A Lot of 4s....

Sorry this took so long. I had it written in my head for over a week, just haven't had the chance to sit down and write.

Saturday Afternoon
We scootered over to the pre-race meeting that was a pretty typical meeting. They did provide snacks, including wine and beer, before we took a tour of the swim course. After seeing the course, I was quickly reminded how far 4K was, but felt ready.

Sunday
I think scootering around an island with teal waters is the best way to start any race. It's very relaxing and I highly recommend it as a way to travel. Anyway, we bused over to the swim start, were marked with our numbers - 134, loaded up with sunblock and Vaseline (helps with chafing, especially in salt water) and headed to the dock. The race had multiple distances and were on a staggered start. We heard that someone in the 10K jumped in, cut his foot on some coral and had to go to the hospital. So, I did what the person in front of me did to get in: sit on the side, shimmy down, and push off. Well, as I shimmied down - I got stuck. And as I pushed off, my new suit stayed on the coral that was on the side of the 'dock'.
Now if you read my blog, you know this is not the first time I have had issues in a swim with my back side. But this time, I couldn't help but laugh.
After Cat jumped in, I swam right over to show her what happened. Hopefully the humor helped calm her nerves a bit.
After that, we were off for the 4K. It started off pretty well and I was with the first half of the group. Unfortunately, my goggles didn't have a great seal and salt water leaking in was not great for the eyes. So I stopped, adjusted, and was quickly left behind. I did see a (for lack of a better term) a pace line that I swam right over to and was 4th in the draft. It was awesome! All I had to do was stare at someones feet, and get pulled right along. I did this up until the 2K check point.
After that, I was on my own for a bit until I caught another person and hung onto their draft for awhile. That is until I looked up and realized we were way to the right and everyone was to the left. Oops. So I left her and headed straight towards the finish. I talked to one kayker about the saltyness of the water. He said to keep going and at the end, have a beer - it would cut the saltyness (and it did :-).
I finished strong but didn't want to cut off a old lady who was finishing up her 0.8K, so took my time getting out of the water. Overall, I was okay with my time. I would have liked to have gone faster, but given my back and lack of training, I really can't complain. I was 4th in my age group. But what gets me, I was 4 minutes from 3rd. Medals were given to the top 3...
They had such great swag bags, tons of snacks, and amazing people, so I really can't complain about not getting a medal. It would have been nice though...
Oh, and Cat finished and I am so proud of her. More than double her longest distance straight in open water and I am now more confident that she will rock IM Florida in a few days.

Sunday Afternoon
We scootered our selves back to the hotel. I went around town to check out the sights and pick up a snack. After some nice relaxation time, we had a really good dinner and called it an early night. Overall, a pretty great race day!

Monday - BEACH DAY!
But sadly, Mother Nature had a different idea. She gave us great race day (with a tad bit of wind) and a very rainy beach day. However we made the best out of it with finding a cafe for breakfast, some shopping, and spa for some massages.
The rain cleared up a bit and I scootered off to the south side beaches. Only to get rained on again and again. But, it was worth it.



And of course, Mother Nature let up the rain to show on amazing sunset to say good bye to Bermuda.