The SAA Baltimore Open Water Swim Cap!

At yoga class, my teachers always encourage us to set an intention for our practice.  I've found this to be a really powerful process and have begun adapt it for days I know will be really busy or challenging.

In swimming, intention can be a powerful thing as well.  That's why swimmers develop race plans. So for the Swim Across America Baltimore 3 mile Open Water Swim I decided to try my hand at a race plan for the first time.  It was a simple one--goal of swimming in 1 hour and 45 minutes (or less).  Fast first mile, try and maintain for the second mile, stick with it for mile three, and dig in for the last bit.

So, how'd the day go?

As I wrote earlier this weekend, my mom came into town for the swim, and we drove out to Annapolis so we'd have a shorter ride to the swim with such an early start.  And an early start it was.  We were up and at'em at 5 am.  But if you are going to have to get motivated at 5 am, the Original Goldfish are really good at doing it.  My dad, who is home in Illinois with a cold, emailed the photo below (left), and my mom was pumped up and ready to go!

The Original Goldfish on Big Swim Day!

So after getting my pep, my nutrition, and some stretching in at the hotel, we hit the road to the swim!  Weather wise, we lucked out 100%.  They had been calling for rain, but it was a beautiful sunny morning.

It was still dark when we pulled into the farm where the swim was taking place.  And even from that, it was clear that this was no ordinary swim.  It was a beautiful horse farm, and there were people to direct us for parking.  When we walked down to near the water, there were tents for registration and gear and for first time participants to get "rookie" temporary tattoos.  There was a a stage and music playing, and tables covered in red, white and blue cloths.  It was Swim Across America land!

Red House Cove was a beautiful, flat body of water with lots of boats anchored there.  The water was about 72 degrees (so I opted to wear my wet suit) and SALTY!  Also, no one mentioned the jellyfish.

There were about 200 swimmers at the event, and about 50 of us were doing the three mile course.  The loaded us into the start pen, and Theresa Andrews, a Baltimore native who won a gold in the 100 m backstroke in the 1984 Olympics, started the race.

Clockwise (starting top left): Sporting my rookie tattoo, the Red Cove Course, Swim Across America flag, Mom and I pre-race, and me running up on the beach between the first and second miles.

I'd told myself that I wasn't going to get caught up in the start and over-swim.  And I didn't!  I let the group from Towson University Swimming and the gold-medal winning Paralympian Ian Silverman and the other speed demons go for it.  By the way, Silverman "won" the race, swimming it in 48 minutes. Crazy!

I swam my race, finishing the first mile in under 31 minutes, and the second in under 32 minutes.  I felt great, during both those laps (though the standing up and running along the beach part was difficult (it's hard to go from horizontal to vertical).  On my second loop, I met the jellyfish for the first time, and got some prickly stings on my right arm.

The third, 1-mile loop was the tough one.  I was tiring and a bit of chop had picked up on the water, and unfortunately, I was starting to cramp in my calves. My pace slowed to about 35 minutes, and despite another run-in with the jellys, I was able to stick with my race plan and push the last 200 meters.

Only problem was that when I reached the beach, with my cramped up calves, I stood up, tripped and fell over.  Yup, I was that girl!  Needless to say, I crossed the finish line with a time of ~1 hour and 41 minutes.  Which included the little runs up onto the beach.

And I was really excited to finish the swim, and do it faster than my goal time as I represented the 60+ individuals and families who supported me and the amazing work of the Swim Across America Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Listening to Dr. Luis Diaz, the director of the Swim Across America Laboratory, it was amazing to hear how the $425,000 that was raised through the event (and $4,063 that Team Goldfish members contributed) will fund cutting edge research, cancer support services for couples, and shaping of a new generation of medical researchers.  Here's what the sign outside the lab looks like!





Read an example of the Lab's cutting edge research here!

Thanks again to all the members of Team Goldfish, and to everyone who emailed, texted, and called leading up to and following the race.  Your support means so much to me!