April in Panama City Beach….warm, pretty, kinda Spring-Breaky still, but not, repeat, NOT ocean swimming weather…

So Jesse and I are in Panama City Beach, for my 2nd-to-final brick before the race.  We drove down here yesterday, got in quite late, and started the Water Odyssey around 11 this morning.  Remember that I came down here in March to practice swim, with my mom serving as support.  That round included swimming with the wetsuit since about half of the time in this race’s history it has been wetsuit-legal.  You can refer back to that post to know how well that went…

This time it was my plan to swim in the ocean without the suit, to have that experience.  Some of you might know this about me already, but I’m kinda, let’s see, what was the word Jesse kept yelling at me from the jetski….oh, yeah, bullheaded.  I knew the water was cold…it was my ass in it, after all….I was just determined to have the practice of swimming without the suit before the race (the ruling on wetsuits is made on race morning).  I was attempting to swim for a full hour, since that’s about what the race will take me, and it may signify something that I crawled up onto the back of the jetski with 58:00 showing on my tri watch.  Just couldn’t take two more minutes in that North-Atlanticish (my blog, my words) water.

It took me 10 minutes recovering on the jetski, one fast hot shower, and 25 miles on the bike to feel like a human again.  It was probably mid-70’s by then, and I rode with my sweatshirt on for most of the ride.  The bike ride was OK; got to admit a little boooring to ride in in the Sunshine state.  Once you leave the Strip in PCB, it just becomes rural Futtbuck, Florida.  Add to that about 8 miles of the worst-surfaced road I’ve ridden on EVER, and there you have the bike ride.  It’s an out-and-back, so that didn’t help its attraction.  Oh, well, it was great to have done the course and know what to expect.

At the turnaround...my new racing shades...
At the turnaround...my new racing shades...

Gotta give a shout-out to Big Jesse on this one…he was right there with me (albeit out of the cold water) with the jetski the entire time, telling me h0w much like my dog I am (a compliment – I love my bulldog Uga), and then kicked my hiney on the ride…he said an hour of hyperthermia (for me) gave the advantage (for him) to keep up with me…which is not true; he’s a strong cyclist.  Anyway, he came through for me and I am very grateful for his support.

Final word….when you see me, do NOT ask me about the Psycho Tool From Hell who RAMMED the back of my corvette on I-24 on the ride down yesterday.  Son Ben was driving, left lane, 71 mph (in a 65), asshole comes from behind, bumps us TWICE, we get the hell out of the way and watch him ram two more cars, get the plates, call 911….long story short:  he rammed 15 people in a 20-mile stretch in Tennessee and Georgia – they caught him…damage to the vette:  new rear bumper at the very least.  OMG!!  Some of you know what that car means to me…I guess I’m supposed to take a lesson in materialism from this event….grrrrrr.

Thank you for all the encouraging words….they swirl about my brain when I’m gasping for air, or screaming with cold, or cursing the asphalt, or pleading with my legs, or well, you get the idea.  They mean more to me than you will ever know….EVER.

No iPod today, no roadkill…just lots of Florida.

Thanks for reading…