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Swim The Bridge 2013: Today was a tough day both physically and emotionally. I think I found my BRICK WALL in my quest to complete the Ironman. The open water swim has become my kryptonite it seems. I learned a few humbling lessons today. First was that if the swim is called a Masters Swim Race you should make sure your up to swimming with other swim Masters there’s a good chance the swim course is going to be a little challenging. 2nd is that 7 weeks of training is not nearly enough to be confident in the swim portion of a race. 3rd is that I can dog paddle for more than 500 meters it seems. Even in a total panic mode.

During my Iowa Games Triathlon swim I went into total panic mode and blacked out and went into auto pilot and woke up on the beach at the finish of the swim in 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Today I did not have the luxury of the black out and I got to experience and enjoy the full gambit of emotions as I had a 21 minute panic attack and I was aware of every detail of the terror on the water. Jay Elder came to my rescue in his kayak and talked me off the ledge. There was no way I would have finished this race today. He could see my panic from a distance and was kind enough to come in close and talk me down till I could breathe again and resume my swim. He then followed close by talking to me the rest of the race. The volunteers at these races who spend their time to help out are a very important part of any race. I helped Jay out at a triathlon last month when he had an accident with his Jet Ski while setting up the swim course at Copper Creek and today he repaid my simple act of kindness with getting me to the finish line alive and under my own power. I crawled up the boat ramp to get out of the water and cross the finish line to a thunder of applause and cheers as the crowd went wild.

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people. Climb it, swim around it, or tunnel under it! It seems that we are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

See You at the Finish Line

Dave

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