only 10 lines…….lol.  You are going to have to do a lot of cutting from this one to get 10 lines but take whichever 10 you want………….  Well where do I begin (what I did at the weekend was huge for me )

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After completing the mile last year I decided to take on the challenge of the 5km for this year.  I watched the video clips from last year and saw the sheer delight and exhileration of the people who completed the 5km.  I decided I wanted to do it, so I went ahead and signed up for it.  I guess driving over the bridge from Ballina to Kilaloe for Monday night murder I was too busy bopping away to the music on the radio to take heed of the actual distance travelled in the car.  As the event drew closer the drive from the bridge to ULAC seemed to go on FOREVER and I was getting very nervous about what I had signed up for but definitely didn’t want to back out.  I was signed up so I was going to do it! 

 

My swimming ability and water confidence came on leaps and bounds this year  I got braver as the weeks went on.  Last year when I started I was daunted by being far out in the open water, not being able to stand, panicking that I would struggle to make it back into the pier, not to mention the fact that I would tire very easily after having swam a short distance.  You must have been looking out the window last year thinking……oh no, not her again tonight, she is just sooooo slow, God why have you done this to me!!!!!  Well if you did you certainly never showed it and every week there were always words of encouragement to get me out a little bit further without the need to doggy paddle until eventually I made it the full way to the pontoon without having to flip onto my back or doggy paddle.  I know the distance was only something like 120m, but it was a huge milestone for me.  The Thursday night sessions in UL last year were brilliant and my technique improved immensely so I was much improved for the start of the open water sessions this year.

 

Was I a competitor in the 5km race?  I would have to say no, I was a participant.  The only person I was competing against was myself.  My goal was to complete it – time for me was an non issue.  I had trained for it, I had grown braver and had become a stronger swimmer as the weeks went on.  For me it was all about mind over matter.  I just kept picking targets out on the water and my goal was to get to them without having to stop (I did take teeny tiny breaks here and there though – split seconds !).  The canal part of the swim was the toughest for me.  Swimming along with the flow of the water felt great, I really felt that I was getting places, but then when I hit the canal I felt I was working really hard and getting nowhere.  I found that part the toughest and tiredness set in!  I just kept telling myself to keep going.  I was delighted for all the sighting advice when it came to the canal stage too – it would have been very easy to steer off course into a boat or even the wall, but I managed to keep central enough….well what I thought was central enough anyway.

 

If I’ve learned anything from this experience I have learned that everything is mind over matter.  If you really want to do something and you commit to it, you will do it…….but only with a great coach and a super group of positive people behind you : )

 photo cred: Gordo

This Saturday gone probably saw my last open water swim of 2012. It was good that it finished at “home” where I have spent nearly every Monday evening with the Monday Night Murder survivors since May. I haven’t swam in a pool for 12 months so all my swim training for 2012 has been “open water” protected from the coldness by my wetsuit and spurred on by Stephen TL and my MNM compadres. I’m not a talented swimmer but as I always say I am an enthusiastic, social swimmer who nearly always finishes bang in the middle of the race field. This year I did the I3 mile swim as I wasn’t around for the Sunday 5k – that can wait till next year. The mile swim went well. I stayed well away from the talented swimmers and let them off, in my book there was no point getting pounded – sorry STL, but I just don’t have that aggression. I think I sighted okay but then I don’t have 20:20 vision. I always try and save something for the home stretch and this race was no different. I finished with some beautiful dolphin dives as caught on camera by Fiona Ward and Gordon Thompson. My finishing time wasn’t my pb this year but I was happy to finish into a crowd of friends which included some of my UL students. A big thank you to Olivia, Megan, Fiona, Anne, Derek, Dave, Niamh Y, Colin, Lynne, Conor, Carla for all their support on the day. Andree, Mike and their crew did a fabulous job – thank you ULKAC. It was a lovely friendly event where everyone encouraged everyone to do their best. There were top class swimmers who competed for podium finishes and there were swimmers like myself who achieved our own goals. All of us were more than happy in the end to sit down, share in some sambos and tea and applaud the talented top swimmers get their medals all beside the picturesque Lough Derg. Happy days :o))