Chun's to Waimea

The North Shore Swim Series is just plain nice to be a part of. Well-run, fun swimmers, gorgeous water, and lots of sugary crap at the finish line. What more can you ask of a swim race? The race was 1.6 miles from Chun's (seen above) to Waimea.

I wore the splish Wonder Woman. So did Maggs. We told people we didn't plan it, but we were lying. We totally planned it. We hitch-hiked from Waimea to the start, and I said good-bye to the super-fast husband (still mustached, and I mentioned the drag.. hydrodynamics and all that, but no dice.) I lined up outside the surf with Maggs and Stefan. Stefan is our Tuesday morning swim coach and I actually counted about 100 strokes before I lost his draft.. which is amazing. He's trying out this new slow-start thing - I liked it. Chun's Reef is where I learned to surf. It's shallow, has a tiny break in the summer, and the reef is beautiful. I didn't bother siting, just followed all the swimmer people up ahead. One led me onto a reef just as the waves sucked out and I was beached like a whale. Bad driver. I flopped around a little for the lifeguard's benefit, and then I got on my feet and dove back in. There was a pretty solid current running against us, and when I swam alone I really felt the difference and hopped back into a pack. I swam a moderate, steady pace, because I knew I was likely to run out of fitness before I saw Waimea, having only swam once this last month. And I did. In the last 400 or so meters I got passed by quite a few people. I picked it up at the end and raced two 12 year old boys across the line. Those age groupers are brutal in the water. I tried to trip them, but I was too dizzy. Next time, kids. I finished in 45:00.0.. that might be my best race time ever. Not the fastest, but definitely the roundest. It was good enough for the age group win, which something I have never before done in a swim race this size - I was racer number 421. So as an added bonus, I got a pretty tile. 

And the bigger bonus today was a little redemption on the bike. Katherine rode up to Waimea and was kind enough to wait for me so we could head back together. I started off feeling a little tired and we rode hard into the lame-ass headwind. 57 miles later I arrived home not the least bit bonky. No mailman-induced mortification as a walked up my hill for me today, because there was no walking.