Saturday OWS race 8/17 first 2.4 mile swim ever!

Saturday was a big day for Michael and me. We both signed up for an open water swim race on Lake Monona in Madison. I've never done one before and he hasn't done one since his mid-20's. I had signed up for the 2.4mi wetsuit swim and he for the 1.2mi non-wet suit swim. 

I was slightly nervous but glad I proved to myself that I can do this swim!  Since we left our phones in the car, I don't have a commemorative photo of the event. :-(

For me the start was very rough. It took a solid 5-8 minutes to get out of the chaos. I'm fairly certain that I kicked a few people as hard as I could in the arms when they were grabbing for me!  It was intense!!  

This is a seemingly small rub wound from not properly lubing up for the race.  The sting also goes at my hairline. I have another one on my right arm pit.  Not where it meets the edge of the wet suit, but across the arm.  Note to self!!

It was an in water start (not running in from the "beach") so you swim out and just tread water and float until the start. I think I was we'll positioned between the shore and buoy but not between all the people. I think I was too close to the start where the fastest swimmers should be. This probably made the start rougher BUT I also didn't want to add additional mileage to the swim!  As it was, Garmin said I swam 2.6mi (not 2.4) so I definitely wandered a bit. I thought I didn't pretty well sighting except for the first far loop, to be honest. I'll need to review the map it creates of the swim on Garminconnect.com.

I took the first mile/loop VERY easy since I really wasn't sure how it'd go. I think that took me about 50 minutes. The second loop I got in my grove and went a bit faster. I still went at a very comfortable pace finishing around 1:30. That put my 80th out of 116 female swimmers or 68th percentile. I am actually totally satisfied with my time despite not finishing that high up in the standings.  

Michael had a good swim as well and was satisfied with his time too. 

After the swim, it was time to ride.  I got changed and ready to ride and MB hung out in downtown Madison and had lunch and relaxed at a coffee shop on State Street. 

More on the ride in a following post.