San Diego rocks

Well, the San Diego trip is over and I'm back at work... which sucks, obviously. The vacation was great, though, and I have to say that if I ever had to move to the U.S. and I was given a choice, southern California would rank pretty high on my list. On Sunday the 27th I took part in race #1 of the Playa del Run aquathlon series... 1000m swim followed by a 5k run. Before the start, we all stood on the beach and had a moment of silence for David Martin, who was tragically killed by a shark attack in the area two days before. Some people got a little emotional, including me... I can't imagine what it was like for those who were swimming with him at the time and pulled him from the water in an attempt to save his life. During pre-race instructions, the race director announced that anyone was welcome to come up and say a few words about Dave (obviously I didn't know him, but people around me called him Dave, and it feels right. It's not meant to be disrespectful). No one opted to speak at the microphone, but during the moment of silence someone called out, "You're with us right now, Dave!"... and well... let's just say that suddenly it got a little dusty in my immediate area, causing my eyes to water a little. Shit, I'm getting emotional right now just thinking about it. That's one (of the many) reasons I love the world of triathlon... it's like we have our own little community, yet it spreads across countries and continents, and there's always room for more. And when we lose someone who shared our love for the sport, we all feel the loss - whether we personally knew them or not. As for the race... I've never run immediately after swimming before, and I was more tired than I thought I'd be. My original plan was to swim as hard as I could, then just kind of hang on for the run. I wanted to get a good idea of whether or not my swimming had improved over the winter. Here's what I learned:

• For a heterosexual male, I can get pretty emotional.
• I'm still a slow swimmer, although I have made improvements (this swim was 2:05/100m... previous best was 2:19/100m in a 750m race).
• With a wetsuit swim that long, Bodyglide should be your good friend... I didn't use enough on my armpit area and my neck. This made for some painful moments during the run.
• I'm still a little intimidated at the start of the swim... again, better than last year, but improvement needed. I think it has to do with knowing I'm a mid-pack swimmer at best, and I don't want to impede the progress of anyone else.
• Cold water (it was in the low 60's, while the air temp was mid 80's) really seems to take my breath away.
• It's not fun to swallow salt water.

Other than the race, I took it relatively easy during the week... two runs and one swim (it's tough to get up at 6:00am when you're on vacation!). The area we stayed at was very jogger-friendly, with plenty of sidewalks and pathways.

Next race is this weekend... the Mother's day half-marathon in my town. First time racing that distance and right now the long-range forecast calls for rain that day... should be interesting, to say the least.