San Francisco, California
It was a great day for this race. The water was 60 degrees. Last time I swam it was 55 degrees. Let me tell you that 5 degrees makes a big difference. It was sunny for the swim. The water was much choppier than last time making for a rough swim. Sighting was difficult because of the swell, but I hit the beach at Crissy Field just right. Last time I had to swim parallel to the beach for quite some time. My swim time was slower, but they say you really can’t compare Alcatraz swim times. Each day is different. Different currents, different conditions make Meaningful comparison impossible.
Unlike last time I did this swim, I had to run 7 miles after I got out of the water. I struggled to find my run legs today. At a little over a mile we hit this staircase that really tightened my calves up. It is quite an elevation gain in a short distance. Once I got up to the bridge I found myself continually praying that my right leg would loosen up so I could run normally. I stopped for a few seconds twice to try to release the cramping with no success. I crossed the entire bridge in pain, but once I hit the aid station at the turn around I stopped to drink a cup of water and after that 3 second stop I ran pain free an normal for the rest of the run. In fact, my Garmin watch had my mile average at over 11 minutes per mile at the turn around and I was able to run that average down to a 9:09 mile average by the finish. The bridge was shrouded in clouds and made for a cool run. This has got to be the greatest Aquathlon ever! The finisher medal was awesome. It had a run swim side and a run side to the medal. I thought that was clever.
This is the path we follow during the swim, The current pulls us towards the bridge which you can’t see the bridge in this picture because it is shrouded in clouds, which is typical in my experience.
