As I mentioned in the last post, I have been playing the game: THIS TIME LAST YEAR. This time last year, I was on my way home from Cozumel. We spent Thanksgiving traveling from our resort in Cozumel to Cancun before our flight home. I had fish and shrimp tacos as a main course and a margarita for dessert. I was sunburnt and happy and trying to relive all the fun moments of the trip. Here’s what I remember about the first part of the day:
I cannot tell you how much I loved the Cozumel swim. It was beautiful and fast and fun. I wish I had had a GoPro on that day to give you an idea of the blue water and the starfish as big as my face and the image of swimming over Scuba divers and waving as I passed. Of course, before I even jumped in, there was the space between - that is, the space between waking and starting the race.
WAKE-UP CALL
One of the perks of this race was that it was in our time zone. And the timing of the race meant we could essentially wake up at the time we always do for weekend workouts (which is 4:00am). Our pace in the hotel room felt almost leisurely as I step-by-stepped my way through the morning routine. Ace and I met Jeyo and T in the lobby of the Sunscape and we were picked up by Endurance Sports Travel shuttles to the swim finish.
WORRIED STATE OF MIND
At Chankanaab park, Jen, Tonya and I left Ace and headed the swim to bike transition. We started out together and then split up inside transition. We arranged to set up our bikes and drop our bags and then meet at Jen’s bike to leave transition. I messed up at some point and Jen and I both ended up back outside transition with Ace. There was a lot of back and forth on whether we should wait to see if Tonya came out or we should go back in. It was dark, there were hundreds of people streaming by and the tension grew. The lines were forming to the bus - had she already gone by? Was she still in transition? Should Jen go back? Would that mean we lose everyone? Eventually, we decided that Jen and I would get in line and then Neal went back through to look for Tonya. It didn’t take long until she was found and brought up in line to us. RELIEF!! Sorry T!
BETTER STATE OF MIND
headed to our swim corral (1:10)
The swim started a bit north of the Chankanaab and we were dropped at the entrance to the Fonatur Marina. I would guess that the walk was about 600m and at some point we slid into our swim skins and made the last preparations (aka peeing in the woods). The sun had come out by the time we off-boarded and the energy was picking up. As we walked to the swim holding pattern, I kissed Honey and we said our good-byes. He veered off to our corral and Tonya headed to hers.
And then we waited.
It did seem like an ENDLESS wait. We sat for a while. Stood for a while. Sat again. It was fun people watching. Finally, the music got us pumped and we edged our way into the line. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see pros take off. Really, we didn’t get to see much ahead of us until we were within 50 rows back of the swim chute.
THE BEST STATE OF MIND
And just like that, I was dancing my way down the gang plank and Jen was doing some crazy rodeo gallop behind me. We jumped off the dock and off we went. The Cozumel swim course is pretty straightforward. There is only one turn and it is a left-hander at the end to finish and get out of the water. It didn’t feel crowded, but I also didn’t feel all alone. I immediately felt at ease. We didn’t get any warm-up, so I let myself relax and enjoy the view for the first half or third of the 2.4 miles. It was like swimming in an aquarium. Fish as big as my bike, starfish as big as my face, and colors I have never named. There were even divers at the bottom like you see home aquariums. They were there for safety, but are great to use as siting points. They were literally hanging onto the buoys because the current was ripping! It was my favorite swim ever!
My least favorite parts about the swim: the concern about whether I was supposed to be to the right or left of the buoys, which were placed every 100-200 meters along the course. The athlete guide and pre-race briefing we were told to keep the buoys on our left the entire time. I did that for the first three or four buoys but maybe the wind or the proximity of the safety boats seemed to steer swimmers to the other side of the buoys. As another blogger wrote: I spent most of the swim wondering if they were wrong or if I was wrong. Either everyone was cutting the course and I was the only person doing the correct course or I misunderstood the course and was making it longer and harder on myself. Even as a write this, I still don’t know the answer.
The other least favorite part, the turn into the finish. Did I mention the current was ripping? It was a little daunting making the turn and I ended up crossing between a boat’s bow and its bow anchor chain. I had to swim hard to stay close to the finish pier and reach the steps. I simply reminded myself to be patient. We had been practicing out-and-backs all summer and this was just 100 yards of a good push against me.
ALREADY?
I couldn’t believe it was over so fast. I did NOT want it to end. But, I climbed the stairs, trotted my way through the transition area, grabbed my bag and headed to the tent. I only had to dropped my swim skin, goggles and cap in the bag, threw on my socks and shoes, grabbed my helmet, head band and shades and ran to my bike. I dressed on the short run, grabbed my bike and trotted my way out to the bike start. Here we go.
