Open Water Nationals

Back to Ft. Myers for the USA Open Water Nationals. The drive with my dad was a LOT longer than the flight when he came and picked me up a few days earlier...about 5 hours on the road. We arrived on Thursday afternoon to find out that the people swimming the 25K were still in the water because they postponed the start 5 hours for rainy weather. (not a good sign of the weather forecast for the weekend of swimming events). A quick pre-race meeting about the 5K course for Friday's race and then Dad and I went out for a nice dinner.
Friday morning I woke up to big, dark clouds and lots of ran. My mom and brother arrived about mid-day with two other guys from Daytona Beach Speed. The plan was to win some National Team titles (top 3 times combined) for DBS and hope that Dustin swam fast and made the World Champ team! At noon I walked the 100 meters from our hotel room over to the race registration area to find out what the decision was about the race. Gregg Cross, the race director, told me that because of the current bad weather he postponed the start of the 5K until 3:30pm. What else was there to do but head back to the hotel and rest for a few more hours.
At race time, it was still a little drizzly and the storm was still in the area, but the race started. Women started about 5 minutes after the men on the 2 lap course in the Gulf of Mexico. Everything was going as planned, I was in the lead from the start, creating a large gap before the next women and Dustin was up front with the guys taking the fastest line to each buoy.
The rain was starting to come down a bit harder, but it wasn't affecting any of us in the water. Unfortunately, the people on shore, the race director, and the safety patrol did not have the same feelings. As I rounded the 5th buoy to start the 2nd lap, I was stopped and told that the race was canceled and everyone was being pulled from the course because of the weather.
BUMMER! I made a big argument that the men's leader (Dustin) and the women's leader (me) had completed half the course and according to what they told us in the pre race meeting, the results should have been decided right there. Well, the decision was made that the race would be RE-swam the next day at 1pm! That screwed up DBS's entire plans because all the boys had to get home and couldn't do the reswim! I was mad about the time because the race would go from 1-2pm and then the 1mile dash for cash was starting at 5:30pm (that's a lot of swimming for me in one day!:)
Well, another night passed and the morning was totally different. It was clear and calm on Saturday morning...should have had the 5k at 8am instead of waiting for the weather to roll in after noon! We all kept our fingers crossed and headed down for the race start at 1pm. This time the weather stayed on our side and we were able to get the whole race completed. Fortunately, I was also in the lead the whole time and I finally got my USA Swimming National Championship that I have always wanted!! It was a bit of a sprint to the finish with the Canadian girls who came to the race...but a sprint is fine with me (it means I didn't use any more energy than I had to in the race:) Spent an hour after the race doing all the drug test stuff...then went back to the hotel room to get some rest for the most important race of the weekend (the paycheck race!)
The 1 Mile Dash for Cash started all the pros in an early wave so there were only about 15 of us on the line (there was about 100 swimmers who would start the race right behind us though!) I hung on to Chris Thompson and Ricky Monisterio's feet with all my might (just like the Tiburon Mile) and I was able to put a lot of time on all the other girls in the race and finish first...$1500 paycheck!
Early to bed that night...it was easy to sleep (I haven't done that much swimming in one day for a LONG time:). Early to rise...the 10K started at 8am! Sunday morning was just like Saturday, calm and clear. The race was a lot of fun...Erica Rose (25K Champion) and I swam the race together with one of the Canadian swimmers. This was 4 laps on the same course as the 5K so we swam 2 laps easy and then dropped the hammer at the half way point to drop any other girls who were still near us. The final lap was down to just the 3 of us and I made my final surge with about 400 meters to go and earned my second USA Swimming National Championship of the weekend!!
Winning both the 5K & the 10K put me on the World Championship team for both events. Erica is also on the team to swim the 10K & 25K. Scott Kauffman (Gator Teammate) will be joining us in Montreal for the 5K along with John Kenny and Sean Seaver (some teammates from the last World Champs).
I would say that the weekend in Ft. Myers was a success...I hated to say 'goodbye' to my family because it was the last time I will see them for most of the year...but it was time to head off to the next race...on the other side of the country!! Escape from Alcatraz report in the next blog!