I DID IT...YAY!!!!

I was very nervous this morning and it shows in this pic, but I did it....I am still on a high, although I'm knackered now. I jumped around the bedroom and eased into the bottom part of my wetsuit...hooray it fit!...and then headed off to the Quays. There were over 9000 swimmers taking part in the swim and I was number 2485. I was in the yellow wave and I swam at 11am.

The forecast was dire with rain, hail and flash floods, but as I started the sun made an appearance. The water was 20.5 degrees which is so much better than New Year's Day when it only just managed to climb to 5 degrees...but it was still cold. When I got in to the acclimatisation part it took my breath away. We did a few warm up exercises and then it was ready...steady...GO!

Now I have practised hard in the pool at my freestyle but I just couldn't regulate my breathing and I ended up doing breast stroke which is bad for my knee, although the wetsuit acted as a splint which helped. The whole event is only a mile and in the pool that is no problem for me...but in the open water, well it felt like ten miles. The first half was hard, but I pulled myself together and got into a good rhythm in the second part. Ideally I wanted to finish in forty five minutes, but my time was 00:51:35...which I suppose isn't too bad for my first go.

It was wonderful to see the finish on the last leg. I pushed hard and reached it, but when I got out my legs were like jelly and it took a while for the shakes to subside. I was so pleased that I had some supporters with me. Jennifer came down and we met up with Kath who was a superstar and took all the pics for me. Sian came down and walked dockside all the way round, I looked up half way and saw Julian had arrived too. When I eventually reached the finish there was Debbie....they were all soggy from the torrential rain that was falling by then but I was so happy that they had all come down to support me...what fabulous friends!!!

I got dressed and then in my Great Manchester Swim T-shirt we went for a drink and the first cake I've eaten in two months...but I needed to celebrate! What a brilliant adrenalin rush it all was...a wonderful experience.

Results: Overall I was 1860th. I was 885th out of all the women. In the 45-49 age group I came 275th...not bad out of over 9000 swimmers.

So I have now completed the first thing on my Fifty For Fifty list...now to plan the next thing :)