1st Open Water Swim- Ocean Style



This is what it felt like...

 Today I did a first for me, I did my first open water swim in the ocean, and I loved it. This was always a reason I said I did not want to do an Ironman where there was an ocean swim. I was afraid of swimming in the ocean becasue...I live in TN. We have zero ocean front property! and I do not want ot be eaten by anything.

The Atlantic Ocean was very calm yesterday evening, so my wife said, "Honey, we should open water swim out there tomorrow if it stays this calm."  I admit, part of me wanted it to be choppy and not swimable today. But when I woke up and looked out the window, I saw calm waters with gentle waves breaking close to the beach, which meant we did not have to go to far out to get to a good place to swim. So I decided, today was the day to conquer that fear.



This is what I expected to happen...

 My other thought was this, and it is a stupid one, but I was worried about what to wear. Do I wear my jammers and be "that guy" on the beach in a speedo tight suit (no, not a speedo-speedo) or do I wear my normal beach bathing suit?? I really struggled with this decision, but I decided to wear my normal bathing suit. It was totally a different feeling than normal when swimming and I felt like I was going to lose my suit several times, but I felt better knowing that I could then hang there on the beach.

So, my wife and I went out and swam. we swam about 250 yards one way, then stopped and turned around, so about 500 yards in total. I can't say that it was much different than any other OWS I have done, except for the saltwater taste I had in my mouth. Other than that, it was great, and I will most likely do it again this week.

Thanks for reading!