The lady who briefed us onshore of where to swim came over the loud speaker, "Two minutes swimmers. Are you ready?" An uproar of shouting, whistles, and yelps echoed against the fogged up ferry windows as the two story ferry was making it's final turn. We were 100 yards from Alcatraz island. I looked around at the ampt up crowd. Swimmers were jumping up and down, stretching out arms, shaking out their muscles and making final adjustments to their goggles.
"Ten, Nine, Eight..." The boat full of 750 adrenaline filled swimmers began chanting the countdown. People around the perimeter wiped the fogged windows to watch the first swimmers make the plunge into the cold sea filled with kayaks and boats. "Three, two, one..."
All business, in a hurried tone, a man tagged three swimmers, "One, two, three- GO!" The man counted swimmers to step forward for the jump. Beep, beep, beep. They were gone. One by one, swimmers were jumping off and swimming away. I knew I could do the swim, so why not try it without a wetsuit. I believed it was all mental to conquer the cold. Mind over matter. But doubt set in as I heard each beep. I peered out the exit where a beep marked your fate. I just needed to see another non-wetsuit swimmer jump in first to boost my confidence. Just as I was looking, "Two." I was tagged. It was my turn.
His touch awoke me from my doubt and I made the mental shift. I stepped forward and watched my friend, Dotti jump into the white bubbles below. Waiting for her to come up and clear out. I was in game mode. It's on! I jumped. Cold and adrenaline hit my body simultaneously. I was doing it. Swimming in the Bay. Not as bad as I imagined. I can do this I thought. I was turning over my strokes in choppy swell bigger than anything I've ever trained in or experienced. Ok, much different than I imagined, but do-able. I kept swimming.
I quickly learned that I had to both exhale, look for an on-coming wave and inhale or risk inhaling the salty water upon beathing. It was a washing machine in there, causing me to have to pause to sight over the swell and chop to see if I was on target.
Dotti and I made the pack to stay together for the most part cuz we were fairly the same swim speed. I would get a body length or two ahead and tread a bit doing backstroke while I waited to make eyes with her. We would shout to each other where we thought we should be heading for. Swimming ontop of each other a few times from one shift of the wave. It was a trick to keep adjusting your sighting object as you got closer to shore. If we didn't follow the instruction correctly, we could end up under the Golden Gate Bridge within one hour! We errored left. Far left so we wouldn't miss our target.
About two thirds into the swim Dotti told me she wish she had signed up for the naked (non-wetsuit) swim. Just then she ok-ed me to swim ahead and go hard. So it began... I started the competive game of catching the swimmmer ahead of me. Over and over and over again. I would sight someone ahead of me and swim hard to catch them. Once I caught them (won), I would find a new competitor. It was mind over matter for me. I believed it was all mental until about 40 minutes into the swim when my body started doing this weird hot/cold flash up and down my whole body... then I really started to think about hypothermia and what are the first signs of it? I wish I read about hypothermia. Gee, the shoreline was so close. What if I make this far only to have my body quit from cold and I have to throw an arm up to a kayaker?!!
All that swimming allows plenty of thinking time. I started to feel kind of loopy in the head and kept looking around to sight where I was going and suddenly started to feel like I was going nowhere! Dotti wasn't next to me anymore and the swimmers were really dispirsed by this point. What are those first signs of hypothermia... is this really happening to me? I found a swimmer ahead of me and tried with all my might to catch them to prove to myself I really am moving forward. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." I chanted lines from Nemo over and over. Ah I finally caught up to the swimmer. I am moving forward. Mental. It's all mental.
The shoreline seemed to be slipping further away. But I kept swimming, almost on auto piolet now as my body was feeling more and more numb. I locked in on an orange cap ahead of me and followed him into the finish line. Finally, the sea of people where appearing closer. The funneling of swimmers 200 yards wide was narrowing in toward me. We were all swimming for the huge orange bouys. I was getting closer. I saw the man ahead of me stand up. I was almost there. I swam head down until my hands were touching the sandy bottom. At last. Shore. Finding my legs, I crawled to my feet and ran through the sand to the final BEEP.
A volunteer put a medal around my neck. I followed the orange netting to the bag area, only to wander around in a mental daze. I was hot, nausas, and dizzy. Where was Rod and Jenee? I couldn't think. I kept looking for a towel, a parka, something of mine? It all looked the same. I just wanted to rest, but I was mentally uncapable of thinking, so I kept moving cuz that is the last thing I remember consiously telling myself to do about 20 minutes ago in the water.
Scarred by the onset of my out of body experience I was relieved to see smiling faces running toward me peeking over the crowd and waving happily. Excited about my accomplishment they were full of compliments and questions, but all I could do was stare and shake. I wanted to speak but I could only say, "I feel really weird."
Jenee having ran marathons told me to eat and drink, so off she went to find me fuel. Rod pushed liquids in me and I soon came around. Within the hour I was changed, warm, and dry. Ahhhh. I did it. I swam Alcatraz.
Dotti and I met at the food station all bundled up with a glow of pride. With a hand full of bagels, grapes, and a hot drink we went over to the wall where results were posted. There it was: 5th place in my division of non-wetsuit female swimmers and 8th place over all. I had gotten 8th in the whole event for the swim portion. Wow. I was proud, but I know I was slow at a lot of points.... so I can't wait to swim even harder next year since Rod is dying to swim it now!
