SwimRun Lake James... and the Whistle.

Race reports often start at the start line, but this report is going to start with the story of a whistle...

Packed up and ready to go we headed up to Nebo, North Carolina. Yep, we have all of our gear. Yep, wetsuits, newly bought sleeves, newly bought gloves, swim paddles, swim buoys, tether, compression bandage, goggles, swim caps, run shoes, socks, and whistles... oh um... whistles? Well, we thought we had everything, that was until after eight hours in the car when we showed up for check-in. Here are our wetsuits and compression bandage pack, and....now where did we put those whistles. "You got them, right?" This seemed to be the phrase said a lot over the next ten minutes. Just to give you some insight if you don't know what a SwimRun race is, you are swimming and running in remote areas in the wilderness. You are out where a lot can go wrong, so you are required to each have a whistle in the event of such an emergency. Our whistles, a multitude of whistles, were back those eight hours and four states at the house.

Here we are in Nebo, NC at the race venue with no whistle. What to do? Well, go find a whistle before the 1730 Mandatory Athletes Meeting -- how hard can that be? It seemed like a simple task, after all this was  a lake community with kayaking and boating which requires whistles. This logic may have been reasonable if it was May or June and the tourism of the lake would be in full swing. But here at the beginning of April the lake was not a hopping location and the lake front harbor stores were not open for business. We drove on. Next stop a Dollar General- nope.Then a Fire and EMS Department- nope, doors locked. Then an auto parts store- nope. Then a second Dollar General- nope. Then we call a few suggested places- nope, nope, and nope. Then a few gas stations- nope. Then Tractor Supply- nope (but they had baby chicks, adorable, and they make a lot of noise). On the way through the town we passed a Sheriff's station, a last resort; which was quickly making its way to the top of the list. Next stop Wal-Mart (a place we don't frequent in our normal lives)- YES!!! Old school coaching whistles, TWO PACK!! Game on!!!

SwimRun Lake James Photo

We check out and literally run across the parking lot back to the Jeep, jump in, and take to the mountain roads. We cleared the hills and valleys and twists and turns, to arrive back at the park, just in time to get through check-in with all supplies in hand and still managing a smile. Now, let me go ahead and tell you there are extra whistles in the Jeep already.

We sat through the athletes meeting about supply stops, blazes (trail markings), and the course. In all honestly this meeting made me a bit nervous. Initially I felt good on the cut off times but as the list of turns and swims and turns added up my math started to fail me and the task at hand was making me nervous. This is where having a calm partner is beneficial. Patrick simply told me, "We'll be fine." Then smiled and we were off to the hotel for a restless night's sleep. About that sleep, it wasn't race jitters, it was the hotel neighbor playing ESPN at top volume through the night. I now know way too much about this baseball season.

As usual race morning came right on time. Up, shower, repack, dress... breakfast?? What??? We never get breakfast, especially not at the hotel. But the hotel started breakfast at 0600, and with race time not until 0800 we had time to eat like normal people on vacation.

After breakfast we headed out to the race site. Which unlike "normal" road events, is in the middle of a state park. A peaceful place at 0630. As the sun lit the day, we met other athletes, laughed as our wetsuits were all too small (a common problem each time you put on your perfectly sized wetsuit), and we listened to Tom Petty be cut short by announcements. An exciting bonus to this race was Patrick's Mom was able to come see us leave out (and finish). It was awesome to see familiar and excited faces as we left out on our adventure.

The National Anthem played, a deep breath was drawn in, a final kiss to my partner, and GO!!! Right quick let me say, I love race starts no matter the race. I love the National Anthem sing along; I love the vibe; I love the smiles. But in SwimRun (especially mid/back pack) there is another sound- LAUGHTER, more like giggles. See this group is the group that knows we will be out there for a while, but we also know the person with us is our best buddy (for a lifetime or just for the day) and we would not want to be out there with any one else.

As we leave out we are back of the pack. Remember that whole "oh my wetsuit shrunk" comment? Well, for me my wetsuit did not shrink and I did not get bigger, my wetsuit just does not fit. You see Patrick and I don't (well didn't, more on that later) have SwimRun wetsuits that have pockets and front zippers and cool features. What we do have is Patrick in a surfer Seadoo shorty and me in a Blue Seventy tri wesuits with the sleeves and legs cut short. The reason my suit was ideal for cutting was it never fit; not the arms, the legs or the torso, none of it fit. SwimRun was originally a one time race so we felt no need to upgrade. Then on the second go around the idea was, "well this worked last time." So here we are running and swimming in a surfer wetsuit and a too small wetsuit.

