Swim Race # 2...TriMom - 1, River - 0

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. -- Benjamin Franklin

This morning I did another mile swim race - it was the last in the series of races held by Peluso Open Water (technically # 2, because the one in June was cancelled due to dangerous water conditions, but since it came after # 3, held in August, we'll just call it # 3 for simplicity's sake - that's simple enough, right?).  In August, I did the race to prove to myself that I would be OK for Patriot's HIM - I swam it in 52:50 and was thrilled.  The cut-off for the HIM was 1:15, so that gave me plenty of time for the last 0.2 miles.

This morning I swam the race again.  Why?  Weird, huh - I have no triathlons scheduled until next year.  I don't even like swimming in the river (wink, wink).  Why would I get up and swim a river race unnecessarily?  Because I wanted to see if I have improved.  And because they serve mimosas afterwards, but that is just a minor reason.  Maybe more than minor, but really it was about seeing if I was faster.

Improve I most certainly did - 37:53!  I cut nearly 15 minutes off my time from just a month previous!  Now - to be fair - there was very little current this morning and the race was wetsuit legal.  (The water temp was 68 degrees, downright balmy compared to the low-50s of the air temperature.)  Both of those things certainly would cause my time to be faster...but not 15 minutes faster.  I'm actually becoming a better swimmer!  On top of that, I actually hit the dock at 37:15, but I was behind a few other women climbing the stairs and you can't pass at the dock.  I may have been 20-30 seconds faster than even that.

Now...this is all very exciting...Improvement.  Achievement.  Success.  But you know what else?  This qualifies me to swim the 2.4 mile To the Bridge & Back race next October - and if I can swim 2.4 miles in 2 hours, I'm well on my way to being able to do a full Ironman.  Watch out, world - this girl is starting to be able to swim!