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But as usual, I skipped quite a few things so let's rewind a little bit. I've done this race twice now. I did the Inaugural in 2012 and came in 3rd for age. I also did it in 2014 and came in 1st for age. It's been a while. This year, Jamey and the RD talked and Jamey was supposed to try to get a bunch of people from Merrick to do this. He got absolutely none. He was considering doing the 5K at least. I started thinking about it a week before the race. We talked during our weekend race. Told him about it. Told him about the solo aquarun, the relay aquarun and the 5K option. Jamey was curious about the aquarun. Hammad immediatly told Jamey not to do the aquarun as Jamey is not prepared citing his own experience with it where he fought the current hard. Jamey told us that he floats like the heaviest rock there is. Actually, after the laughter, he told us that he can somehow get from 1 side of the pool to the other but it sure isn't pretty unless you consider a tornado of arms pretty. Hm... Started thinking about it. And then Hurricane Florence hit and I wasn't even sure what the RD will do. Who wants to pay for an Aquarun and then have it become a very expensive 5K? I asked him to reach out to the RD. The RD responded on Wednesday that the swim is still on. Hm... Still not sure. Saturday we ran 5 miles and decided to do this. I was going to do the Aquarun. Jamey probably the 5K. Afterward I worked at the YMCA. Usual chores etc.
Reached out to Jamey for a last minute confirmation. Jamey responded with yes and with other questions.
JK: Can I do the swim? ME: Yes. JK: Is it safe? ME: Yes. Lifeguards and Kayaks and boats. JK: Can I borrow a pair of goggles? I can always use my glasses instead... ME: You're an idiot. Yes you can borrow goggles. JK: I'm in.
He then went and posted on Facebook asking if someone wants to do a relay with him and do the swim portion for him. He also tagged me. Elizabeth, right before going to sleep, saw this. As I'm trying to get some sleep, Elizabeth got very pissed at me for what I did. She crucified me... Why did I convince him to do this? Why am I doing this? Why am I not doing the swim for him? Does he even know how to swim? Has he ever done the distance or even more than a few laps? Has he ever swam an OWS? She was VERY very upset with me. I'm a bad influence...
I should mention that Jamey thought his son would do the swim portion but that didn't happen. He then thought maybe Matt Resnick would do it as he was interested but that didn't happen either...
And finally I was allowed to go to sleep... She was livid.
Jamey came to pick me up in the AM and I immediately asked him a few things.
ME: Are you def doing this? JK: YES! ME: The Aquarun or the 5K? JK: Aquarun. ME: Raina said OK to this? Or does she NOT realize what you're doing? Do you have her blessing? JK: (Laughing) Yes I have her blessing. ME: How? Why? What did you have to do? JK: You said there are lifeguards so she said it would be safe. ME: Oh Crap...
So, yes there are lifeguards and they never want a death as that would kill an event but still...
We got there and signed up on the spot. Never did that before. Truly a last minute thing. Very weird for me. Usually, I'm signed up waaaaaay in advance.
We set up and took a walk. I tried to explain to him (again) what he got into. It's different when you actually see things. We went to see the water and how you get to transition and some of the run. I made him take a picture of the 5 kayaks that they were launching and he posted that to FB.
In transition, I see a guy walking in wearing a FDNY triathlon tri top and I started asking if he knows Donald. Oops. I didn't recognize him right away but Ray recognized me. He did SOS the week before and decided to do this last minute too. Nice.
Raina showed up and after giving them a few minutes of privacy to talk, we again went over the game plan. Soon enough it was time to walk to the swim start. I found a baby alligator toy and showed it to them. People got a kick out of it especially the first timers.
And we started...
Initially you run quite a bit as it was low tide but eventually you dive in and swim. I knew there was a current against us and I mentioned it to him but who knows what he heard. Still, it was a little bit of work to get to the first buoy but I got there and made the left turn. As soon as I did that it got much easier. He later told me that he wasn't sure he would ever get to that buoy.
Going back to the safety issue: There were 5 kayaks, 3 stand up paddle boards (SUPs) and 2 boats and lifeguards on the sand. That being said, the first part of the swim was a little bit of work. It wasn't crazy but it was work.
I was trying to pay attention to everything going on around me. I was looking for a tornado in the water but didn't see any. Wasn't sure what that meant. I saw how many people passed me on the swim and I wasn't surprised. Going into this I knew I wasn't where I should be. I have been lax with my swimming and certainly with my speed workout for the run. I knew I would not place but rather finish and I was ok with it. No expectation but finishing.
