Chesapeake Bay Challenge- 1 mile swim

June 11, 2006

One week after my big 7.5-mile swim was cancelled I showed up at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge for the 1-mile swim with not a single expectation except that I was going to have fun. I had learned over the past two weeks at both the Reston swims and the Potomac swim that it does absolutely no good to get all wound up over races. I had been so focused on placing well at Reston that I had forgotten how to swim and have fun at the same time. While the Reston swims were fun and successful, I had probably spent more energy being nervous than actually swimming. I had placed 2nd in the 1 mile swim by just 5 seconds and 6th in the 2 mile swim. The girl who won the 1 mile swim wasn’t in my wave to I had no way to know that she was so close. I’ve learned over and over again over the last few years that I thrive on head to head competition and only wish that we had been in the same wave.

My first open water swim was the 4.4-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim in 1990, I was 13 years old. You may be asking yourself, why on earth would a 13-year old sign up for the Bay Swim? The answer is simple, I was too young to know any better and my coaches at RMSC thought it would be a good idea for our whole group to participate. I had been swimming year round, sometimes twice a day, for several years so I definitely had the endurance to finish, it was going to come down to mental toughness, which at the time I was lacking. Standing at Sandy Point that morning, I’m sure my parents were worried about sending me off into the open water, but I giddy with excitement. In 1990, the swim was a mass start. 2 hours and 3 minutes after me and 600 of my new closest friends entered the water, I emerged, smiling and with a new confidence that had largely shaped who I am today.

Back to 2006 and the 1-mile swim. I stayed with my aunt in Easton the night before. We had a fabulous dinner at a little restaurant in Easton, serenaded by one of the military bands who were having a concert right in the middle of the road in front of our restaurant. It was a wonderful evening of delicious food, wine and topped off with Tiramisu. This definitely was not my typical pre-race meal. Aunt Nan Nan kept asking me if there was anything special that I wanted the night before the race and I kept telling her that I wasn’t really racing, that I had only signed up for the 1-mile to have something to do while I waited for my friends to finish the 4.4-mile swim.

June 11th, my Mom’s birthday. The Bay Swim in 2001, when I finally broke 2 hours, was on my Mom’s birthday. I did feel a little selfish for making everyone come down to the eastern shore to watch my race on her birthday, but there are two things I know for sure:
My Mom loves the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, ever since that first time in 1990 when I swam all the way across, at age 13.
My Mom loves to watch me race.

Based on that, I figured it was ok to be a little selfish.

The 1-mile race didn’t begin until 11 am, the 4.4-mile at 2 pm. It was going to be a long day, but fortunately the weather seemed perfect. I arrived early, and already on the eastern shore, I drove across the bridge to see what the water conditions were. I was more concerned with Lori and Theresa’s race than my own. It looked a little choppy, but they had several hours until the start, I was hopeful that it would calm down.

Back on the eastern side, I met up with Lori, Theresa, Diego, my parents and Nan Nan. We had to board separate shuttles, Lori and Theresa to go to the start of the 4.4 mile swim, the rest of us on our way to the start of the 1 mile. I hugged them and told Theresa and Lori to “just keep swimming”.

We had some time, so Diego and I got checked in, found out that we were in Wave 4, the last wave and got our Blue swim caps. As I was walking around before the swim, I got this crazy idea in my head that maybe I could be the first place female. After an already successful season of swimming, I knew that I was in really good shape, and I also knew that the people who had beaten me at the Reston Swims were either not racing, or racing the 4.4 mile swim. All of a sudden I got this burning desire to win this race.

I saw Mike Waltman, a guy I used to swim with in Reston. We chatted about the swim, he’d done it a few times. I again harassed him about doing the 4.4 mile swim and he gave me the ever familiar response… “not until I win the 1-mile.” He was in wave 2 so I knew I wouldn’t be able to race directly with him today. I also didn’t know if I would have any competition in Wave 4 so I prepared myself for a race where I would need to push myself as hard as I could, in case there wasn’t anyone to race…I wrong about that assumption!

The first wave went off. I scoped out the leaders and none of them looked like they were going super fast, but it’s so hard to tell. While watching the waves before mine, I paid close attention to the buoys on the way out, making sure that I knew what color they were and how many there were. The course was a triangle, 4 orange buoys on the way out, then turn and three big yellow buoys across then turn for shore and there were orange buoys on the way back.

