The time I trampled a cop

 I got up at 5:30 this morning for a slow, easy 3 mile run - my first since the 50K! My legs felt great, what made it slow was the humidity and heat. I was super excited to be back in action though.

As I said yesterday, I will be partaking in three terrifying new and exciting events this week.

1. Play on a softball team - check

2. Complete an open water swim - check!

I've been getting really nervous because my first triathlon is next month and due to obsessive training for the 50K, my biking and swimming have not gotten the attention they need. 

99.9% of the time I find that reading blogs is inspiring, motivational, and a great way to get ideas for food and workouts and stuff. But this was an exception where it sort of worked against me.

When I signed up for my first tri, I knew I'd be terrified of the bike but I felt I could easily prepare for the swim with a little training. 

Then I read all sorts of blogs (and talked to people in real life!) about panic attacks in open water, how frightening and different it was, horrible experiences, etc etc. I started to feel like "well, I wasn't scared of open water...but I guess I should be?". 

I grew up near a lake and had been in the water there plenty of times so I guess I figured the triathlon would be like swimming there (actually my first triathlon IS actually swimming there) with lots of other people. And, based on my experience today, it was. 

 I'm so attractive after wearing googles and a swim cap.

I really feel that moving to a new city makes you braver with new experiences (although, clearly, I have a long way to go). As I drove down, I couldn't believe I was driving an hour away to meet a bunch of total strangers to go swim in the Chesapeake Bay. I would have never even considered that a few years ago.

Obviously, swimming in open water is pretty different than the YMCA. You can't see a thing, there are no walls to push off of, sea grass is hitting your legs, waves are moving you, and there's no way to tell if you are going in the right direction. You have to put your head up and "site" the buoy you are swimming towards even few breaths to avoid going out to sea, which for someone who routinely runs into the swimmer in the next lane at the YMCA, was a challenge.

I was warned about people kicking me and stuff, so I was ready for that. What I wasn't ready for was me being the one hitting other people. I basically completely swam into another woman in the group, who happened to be a police officer. I don't know if this is totally weird or not, but I get nervous around cops in social settings. Like, my first thought as I realized I was swimming on top of her was: "Crap, am I going to get arrested?". I really wouldn't have been surprised if she cuffed me right there in my bathing suit and googles.

Luckily, she, like the rest of the group members, was really nice. We all exchanged phone numbers and want to work out together again - I LOVE meeting new people through the exercise-based meetup groups! They were all so cool and I had a great time getting to know them. AND they said the distance we swam was approximately the distance of an Olympic tri (the next step up from the sprint, which I'm doing) so I'm technically overprepared!

Now I'm off to wine fest #2 this month to celebrate Casi's birthday!