This year was the inaugural 10K swim at Lake Del Valle. You had to be US Master's member to participate so it really was a swimming event. I doubt there were many triathletes there. This was evidenced by the lack of athletic fashion. Swimmers wear t-shirts and sweats. Triathletes like gadgets. Therefore, their clothes are high tech and match head to toe.
I did not participate because a) I'm not a member of USMS; and b) I would not make the cutoff time, which was 3.5 hours. Nick even said it would be challenging for him to finish in 3.5 hours.
Nick's mom and I headed to the lake after the race started. I went for a very pretty run along lake and then waited at the finish line to watch the early swimmers come in. The swim was four 2.5km loops. There was a "feeding station" in the water. It was really just a boat and they had these long poles with cupholders on them. One cup was water and the other was Gu Brew. They also ripped open packets of Gu and threw them at the swimmers. Sedonia was worried about lake water getting in her Gu, but the volunteer reminded her that she was swallowing plenty of lake water as it was. There was another pole similar to the net that cleans up the leaves in the pool. That's where you put your garbage. Sedonia observed that swimmers have no idea how to "eat and run" so her advantage of doing triathlons was she refueled and went on her merry way while others just doggy-paddled there and chit chatted.
I was pretty sure I spotted Sedonia at the turn (I can tell her stroke and her sighting).
She crossed the line at 2:45 (exactly as she predicted).
She told me she thought Nick would be around 3:15. We saw some people in pretty bad shape come in. One older gentleman kept trying to get up and was super wobbly. He fell in the water face down. I handed my phone to Nick's mom and was heading toward the water fully clothed, but he raised himself up in time. Another guy could barely walk, seemed hypothermic, and the paramedics had to tend to him. You just wouldn't associate that kind of exhaustion with a swim, but it happens. Plus, since this was really a "swimmer's" event, very few people had wetsuits and being in cold water for 3 hours is definitely a strain on the system.
After 3 hours, we still did not see Nick. Nick "looks so pretty in the water" that he's easy to spot. But, when you're antsy, you start to wonder if everyone approaching is him. For half an hour it went something like this:
"Is that him?"
"No, he doesn't swim that wide."
"I think that's him in the 4th position."
"No, the left arm is too low."
"Maybe that's him by the buoy"
"No, Nick's not that buff. He hasn't been doing *that* much TRX!"
"No, Nick's not that buff. He hasn't been doing *that* much TRX!"
"Do you think that's him?"
"No, that's a girl."
At 3:26, we saw the last swimmer coming in (all the others had been pulled out after 7.5km). At 3:28, he was still at the buoy. It was so stressful standing there watching the clock count down and knowing he was right there, but not there yet. Then Sedonia said, "Now you know how we felt during your Ironman!" Fair enough! Sedonia swam back out to him and he finished in 3:29!
Stick a fork in him!
They both finished. And, Sedonia got 2nd in her AG!
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