2 miles

Between Saturday and Sunday they adjusted one (or two?) of the buoys so that the course would be a true mile instead of one and two-thirds kilometers. I couldn't tell the difference. I'm not even sure which buoy(s) they moved. In any case since I knew I could make three times around before being overtaken by my own hunger I started out pretty confident. I think maybe I was not the only one who felt that way because my group (wave C) went out faster than my wave in the 5k. Anyway it seemed faster. By the time I came out of the dogleg and back to the main lake I was looking at a pack of swimmers way out in front of me. It was more or less what the leaders of the clinic swim had looked like just before I lost track of them entirely. I said to myself  "Well Rick, there's basically no chance of chasing them down so just relax and focus on your stroke" So that's what I did.

It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I made the first 90 degree turn at the far end of the lake and found that I was right on top of them. I seem to lose track of other swimmers at the turns so I don't know how many of them I actually passed, but that was still a pretty good ego boost. Things got a little more spread out on the way back but I think I might have passed one or two more people. But as I was swimming around the drain two swimmers blew right past me. It is possible they had been riding my draft for a little while and jumped on their chance to make a break. But at least I know they weren't the winners lapping me, because I then followed them most of the way to the turnaround at the end of the dogleg. Everything felt  pretty smooth for the rest of the swim. There were maybe two other swimmers around me for the home stretch. When I caught sight of the drain I saw there were two swimmers just starting around it. I thought to myself "Rick, you can catch those two" I expected that if I caught them they would race me into the finish. Instead I blew right past them. It was not until later that I realized they must have been from a later wave just starting their second lap. Sorry guys!

I felt pretty strong jogging up out the water into the finishing chute. Time for a little more food and then one more race.