaking. Was that me or my wetsuit? Have no clue?

And then we walked up from the water over the finish line. I am pretty sure Brjann and I were the last in and that’s a first. Interesting day! I thought I would feel exhausted after but not at all, so I guess my heart worked really hard but the rest of my body was gilding around Martha Lake house watching. It would be so easy to pack up the wetsuit and never get it out in the sun again. But that will not happen. We all have good days and bad days. And I am pretty sure tomorrow will be a better day. And now I’ve done the first leg in my race and I only have to do 5 more miles that day. Not too bad.

Have you seen Piglet and his magic earmuffs? If you don’t have time to watch the 10 min video I’ll explain why I posted it here. My flippers are Piglets earmuffs. Piglet can’t ice skate without his earmuffs, I can’t swim without my flippers. Magic flippers!