Got to the 2nd buoy and the last left to shore. About 20 people were ahead of me which is unusal but whatever. My inner child arose tho and I refused to let the swimmer next to me beat me to shore. I beat him as if that matters. Yay!
I got up to shore first and I saw Raina and instantly I thought that was good. That meant that he didn't quit the swim and it also meant that they didn't pull his body out. Good news all around.
I'm running up the beach when the volunteers started screaming at me to go to my left as it was very slippery over there. I appreciate what they were trying to do but if they would only have been closer to the water when they did that... I took a hard left to avoid that spot and yup... Landed on the right side of my butt. My right hip, butt etc was hurting but I was ok. Everyone there were shocked and a few Oh My Gods were uttered. I got up and yelled out, "I give that a 7". Everyone laughed and things were good again. I ran on the sand to transition.
Left transition and started running hard. My goal was to go straight hard to the first left and disappear out of people's sight. Out of sight means you can't catch them so that was the plan. Made the left and ran next to the water. I saw a kid with his dad doing the 5K and I yelled to him to ditch the slowpoke. Got a smile. Cheered people doing the 5K. Why not??? That's my style...
Up the (small) hill to the first turnaround AKA Mile 1. Going up the hill, I saw my competition. Coming back down the hill, I saw who was chasing me. I knew some would pass. I had no problem with that.
I locked eyes with one runner in particular. I think his name was Peter but I could be wrong. It's been a while since.
Ran down the hill, near the water and the even smaller uphill back to the parking lot. I passed mile 2 and transition and was on my way to the last turn around. I got there and I turned. As I did, I saw Peter was even closer. I was shocked he didn't pass me yet. Once you do that last turn around, you have approx 1/2 mile to go or perhaps even less. It's a windy route and when you see that building over there, you know the finish line was right around the corner. My plan was to try to run this last segment harder. Seeing Peter right there really inspired me. I "knew" he would overtake me but I decided that if he didn't pass me yet, he would really have to work at it now. I wasn't going to just roll over for him. I pushed. Every time the road winded, I went a little harder and glanced back. I saw him but made sure to disappear from his view. The building was in my view and I pushed again. And pushed. There was the finish line and a runner or perhaps an aquarunner and decided to overtake him too and I did. Peter never caught me. He was about 30 seconds behind. A hug and I went looking for Raina.
We went toward the first part of the run to see Jamey. When I was at mile 2, I saw him in transition so we knew he was that away.
We had a nice stroll and talk. We saw him and then turned around and walked back. A female runner took a spill and we ran to help her but she just got up and continueed. Nice!
We eventually saw Jamey making that last turn near the building to the finish line. He finished. That was good. In truth, once I saw him in transition I knew he would be ok but still.
We checked the results and Jamey got 3rd for age! Awesome... I got 1st for age which was crazy. I beat out 2nd by over a minute. I looked at my splits for the run on my watch and was shocked. My splits were 7:47 - 8:30 - 7:33. My last mile was actually my fastest!!! Awesome.
We waited for the results and the raffles. Jamey won a $ 25.00 gift certificate which Raina took over announcing that she needs new shoes. Meanwhile it turns out that something changed with the results and dude named Gary ended up in Jamey's place. Jamey got 4th and no plaque. Sucks. It would have been really nice.
Jamey told me that the swim was hard especially to the first buoy. That he wasn't DFL and that he actually beat out 5 other swimmers. He said all of wave 2 and wave 3 managed to crash into him during the swim but he still beat out 5 of them. That a few kayakers asked him if he was ok (Oh Boy...). That the run was initially very hard until he finally got his legs back.
Running with since then has changed him in a funny way. He now (with a smile on his face) will talk to me about swimming while trying to throw every buzzword he can come up with into the conversation. He will mention short course yard and long course yard and OWS and stroke count and whatever. Funny. The other thing he manages to do is to let me know that if I want he can help my transtion be faster next time as he beat me in transition time by 30 seconds. Oi... Still it's all good.
When I recounted my race experience to Amer (crappy swim, fall on beach, lackluster run but with a great last mile etc), he remarked that as soon as I said that my plan is to just finish and not expect anything, he then knew that I would podium. What?!?