The start was crazier than the 3 mile. It took a long time to clear up. I never felt like I was on my own. Someone tried to swim right over me at one point. Its wasn't even at a turn.
For a pretty long time on the out leg there was someone tapping at my feet. This was driving me nuts. I don't mind if you want to catch a draft. And I know that judging the distance, so you're not just swimming into me, can be a little tricky. But seriously if you're hitting my feet every second stroke you're just being rude. Also I'm still a little worried about my sore foot. So I'm a little more sensitive to toe tapping than usual.
Pretty soon after the start I fell into a good rhythm. I felt like I was working harder than on the three mile but I was pretty sure I could hold the pace right through.
I was still swimming in a pack as we came to the turnaround buoy. Again I was surprised at how aggressive the swimmers were. Another swimmer came up on the inside right as we got to the buoy and forced me to take a wider path to avoid a collision.
After the buoy I found myself swimming even with a woman in a blue suit. I kept correcting my course to my left which, no doubt, was crowding her. I don't think she appreciated this. But she should have. The swimmers still coming down the first leg of the course were drifting to our side of the buoys. I barely avoided several head-on collisions. Eventually the blue suited woman adjusted my course, and (thanks to newton's third law) hers, by giving me a shove.
I held my pace until the end of the race when I tried to push it. I poured on as much speed as I could and I caught up to a pair on swimmers right at the end. And they completely boxed me out. This was frustrating because I really think I could have flown past them if I could just have found a better line.Oh well. It was still a strong finish and I know I got those two to pick up their pace more than they would have otherwise.
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