RACE REPORT: Tropical Splash Dixie Zone Open Water 5k Championship

Me and my Teammate before the race

    I've never done an open water swimming race before (unless it was attached to a bike and a run).  But, I decided I wanted to try one out.  So, this past weekend I competed at The Tropical Splash Dixie Zone 5K Championship in Siesta Key, FL.


    I woke up Saturday morning pretty exhausted after having woken up at 4:45 am, having done a 1 hour swim practice, suffered through an-all day work seminar, and driving 4 hours in the rain the day beforehand.  Nevertheless, once I was up and moving around, I got pretty excited for the race. I arrived at the race site about an hour before the gun.  I picked up my swim cap and timing chip, met up with a fellow swim team member, and walked down to the water for a quick warm-up swim before race-time.
 

The Race:

    Although the beach was beautiful and I've been feeling very comfortable in the water, the race didn't exactly go as expected.  About 250m into the race course, we entered deeper water where, apparently, there were a bunch of small jellyfish.  I was just starting to get into my 'groove' when all of a sudden I felt some sharp pinches all down the insides of my bathing suit.  I tried to convince myself that I was just feeling slight 'rubbing' from my brand new suit.  But, as my skin grew itchier and itchier, I knew what it was...sea lice.      

    I know that sea lice isn't too big of a deal.  But, having never gotten stung by a jellyfish before, and having not even contemplated their existence in the ocean this time of year, I panicked.  I tried to keep it out of my head as long as possible.  But, as the current started to pick up as the race went on, the stings got more frequent.  I kept imagining myself, running out of the water towards the finish line with giant red slashes all across my face and body.  And, just like that, my mind was lost. I think it would have been different had I known about the jellies ahead of time.  But, with something that unexpected, it was hard to stay mentally focused.
    Additionally, no matter what I tried, I could not stay on course for some reason.  The sun and the fact that I had lightly tinted goggles was partly to blame.  Otherwise, I'm not sure why I was drifting so far off course.  Perhaps it was exhaustion.  Perhaps it was just the distraction of the jellies.  I had my Garmin on and was keeping track of how far I had swam.  And, I have to admit, it was a bit disconcerting to look down and see that I had technically swam an entire 5K when I was still several buoys away from the finish line.  

I wound up swimming (according to my Garmin) 3.67 miles- over half a mile more than the actual race.

   My time wasn't the greatest and I'm a bit peeved about that.   Even though the conditions weren't what I was expecting, I know that I could have done better.  So, this definitely was not my first and last open water race. Next time, I'll just have to be a bit more prepared.

Finishing Time: 1:32.02
Place: 3rd in Age Group