Wave 4 assembled down by the water and I got right up in the front. I checked the view of the buoys from the water and the gun went off. I sprinted ahead, along with about 3 others. We quickly dropped the rest of the competitors and it looked like it was going to be a good race. We stayed together for the first two buoys. By the turn, it was just myself and one other person, practically swimming on top of each other, completely by accident. As we turned the corner, I realized that we had caught the waves in front of us and it was going to be interesting trying to get around everyone. There were times when I had to swim right in between two people in order to get ahead of them. I tried my best to not bump into anyone in the process, but knew that with some close competition, I couldn’t afford to waste time going around people, it was better to go straight through if I had enough room. I was still close to the other blue cap swimmer. As we turned for shore, I completely lost sight of him. It was really shallow so I would be swimming along and then next thing I knew, a swimmer from a previous wave would just stand up, without knowing that I was right behind them. About 150 yards from that turn, I realized that I had lost sight of the buoys. I was swimming straight for shore, how could I have lost the buoy? Finally I found it, but had to go out of my way to get back to it to go around. I had a sinking feeling that this may cost me the race and I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I tried to stay positive and calm because the race wasn’t over yet, but it was tough to stay calm when I had made a huge mistake. Before the race I had checked out the placement of all of the buoys, except on the way in to the finish. Now I know to be more diligent.

I got around that buoy, and saw that I didn’t have too much further so I just put my head down and sprinted in. I didn’t see any blue caps in front of me, so at least I knew that I was in the front of my wave. I tried to visualize someone swimming next to me, racing to the finish. I had gotten beaten by 5 seconds by a girl who wasn’t in my wave just two weeks before and I wasn’t about to let if happen again. With about 50 yards to go, I took a breath and saw my competition, in person. A blue cap was right next to me. I said to myself, “NOT TODAY…this is MY day!” I swam as fast as I could, felt the lactic acid burning in my arms and legs, and had that feeling that you get when you know you’re going as hard as you can. Once out of the water, it was only a short run to the timing mat. I exited the water ahead of the blue cap and told myself, “just don’t trip!!!” I ran as fast as I could to the timing mat, and felt like I was going to get sick, which was ok because the race was over and I did everything I could. I found the blue cap, shook his hand and told him “great race.” He seemed pleased with his effort. I got some food and found my parents. I hadn’t bothered to look at the clock when I finished, but my Dad said that I was right around 23:30. I also found Mike walking around and he told me that he has won his wave and was around 24. Hold on, there’s no way I beat him, he beat me by more than a minute at the Reston swim.

I went to shower off, my Mom walked with me. On the way back, Mark from the timing company was posting the results. The first page was up so my Mom and I walked over to take a look. I started scrolling up from about 20th place and all of a sudden caught MY name at the TOP of the list. Wait, are these only the female results? Who got second? Craig something. I won? The whole thing? No way! Did I miss a buoy? Definitely not! I couldn’t have been happier, and my Mom couldn’t have been more proud of me. On the way back to tell my Dad and Nan Nan, we ran into Mike. He had placed 4th. We congratulated each other.

We waited for the awards. They started with the male overall. Then they got to the female overall. Mark announced that I was the overall winner and all the girls in the crowd cheered extra loud. It was pretty exciting being the overall winner of a race, something I hadn’t ever thought about before. There were a lot of young girls in the 13-15 year old age range who competed in the 1-mile that day. I only hope that they were inspired by this 29 year old who had just kicked the boys butts. That could be them someday! I certainly remember watching in awe as the overall 4.4 mile woman back in 1990 received her award. I was inspired that anyone could swim 4.4 miles so fast nearly keeping up with the men. Throughout the day I received a lot of nice comments from people. After finding out that I had won the race and that it was my Mom’s birthday, Hemmingway’s Restaurant gave both of us free dessert.

After a fabulous birthday lunch at Hemmingway’s, we went back down to the beach to wait for the 4.4 mile finishers. It looked like a rough day, and all reports indicated that it certainly was. Everyone made it to the eastern side of the bridge safely, just a little slower that they had hoped.

I competed in several other open water swims last year, but none as exciting at the Bay. While on vacation the following weekend in Deep Creek Lake with Kyle Yost, Mike Boorstein and Jennifer Schwartz I decided that I would do a long swim and just go until I felt tired. Approximately 8.5 miles and 3.5 hours later, I pulled myself up on the dock and felt like my season was complete and with a new confidence similar to the one I gained with I finished the Bay Swim in 1990. Once again, I felt like I could do anything.