My first open water mile swim...

Before I recap my weekend, I'd like to ask everyone reading to say a little prayer for the family of the man that lost his life during the swim of the Hy-Vee Tri this weekend. Jim Goodman, 46, signaled for help and by the time the boat reached him, he was going under. They were unable to revive him. He is survived by his wife and 3 daughters, 11, 7, and 3....please say a prayer for them!

This weekend was the big Hy-Vee Tri. Saturday I went out to the kids races as I knew some of the little ones participating. They kept their event as a duathlon as the swim venue was still slightly flooded and there wasn't a good low depth area for them to swim in. These kids worked hard and did great. It was VERY cool to watch!

On Sunday I woke up at 3:45 to get some food in my stomach and do one last check of my swim bag to make sure I had everything. My biggest debate of the day was if I should wear my wetsuit or not.
Kyle dropped me off at the swim venue about 4:45 and I headed over to get marked and get the timing chip for our team. I hear the official announcement that the water is 75. I've already decided that since I'm not 100% on swimming this mile, I'd wear the wetsuit for the buoyancy in case I needed it....well, I think that ended up being the wrong choice!

6:00am - they finally get everyone out of transition and headed over to the start. The first wave is off at 6:18, we are the 4th wave out. As we line up for the swim I am really second guessing my wetsuit....too late now!
Off we go!
About 300yds into it I hear a bunch of yelling and my lifeguard instincts kick in, I see a group about 30yds to my right holding a person up and yelling for help, another gal next to me and I start yelling and pointing, they see them, so off we go again.
Round the first buoy and a HUGE gulp of water! YUCK! I'm totally disgusted as I know that the water is even dirtier because of the floods...I tried to do a little breastroke to get my composure, but felt like I wasn't moving. How about sidestroke...GREAT...it's faster and I can cough and get over my icky feeling!
Back to freestyle. Just before the next buoy I start to wheeze and feel really hot! I think I'm overheating in my wetsuit!! Back to sidestroke and use one arm to move the wetsuit a little to get some more water in it to cool me off.
I then round the last buoy and am in a good rhythm and WHACK, I get smacked in the head...the guy even apologized! Once again a little sidestroke to get my composure.
Almost done...about 400yds to go! Kicked it in a little and made it pretty close to the edge before I stood up. I RAN as fast as I could, without falling, in transition to get to Kristin Reese and she took the timing chip and was off on the bike leg.
So, decision made, wetsuit is ONLY for training purposes. I have had issues in my last 2 races wearing it. If it's cold, I'll deal with it. If I'm not 100% in my head, I'll just talk myself into it!
After waiting for Julie G to exit her swim, she did the whole tri, I changed and took a little jog up to T2 and found Kelli, our runner, and we waited for Kristin to come in on the bike. After Kelli left on the run, we went over and got some food and drink from the participant tent and went over to watch all the other athletes. Some of the people were amazing! Kelli had a great run and we felt pretty good about how our team ended up.

Official Results:
My swim - 33:32 - 1.5K or 1 mile
T1 - me passing to Kristin - 1:04
Kristin bike - 1:12:34 - 40K bike or 26 miles
T2 - Kristin passing to Kelli
Kelli run - 1:02:42 - 10K or 6.2 miles

Total time was 2:51:18 for 9th of 38 all women teams. We did AWESOME and had I personally had a TON of fun!!