Sometimes, if I’m feeling saucy after signing up for an open-water swim, I results-stalk previous participants to gauge my perceived changes of winning my age group, or winning overall. I decided to do so with the Daiquiri Deck Tropical Splash Open Water Swim, which I recently registered to participate in for the fourth time.
I clicked on the 2012 results first, finding that the winner completed the 5K in 1:08:28.1. Speedy. I looked to the left side of the page, and learned that the winner’s name was Brooke Bennett. As in, the three-time Olympic gold medalist (and distance-freestyle specialist) Brooke Bennett. You know—the one who plans to compete in the 2016 Olympics for open-water swimming. Heh. Gotcha.
I poked around more, finding that the age-group winners for previous years looked beatable. I lingered on 2010, and thought: “1:31:58. I could probably top that.” My eyes scanned to the left side of the page, where the swimmer’s name and age would appear.
Folks, it was me. I had unwittingly guided my attention back to the only thing that matters: My internal goals and dreams, and how a given race feels to swim, as opposed to who I can or can’t beat on a given day. Sometimes, the universe works in mysterious ways. Other times, the universe is like a hand steering a Ouija board, spelling out the road back to our values.
The real reason I do these swims: Views like this one, captured pre-race last year.
In other news, training for the swim is going quite well. My regular Tuesday-morning swim date and I discovered a terrific pyramid that slays 3,200 yards without you even noticing it. We call it the Super Pyramid, and you swim the following yards up—> 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400—then swim it in reverse back down. The 350s and 400 hurt in the best way possible.
Amy Reinink 
On my screen, the first line was cut to read, “Training for Daiquiri”. This is a cause we can get behind!
Unintended … but awesome! I’ll make sure to incorporate some training for the post-swim daiquiri, too (one doesn’t want to show up unprepared).
Ha! That’s classic. I do the same thing, despite leaving myself reminders on my bike or running shoes to “run your own race”. My competitive nature is something that I embrace. 🙂
One of these years, I’m going to do this race with you! Thanks for the pyramid tip, that’s a tough one.