"Ten, Nine, Eight..." The boat full of 750 adrenaline filled swimmers began chanting the countdown. People around the perimeter wiped the fogged windows to watch the first swimmers make the plunge into the cold sea filled with kayaks and boats. "Three, two, one..."
All business, in a hurried tone, a man tagged three swimmers, "One, two, three- GO!" The man counted swimmers to step forward for the jump. Beep, beep, beep. They were gone. One by one, swimmers were jumping off and swimming away. I knew I could do the swim, so why not try it without a wetsuit. I believed it was all mental to conquer the cold. Mind over matter. But doubt set in as I heard each beep. I peered out the exit where a beep marked your fate. I just needed to see another non-wetsuit swimmer jump in first to boost my confidence. Just as I was looking, "Two." I was tagged. It was my turn.
His touch awoke me from my doubt and I made the mental shift. I stepped forward and watched my friend, Dotti jump into the white bubbles below. Waiting for her to come up and clear out. I was in game mode. It's on! I jumped. Cold and adrenaline hit my body simultaneously. I was doing it. Swimming in the Bay. Not as bad as I imagined. I can do this I thought. I was turning over my strokes in choppy swell bigger than anything I've ever trained in or experienced. Ok, much different than I imagined, but do-able. I kept swimming.
I quickly learned that I had to both exhale, look for an on-coming wave and inhale or risk inhaling the salty water upon beathing. It was a washing machine in there, causing me to have to pause to sight over the swell and chop to see if I was on target.
Dotti and I made the pack to stay together for the most part cuz we were fairly the same swim speed. I would get a body length or two ahead and tread a bit doing backstroke while I waited to make eyes with her. We would shout to each other where we thought we should be heading for. Swimming ontop of each other a few times from one shift of the wave. It was a trick to keep adjusting your sighting object as you got closer to shore. If we didn't follow the instruction correctly, we could end up under the Golden Gate Bridge within one hour! We errored left. Far left so we wouldn't miss our target.
About two thirds into the swim Dotti told me she wish she had signed up for the naked (non-wetsuit) swim. Just then she ok-ed me to swim ahead and go hard. So it began... I started the competive game of catching the swimmmer ahead of me. Over and over and over again. I would sight someone ahead of me and swim hard to catch them. Once I caught them (won), I would find a new competitor. It was mind over matter for me. I believed it was all mental until about 40 minutes into the swim when my body started doing this weird hot/cold flash up and down my whole body... then I really started to think about hypothermia and what are the first signs of it? I wish I read about hypothermia. Gee, the shoreline was so close. What if I make this far only to have my body quit from cold and I have to throw an arm up to a kayaker?!!
All that swimming allows plenty of thinking time. I started to feel kind of loopy in the head and kept looking around to sight where I was going and suddenly started to feel like I was going nowhere! Dotti wasn't next to me anymore and the swimmers were really dispirsed by this point. What are those first signs of hypothermia... is this really happening to me? I found a swimmer ahead of me and tried with all my might to catch them to prove to myself I really am moving forward. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." I chanted lines from Nemo over and over. Ah I finally caught up to the swimmer. I am moving forward. Mental. It's all mental.
The shoreline seemed to be slipping further away. But I kept swimming, almost on auto piolet now as my body was feeling more and more numb. I locked in on an orange cap ahead of me and followed him into the finish line. Finally, the sea of people where appearing closer. The funneling of swimmers 200 yards wide was narrowing in toward me. We were all swimming for the huge orange bouys. I was getting closer. I saw the man ahead of me stand up. I was almost there. I swam head down until my hands were touching the sandy bottom. At last. Shore. Finding my legs, I crawled to my feet and ran through the sand to the final BEEP.
A volunteer put a medal around my neck. I followed the orange netting to the bag area, only to wander around in a mental daze. I was hot, nausas, and dizzy. Where was Rod and Jenee? I couldn't think. I kept looking for a towel, a parka, something of mine? It all looked the same. I just wanted to rest, but I was mentally uncapable of thinking, so I kept moving cuz that is the last thing I remember consiously telling myself to do about 20 minutes ago in the water.
Scarred by the onset of my out of body experience I was relieved to see smiling faces running toward me peeking over the crowd and waving happily. Excited about my accomplishment they were full of compliments and questions, but all I could do was stare and shake. I wanted to speak but I could only say, "I feel really weird."
Jenee having ran marathons told me to eat and drink, so off she went to find me fuel. Rod pushed liquids in me and I soon came around. Within the hour I was changed, warm, and dry. Ahhhh. I did it. I swam Alcatraz.
Dotti and I met at the food station all bundled up with a glow of pride. With a hand full of bagels, grapes, and a hot drink we went over to the wall where results were posted. There it was: 5th place in my division of non-wetsuit female swimmers and 8th place over all. I had gotten 8th in the whole event for the swim portion. Wow. I was proud, but I know I was slow at a lot of points.... so I can't wait to swim even harder next year since Rod is dying to swim it now!
Waiting in line to check in.
The crowd of swimmers loading onto the ferry. Rod was tempted to board the ferry and swim in his underwear with us to just do it! I'm tempted to sign up in 2010 with him.
Can you find Dotti and I?? Hint: I'm in the green.
HUGE frickin' fright ship passing through where we were
going to be swimming in 20 minutes!
Special Thanks to Dotti-
Thanks friend for taking the plunge with me!
1 comment:
i am so jealous, julie! great job! if we get to move back to ca in a few years save a place for me:) i love you discription, i could envision it perfectly. i love you competitive streak:)
congratulations, i can't wait to see how well you do when you go all out! miss you
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