24 Hour Relay

As it turns out blogging is kind of hard....trying to be more consistent but really can't make any grand promises at this point. I won't leave you hanging when things get more exciting, but right now I am in a pretty solid rhythm of morning sunriser swims 2-3times a week alternated with 2 hour pool sessions. Things are starting to heat up though! Both the temperature of the water AND my training plans!

The hat that we all signed for Suzie

On February 7-8, 2015, I was part of a very *interesting* event. About 40 swimmers gathered together in Aquatic Park to participate in a 24 hour swimming relay. Think Relay for Life, except it was swimming in the SF Bay. This was the second year of the swim and it was organized by the passionate Suzie Dods.

So for 24 hours, one member of your team had to be in the water swimming. I was on a team with four other people: Alex, Cristian, Jon and Silvia and we named ourselves "Team Ronco-Five EZ payments" (after the tv infomercials, I cant quite remember how we ended up landing on that name). So once you were done, you tagged out one of your teammates and pretty much sprinted to the sauna.





I did my best to capture a photo of every hour, but sometimes it got a little messy when I was in the water. They are mostly just selfies of me eating pizza...which is not actually an ideal food to eat in between legs of a swimming relay, but damn was it good.

First wave of swimmers getting ready to enter the water

Let the games begin!

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 




My mother and brother were kind enough to come support me with food and kayaking. In order to imagine what this event was like, just think of the longest swim meet that you have ever been to compressed into one day. Some wiser people, had practiced doing double or triple dips to prepare their bodies for the re-exposure. Although it hadn't occurred to me to try that, my body did great at responding to the repeated dips in the cold. After the swim was over on Sunday I found that I was actually quite warm, as it appeared that my body was preparing itself to re-enter the cold, which definitely gave me confidence moving forward. Overall it was completely exhilarating, but going to work on Monday sure was difficult.

THE TEAM: Alex, Silvia, Cristian, Me and Jon

A sneaky shot of me sleepin'

Here is a sweet video created by someone who is far more technologically advanced than I. Warning: it may make you feel sea sick...if you dont like wavy motions.