The factor of my suit being too small, in addition to gloves and sleeves added on took their effect in the first two mile run when I started to overheat a little. Plus I was running in an odd arm due to the new sleeves and poor posture position due to the wetsuit being too short. At about a mile I took off my left glove to help temperature regulation. I also walked for a minute to stretch out. Patrick was giving me grace, which was good because I told him he had to be like our friend L. Bacon who on a ten mile trail run recently was motivational and patient. The phrase I would say to Patrick was "be like Bacon", to "Bacon patience", to "BP". And he was very patient as the athletes in front of us gained ground and I paused to stretched my calves out. Unfortunately, Patrick's mom came by leaving the park as I was walking, but she was still full smiles and kind words. They waved and wished us luck.

SwimRun Lake James Photo

SwimRun Lake James Photo

Soon we could see the bridge that would be the first turn into the woods and would mark that we were only a few more steps from our first dive into the mountain waters. As we weaved through the trees and brush, following the well hung blazes, I could see other teams prepping to enter the water. This race marked the swim outs really well (which is awesome); they were marked with US flags and strobe lights. The flags were easy to see and to judge that you were actually getting closer-- with trees as the only other measure we were glad to have something easy to find in sighting.

SwimRun Lake James Photo

I hit the water first and Patrick right behind me. The water was breath taking- beautiful and cold. Unlike at home where the salt water rushes your senses, you taste it and feel the salt against your face, in the fresh water it is a different feeling and taste. The water is clean but with a hint of mud. I wonder if those first to hit the water tasted it or if this is only after it has been churned up from those before. This first time in the water I kept off my glove (which was shoved in my wetsuit), mostly just not thinking about it. It did not seem too bad, but this was only 800 yards.

At last swim.

We found out quickly that putting on swim caps and goggles with gloves was more difficult than expected, leading to Patrick having goggles that often times did not seal properly. This made finding that happy place where your goggles fill with just a little water to swish and clear the fog very difficult.

We hit the next runs and swims with little problems. The segments were longer swims and shorter runs. This would be a theme in the second half of the race as well. I began to notice that this short time on the land was causing me to get cold fast, it seemed warming the water in my wetsuit to keep me warm was draining my body heat. For the first half of the event this was not a big deal but I knew what was in front of us.

After about 3 running miles and 1800 swimming yards we were at the first aid station. I was glad to find a smiling face saying we were ahead of the first time cut off. When you are in the woods almost alone, it seems like the drop line is hot on your heels; knowing this was not the case eased my mind. We grabbed Tailwind and water and headed out on the long run. With over seven miles to run I went from being cold to being very warm. The best I could do to help with temperature regulation was to take off my gloves and unzip the wetsuit. Since our wetsuits zipped in the back it was an interesting feat to get it unzipped. Over the bib, under the bib; oh, and then thinking the zipper strap was attaching me. Before the race, Patrick and I had agreed that if we needed to take off layers or make adjustments we would stop to do so just to be safe. Guess what I did not do? Yep, I was running behind Patrick while making adjustments. I got the zipper unzipped and went to take off my gloves in that moment a root jumped out of no where and attacked me. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but as I was headed head first into the trees and briars my glove let loose, I may have said a curse word or two, and Patrick asked if I needed to stop. I quick stepped just enough to catch myself with only a single push back from a tree. Nope, I was good to go- except for the other pesky glove I needed to take off. Gloves off and stuffed down my wetsuit, I was back to "normal".

SwimRun Lake James Photo

This long run took us through beautiful woods, quiet woods. We ran and walked and ran some more, Patrick always remembering to approach the situation with "BP". In this stretch we hit the route elevation, up and down and up. It was nothing like the climb we had for SwimRun NC but it did prove a challenge. We also went past abandoned houses with satellite dishes, camp grounds, and fire roads. I hummed songs, like the theme to Gummy Bears and Walking on Sunshine. As we approached the end of this long run we found ourselves facing the longest swim for the event, just under a mile. Once again we got notice that we were ahead of the cut off and not at risk of getting pulled. There were still a few teams behind us, making us not feel alone in the quiet. There were times we would hear the other teams talk or laugh, times when we would see a glimpse of green or orange through the dense trees. It was nice to know we were all in this together.

