I’ve wanted to chase this race for four years now. It was a seed that had been planted, and I
promised myself that when logistics were right, I would not hesitate to sign up
for it. While I absolutely agree with
the “do not put off tomorrow what you can do today” motto, sometimes there are obstacles
in the way between you and your goals/dreams, and sometimes all you can do is
put one foot in front of the other for one season in life in order to get to
the next. Four years ago at this time, I
was flying to Cali to meet doctors about fixing my hip, and it would still be
six months more before I had the THR.
Four years ago at this time, hubs and I were still living in separate
households, and it would be another three years before God would move that
mountain and bring us together under one household again. When that transition finally happened last
summer, I knew it was time for the next challenge. My love for swimming runs deep, I’ve been a
swimmer all of my life, from age group swimming to high school swimming to
collegiate swimming, and finally full circle to becoming a coach myself of a
high school swim team. This sport is
embedded deep in my soul, and I am forever grateful for the lessons it has
taught me, and for all of the people who came into my life because of it – people
who inspired me to keep raising the bar in all that I did, and challenged me to
bring my best self to the table each and every time. One of those very important people who
continue to inspire and challenge me is my husband. Through the major ups and downs we’ve had
this past half decade he has been my rock, and one of my biggest
cheerleaders. I wanted to do a race that
we could train for and race together, and Swim Around Key West fit very much into
that category. It was time to finally
put this race on the docket. And there
was no one I wanted more to be my kayaker sherpa than my hubs. Thirteen years ago we went to The Florida Keys
as babies on our honeymoon; we would now be returning to race this event
together – so much nostalgia and memories wrapped up in one of our favorite
places, it would be a weekend to remember.
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| All checked in and ready to race! |
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| All #smashfestqueen #matchymatchy for check-in! |
When I do this race again I will most definitely travel on
Thursday. Our Friday travel day started
early at 330 am getting ready to catch a 530 am flight. After landing in Miami, it was another
several hours drive to Key West. We did
stop for lunch on the way at Island Fish Co. in Marathon, a place we had eaten
at thirteen years ago on our honeymoon as well.
So much fun traveling down memory lane!
When we arrived at our hotel (we stayed at Ocean’s Edge Resort, which I
would highly recommend), we dropped off our bags, then headed for
check-in. Picked up my packet, and
chatted with the race organizer, Bill Welzien, for a bit. He is such a cool guy! And such a badass! This race was going to be his 107th
time around Key West!!!!!!! I was
getting really excited, and also nervous, this was really happening!!!!! I was really going to get the chance to chase
this swim!!!!!!!! After the pre-race
meeting we went back to our hotel, ordered room service, got the nutrition bottles
ready, and then hit the hay. The alarm
clock came early (but not as early as Friday! Lol!) at 445 am, and we got up
and got going. I had my norm of cereal
and a banana. And I applied the first
coat of sunscreen of the SolRx, a sunscreen I had purchased at check in the day
before, that had been highly recommended by the race organizer and other fellow
swimmers since it was zinc oxide based.
It was either that or slathering myself with Desitin, which I had
brought a big tube of that just in case.
I knew the sun would be relentless, and even though my goal time was 5
hours, I had no idea how long I would actually be out there, I didn’t know what
the ocean would have in store for us. We
headed to the race site which was about a 10 minute drive from our hotel. The race started and ended at Smathers
Beach. We checked out our kayak and then
checked in to get the flag and race number that would need to be attached to it. I applied a second coat of sunscreen and
situated my water and nutrition bottles in the kayak. Hubs applied his sunscreen and got his camelbak
ready. At this time the first group was
heading out to the post for their start.
