A first and a last

Last weekend was one with two exciting events, in two separate states. On Saturday, I had my first ever grappling tournament in Wake Forest, NC. Then on Sunday I went to Smith Mountain Lake Virginia, for my last open water race of the season. I had very different approaches to these 2 events:

VS.

As you know, I have been around the lake a few times. So when I swim I am pretty cool and collected. Whether I am in shape or not, the open water is my element. I go into races relaxed, believing that I will do well. This confidence can be beneficial but on the flip side, I have a hard time getting myself psyched up. I approach the race start with a resting pulse rate of around 60. I listen to some aggressive rap music, take some quick, shallow breaths, and maybe - just maybe - I can get my pulse up to a pounding 65. Hell Yeah!

The mat, however, is a different realm. I went into my first tournament shaking in my rashguard. I had a crazy dream the night before that I was retaking calculus and forgot to withdrawl from the class and now had to cram for tomorrow's midterm, lest I fail. Now, you might argue that this dream is about sucking at math (true, I scraped through calculus II with a less than stellar B-) but the inner psychologist in me attributes it to performance anxiety (no, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter).

The morning of the tournament, my heart felt like it was racing along at about 312 beats per minute. I paced around, chatted incessantly, and couldn't touch the breakfast I had packed. In an open water race, you might get swum over or slammed into a buoy, but this was stepping it up a notch. These gals were out to choke me or break my arm.

Once I was on the mat with the clock running, however, all I was aware of were my opponent's limbs and my coach's voice telling me how to bend those limbs the wrong way. I won both of my matches by submission and left the tournament wishing I had more matches to roll. And my team won for overall team points! Here are the videos from my 2 fights:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=567078423251&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=567077739621&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=567074975161&ref=mf



Now, in the grand scheme of things, I still basically suck at Jiu Jitsu. I will continue to suck for some time, because it takes a really, really long time to get good. But among novice women, I seem to do ok! So, if you are a female of low skill level who's been thinking about attacking me, all I can say is DON'T!! There's a very good chance I can take you. However, if you are a dude or a chick with some skills who's been thinking of attacking me, well, still please don't. Chances are you can take me, and I don't want to get beat up.

The Smith Mountain Lake swim was fun as usual. My DAMA teammates represented well in the 5K. We camped out in a cabin, took a good old-fashioned snipe hunt, and told some very frightening stories around the campfire. The 1 mile swim was on Sunday morning. I was the 1st one out of the water in my wave, the age 20 and up old farts. One girl beat me from an earlier wave though, a scrappy 16 year old.

Now, the weather is getting colder and there will be no more open water races until spring. Boo! There will, however, be more grappling tournaments. Next time I will try to woman up and be less chicken.

Nuclear swim

Two weeks ago was the last race in the FS Triangle Open Water Swim Series. As with last year, it was a very well run series of races, with chip timing, good post-race refreshments, and fast awards.

In this race, there was a $100 cash prize for the male and female overall winners, which made things a bit more competitive!

The guys started 10 min ahead of the ladies, which was good for Kevin, since he would not have the option of hanging back to draft off of me.

I won the ladies' race by the narrow margin of 1 second. Sheesh! Way too close for comfort. Here is a tape of the finish:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=438323353704&ref=mf

Kevin lost the guys' race by a heartbreaking 3 seconds (don't tell him, but I think the ladies finish was a lot scrappier)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=438325513704&ref=mf


I also want to give a shout out to my friend Cynthia Aguilar, who attempted to break the world paddleboard record by paddleboarding 130 miles from Cuba to Key West. Here at Channel drop out, we are supportive of all those who attempt crazy endurance events, especially those that are water-based.




After spending 17 hours on the board in the middle if the ocean, Cynthia was pulled out of the water, short of her goal. Man of wars and hypothermia cut this attempt short, but Cynthia will be getting back on her board, giving it another try! To support her efforts and raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation, go to http://keeppaddlin.org/