SwimRun Lake James Photo

We approached the long swim just behind another team. The kayaker pointed to a flag in the distance and a strobe light that could barely be seen, then made the comment, "Its just over there, sight the mountain". I just smiled and pointed, "over there". Ok let's do this. We had gear all back on and were zipped back up. Step, step, step... and swim. This was a large lake crossing, 1600 yards. I had to laugh a few hundred yards into the swim, because what land people and kayakers don't realize is that at water level the mountain gets hidden behind the trees quickly. It seems like a great idea to start with but the hint of heading for the side of the island ended up being a much better spotting point. In the middle of the lake a boat passed in the distance.  Given that we swim around boats frequently this part we were will trained for, in minutes the waves came over us and rocked us back and forth. Unlike back home the waves were consistent as there was only one boat and they were smooth since there was no wind to complicate things. After a few pauses to adjust goggles we made it across the lake. Cold we stumbled a little up the bank and into the woods. Here is where things got a little more "interesting".

Last Swim

Again the quick land masses led way to water again. Each time our bodies warmed water in our wetsuits it was drained out by the land crossing leaving space for the cold water to come in again and again as we dove into the water. Fill and drain, fill and drain. The time on the islands was only minutes. Of course I used this land time to make a fool of myself. As we crossed one island I was looking at the next swim out and stepped down the bank carefully as Patrick had told me to do, just not carefully enough. As I laughed sitting there on my butt in the clay/mud, I stated, "well, that's going to bruise". I guess it was loud enough to make the team behind us chuckle then I heard one partner say to the other, "we should be careful here." At least I was helping others!!

Last Swim

In this over hill and dale section we came to a point where there was a buoy but no visual of the out point. All of a sudden some how we were totally alone. We eventually waded out in the water to be able to look around the point and see the out. "Found it," I yelled to Patrick. Once the swim was over he mentioned recalling something from the athletes meeting about there being a buoy to swim to and then we would see the out. Hey we found that spot, too bad we forgot about that conversational point until after standing on the shore for a few minutes.

Last Swim

After this we ran past the final check point still ahead of time. One more long swim (1300 yards), two more land crossings, two more short water crossings, and one final hill to run up to the finish. It seems like a lot but we were nearing the end. As we approached the water for the 1300 yard swim we spoke to one of the race directors, Kristen, who appeared comfy in the Fish and Wildlife Boat. She was friendly and made sure we were okay. It seems we always run into a race director near the end. This is one of those things about the SwimRun events that we have done that I appreciate- the RDs are on the course not only for safety but to be a support and a friendly face in a much needed moment.

We headed out into the water, last long swim. On this swim we were accompanied by a kayaker and then two. Along the way Patrick was fixing and clearing his goggles, which made the kayakers a little nervous. Maybe because after a long day in cold waters a swimmer who was floating face down for a moment then flipping on his back seems like a swimmer in trouble. I assured the kayaker that my buddy was okay and that it was just a need to clear his goggles. I was happy for their protection but I had to laugh a little, mostly because it was late in a long day and even if I had to drag him we were finishing this on our own. But I knew I wasn't going to need to drag him but if we hung out in the water longer he might be needing to drag my ashore.

Yes I was laughing at his fall.

Up on land after this swim it was clear we were close. A half a mile run, then

New Zone 3 suits- Ready for Next Time

water, then a skip on land, then we heard it the finish line. More so what we heard was Patrick's mom yelling, "there they are!!!" She was so delighted which made me smile. Of course in true team Decision-Making Paradigm" fashion I entered the water gracefully (ha ha ha) and Patrick hit his head on a small branch distracting him from the branch in the water he tripped over. We started this race laughing, we would finish the same way. Across the last of the water and up the steep boat ramp hill. Kristen was there cheering and encouraging us-- oh and telling us that our next SwimRun we would be dawning new wetsuits form Zone3. Super excited about this win!!

That's Kristen running up the hill too.

The finish line came into view at the top of the hill. I can here Patrick's mom cheering behind us. As we hit the gates leading us to the finish I reach out my hand to Patrick and again hand in hand we cross the finish line. This is my favorite part of the day. Not only is it the end to a long day or an accomplishment of making it through this challenge, but for us it is one more notch on our belt of marriage. I can't imagine spending this time with anyone else I know now one could be so patient or make me laugh so hard. I suspect one day he will want to race tied to a faster and quieter partner, but for today he has ME and he doesn't seem to mind.

We crossed the finish line smiles and hugs and yes again laughter. Oh, and burritos!!!!

SwimRun Lake James was an exciting adventure with mud, briars, canopying trees, clear waters, and fun. Over 14 miles of running and 3.5 miles of swimming for SwimRun Lake James. Each running mile filled with the beauty of spring buds and the swimming miles smooth. We hope to return next year to SwimRun Lake James and to do a few other races of the SwimRun sort.



We ended our trip with snow and family!!!