It would be an in water start and a beach finish. There were 10 posts that would be our home
stretch –we would start the race at the 10th post and then at the
end of the race we would round the 10th post and swim the 150 yards towards
the beach finish. The first group would
be taking off at 615, the larger group would be the second group (the one I was
in) heading out at 630. After the first
group took off, the second group needed to start heading for the post because
it would take us a few minutes to wade through the seaweed. Immediately as we headed off of the beach,
there were these thick mats of Sargassum
seaweed, which often you can find them floating in the open ocean, serving as a
food source, as well as a habitat for many ocean creatures, but in this case
large quantities washed ashore, and omg that stuff was hard to get
through. My back actually seized after I
fought through it just to get to the start, so I did some breaststroke and some
sculling as I headed towards the start to try to work it out. We had a few minutes of treading water, one
of the competitors was sharing advice from her swim last year, to enjoy the
first 10k, but just know by the second 10k you will be ready to be done. All of us laughed at that, knowing we would
be experiencing that soon enough. I
spotted my hubs off in the distance in the kayak and we both waved at each
other, he would have to find me again after the start. Waves from the tide coming in kept pushing us
into one another, there was an excitement in the air, and there were cheers all
around. The sun was rising off in the
distance as our group took off, and my swim had officially begun!
So I will say that the start of this swim felt more chaotic than
the mass start of an ironman swim. There
were a total of 176 swimmers – 109 solo swimmers and 67 relay swimmers. Each solo swimmer had a kayaker so that means
100+ kayaks as well at the start, with kayakers trying to find their swimmers,
and vice versa. I sprinted at the start
like I always have done in previous races in order to get out of the masses,
but this time that strategy did not work as well since I couldn’t find my
kayaker, and couldn’t sight worth a crap with the other kayakers and swimmers
scattered everywhere. I kept putting my
head down and swimming, figuring that the hubs would find me eventually, or at
least I hoped so, or it would be a short day for me out there without my
nutrition. The incoming tide coupled
with a strong breeze gave us some decent waves to contend with early on. I was getting pummeled wave after wave –it made
it difficult to sight, I kept swallowing water, and I still could not find my
kayaker and was getting frustrated. I
kept just putting one arm in front of the other, and could see the pier in the
distance, and kept swimming towards it.
The waves were relentless and I felt like I was going nowhere, and was
already giving myself a pep talk that it might be a longer day than I had
anticipated out there, so I was sure glad I had brought extra nutrition just in
case. At that moment I spotted the hubs,
and was trying to signal him that he needed to be on my left since that’s the
side I breathe the most on, so I could just sight the kayak from here on out
since he had the course map in his GPS. He
did not immediately move to my left, I was already exasperated, so I popped up
and yelled “I need you on my left! Why
aren’t you on my left?!” Later he would
tell me he could not move right up next to me on my left because the tide would
have probably pushed the kayak right into me.
So he had to move more in front of me instead. I am usually fairly strong at sighting but
the chaotic start coupled with trying to find my kayaker, I had miscalculated
my distance to the pier. I suddenly
realized that I was not far enough on the outside of the longest pier. I was on the inside and heading for it fast
so I had to quickly veer left to make my way around it but at this point I was
super close to the edge of it and I was like omg I am about to get worked right into this pier! Swim! Swim! Swim! I sprinted past that part then I was
ready for a swig of my nutrition, so hubs and I figured that out amongst the
crazy waves, and I was ready to settle into a good rhythm. I have to admit that I was a little
demoralized in this section. I mean, I
knew going in that there are no guarantees with an ocean swim, that the ocean
is going to do what the ocean is going to do, just like the weather, and we
would just have to roll with it. But as
the waves kept pummeling swimmers and kayakers alike, not only did my 5 hour
finish goal time seem like a pipe dream, but I was like holy geez I hope I can finish!
Forward momentum was the name of the game, so I just kept moving, and I
continued to get tossed around until about the 2.5 mile mark. Suddenly, it was like the waves had calmed,
and we even caught a gentle push ever so often.
It was almost as if the ocean was congratulating us on getting through
that first section – Way to go guys!
Congrats on making it through! Enjoy the
day! The first 2.5 miles were
definitely the “How Bad Do You Want It” miles because it definitely shook my
confidence coming right out of the gate.
I felt like miles 3 through 4.5ish were my “In the Zone” miles because in
these miles I had found a solid rhythm, and was staying on top of my
nutrition. I kept my eyes peeled for the
big yellow buoy at mile 4, which would signal a relay exchange point, and I
would have a good idea if I was on pace to hit my goal for the day. I felt like I kept swimming forever, and was disappointed
that I had not seen the buoy yet. Looking
at my watch I was bummed to see that I was probably headed for a 6 hour finish time. The sun was blinding me at this point, so I
came up for another nutrition stop, and a goggle switch. I mentioned to the hubs that I was annoyed
that I had not seen the relay exchange point at mile 4, and although I felt fine
in the water, I must have slipped off pace somewhere along the way. He pointed out that the exchange point was
behind us, and the mile 5 bridge at Fleming Cut was just ahead! I was so overjoyed! I was on pace! Yasssssssssssss!
I headed for the bridge with a big smile on my face, and
miles 4.5ish through 7.5ish were my “Super Stoked-Overjoyed-Grateful” miles
because I was in such a happy place, just super stoked to be on pace, and super
stoked to have had the opportunity to take part in such a fun race! Crazy side note story about the bridge – the race
organizer told us at the pre-race meeting that like 4 weeks ago a barge had hit
that bridge, and the damage caused by the crash forced the bridge to be closed
for repair. Well the city told him no
problem, it will just take a week or so, it’ll be done in plenty of time before
the race! Then two weeks, and so on and
so forth! They had finally just finished
it like a week before the race! I was
just so happy to be swimming underneath this bridge! 5 miles done and dusted! Wooohooooo!!!! Almost halfway!!!! So as we went under the bridge we had to veer
left because we would be swimming around a small key just above Key West called
Dredgers Key. There is a road connecting
Key West to Dredgers Key, so unless we wanted to do a little swimrun section,
we would have to swim around Dredgers Key in order to circumvent Key West. Again, miles 6 and 7 were fairly
uneventful. I stopped and took nutrition
when I needed to, felt like I was holding a solid pace, and was enjoying
looking at all of the fish swimming along the bottom. A couple of times near the 7.5 mark, I popped
up and asked hubs if we were almost around the key because I felt like I was
not getting any closer to the end of it.
I definitely rely quite a bit on sighting myself so just sighting the
kayak in places did get frustrating for me.
Miles 7.5-9 I like to refer to as the “Getting Super Impatient” miles
because as I rounded Dredgers Key as I was heading across the harbor, I was
looking for the mile 9 marker, the Cow Key Bridge, but I could not see it. We actually couldn’t see it until we were
right up on it because it was covered by so many large trees, so once we
rounded all of the trees it came into view.
I think every few strokes of this section I kept asking hubs where the
bridge was, and he always responded the same, that he could not see it either
but we were following the line on his GPS so we were good to go. I just needed to see mile 9!!!!! I was also grateful during this section
because crossing the deep harbor the water temp must have dropped 5 degrees at
least, if not more. Most of the race we
swam in 85 degree waters, which is nice and toasty, so this cooler section was
a much welcomed reprieve. The bridge could
not come into view fast enough. My
shoulders were sore and my energy had waned.
And I felt like everyone was passing me!
Where are all of these people
coming from?! Am I really bonking this
bad?! I said as much to the hubs and
he reminded me that there was a relay exchange point at mile 8, so there were
more bodies around us than there had been the previous couple of miles. Finally, the bridge came into sight!!!! Yassssssssssssssss!!!!! 9 miles down, 3.5 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I refer to that mile through the channel as the “Wheeeeee!!!”
mile because now the tide was going back out, so we had some help going through
it, which was sooo nice this late in the race!
I pushed hard down this channel to take advantage of the current, just
like I would a tailwind on the bike. As
we finished the channel and hit the mile 10 mark at the seawall, the real work
at the back half of this race began. I
refer to that mile between 10 and 11 as the “Meltdown” mile, which I think the
actual meltdown happened closer to mile 11.
The push through the channel was nice, but now I felt like I was at a
dead stop, and any forward movement was futile.
I just wasn’t going anywhere. I
was not any closer to rounding the seawall than I was ten minutes ago. My stroke felt terrible, my shoulders were on
fire, and I was exhausted. I was getting
extremely exasperated with myself, popped up to get my nutrition from hubs, and
then the tears came. “I can’t do this!”
I wailed as I grabbed my nutrition from him.
“I can see the finish tent on the beach!
It’s right over there! You can
backstroke or breaststroke it in at this point!” he pointed out to me. Yes, a mile and a half is not far at all after
already swimming 11 miles, yet it can still seem like an eternity. The last 1.5 miles of this race I like to
refer to as the “Finding Another Gear” miles.
I started descending my swim at mile 11, and when I finally spotted the
posts down the home stretch, I sprinted that last three quarters of a
mile. My plan was to reel in all the
swimmers that I could. My shoulders were
still on fire but I didn’t care, I wanted to make my 5 hour goal time and the
clock was ticking. I dug deep and found
that extra gear in order to chase down my rabbits. I came up on the first swimmer and their
kayaker at about the first post, and by the second post I had passed them. That’s
one! I kept pushing myself as hard
as I could go, remembering all of the big sets I had conquered in my training,
that had set me up for this very moment.
By about halfway down the home stretch I came up on the second swimmer,
and passed them. That’s two! I could see two
more swimmers, one just ahead, and one much further ahead of me. Keep
sprinting! I was reeling in the
third swimmer, and by about the 8th post, I had passed them. That’s
three! I could see the 10th
post!!!!!!! Oh man I wasn’t going to
make it to the 4th swimmer! I
kept pushing hard and rounded the post just behind her. I had about 150 yards to catch her before we
reached the finish. My mind just kept
repeating over and over – There’s not
enough pool left! There’s not enough
pool left! I was moving my jelly
arms and kicking my legs as fast as I could.
It was a “balls to the wall” all out 150 yard sprint. And I caught her!!!!!!! Yassssssss!!!! I gained about a body length on her (what hubs told me after, I couldn’t tell, I was just focused on beating her to
the beach). And remember at the
beginning of this story where I mentioned there were some seaweed mats that
would become quite big obstacles at the end of this thing? Yeah, they stopped me dead in my tracks. I was already a little disoriented as I put
my feet down, and I tried to crawl as fast as I could through that stuff to the
best of my abilities. But it wasn’t fast
enough. The girl I had just passed in the
water passed me back in the seaweed.
Nooooooo! But finally (it seemed
like forever but it really was only seconds) I made it through the finish on
the beach, where my competitor and I congratulated each other and had a good
laugh about the crazy seaweed obstacle at the end. Hubs was pulling the kayak through the
seaweed right behind me, and we reunited on the beach and celebrated! And I was given my medallion and an actual
coconut with yummy coconut water! My
watch said 5:01:04, but the official time would be 5:00:06 so I nailed my 5
hour goal time!!!!! Yasssssssssssss!!!!!!!
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| Success!!! Nailed my goal time!!! |
I absolutely loved this race!!!!! It was so unique and a type of race that I
had never done before!!!! I really
relished this new challenge!!!! And the best
part was that my hubs could be a part of the race!!! We had so much fun dissecting and reliving
the race all weekend! It meant so much
to have him be a part of helping me to reach my goal! And he’s not the only one! The title of this blog came to me because I
kept thinking about all of the people in my life that have inspired me, and
continue to do so. Teammates makes us
want to be the very best selves that we can be.
They inspire us. They challenge
us. They believe in you even when you
may not believe in yourself. They
continue to encourage you to raise the bar in all that you do. Whether it’s in an actual race as your sherpa,
or in your training sessions pushing you to step it up to the next challenging
interval, your teammates are an essential part of your dream chasing journeys. Because without them, hitting the mark just isn’t
as sweet.
Thank you all for continuing to follow mine, and for all of
your cheers, prayers, and positive vibes along the way, I could feel all of your
energy out there! And to my munchkin,
you always inspire me to be the best me that I can be, one day we will be doing
this race together! And to my hubs,
thank you for always being my person.
Such a fun trip down memory lane, and an incredible experience to
boot! Thank you for always encouraging
me to chase my dreams!
