.cholo's 2000.

I swam, I wasn't eaten by sharks or beaten too horribly [physically or emotionaly] by other swimmers, I survived.

Mari and I found the North Shore [poop on anyone who mocks our wonderful navigational skills!] and scored some excellent parking right above the Bay. The Hongies were already there so we frolicked about the beach and rolled in lots of sand for a good two hours until the 9:00 am start. [Excerpt for Kathrine, Florence and other friends who know me well enough to know that I don't smile. I was walking back from the showers when a man stopped me and said that I looked like I was walking to my execution. Grrrrrrrrr]

The event in and of itself was longer and much more painful than I thought it would be, quite possibily because I had to lie to myself in order to be convinced to go through with the ordeal. At 9 am [after the briefed us on the contorted course which started in the front right hand corner of the bay, had us swimming diagonally across of it, between a channel, and circling back around] we walked down to the h2o's edge. The women were in the first group, men in the second, and as we walked down to the beach, people just started to jump into the h2o and swim. Mari and I took it as the race was starting, however, they were just lining up at the start point [which apparently is in the middle of the ocean and requires a lot of h2o treading and jostling to not have your personal bubble invaded - NOT RECOMMENDED IF YOU'RE NOT STRONG SWIMMER/CANNOT TREAD H2O IN CLOSE QUARTERS/HAVE A VERY SMALL PERSONAL BUBBLE.

Eventually the race started and I lost Mari in the first two seconds but managed to keep close to my little cousin [and even then I was only able to recognize her because of her purple cap and bright pink goggle straps]. The first leg, diagonally across the bay and through the channel was the longest. Particularly since I've never done an open h2o swim [and since the h2o in Waimea appears from the shore, deceptively tranquil] I thought it would be like swimming laps in the pool sans flip turns but I was WRONG. Whenever we got close to land [like through the channel or near Buoy B which is against a cliff] the waves would throw us all over the place. At one point someone swam over me, a few times I hit peoples feet and arms, and I kicked someone [hopefully not in the face]. The whole time I was swimming I told myself I would never, ever do it again. But a good ten minutes back on land, and I changed my mind. Not only do I need redemption after having my little cousin beat me and Mari stealing the third place finish, but I think that better prepared [and with more training] it would be fun. Granted it's not the walk in the park, look-at-all-the-sea-turtles-and-clear-h2o that other's had depicted it as, but it's a fun little tryst in the h2o nonetheless. I got to talk about swimming and surfing with Mari [like how if we ever get pregnant we're going to have to have our babies cut out of us prematurely so that we can get back into the h2o and/or also plan the months of conception - conceiving in August/September is ideal so that we'd only be missing winter surf] eat Matsumoto shave ice, roll around in the sand, look at cute haole surfer/swimmer guys, etc. Next year I think more people should play with Mari and I. If we can do it so can you [maybe ... we are pretty damn good ... KIDDING].



Mari placed 3rd in our division for women 20-24. Sucker was supposed to take out the 2nd place girl so I could have a cool little coin too!


Everyone checking the results after the race.

Lesley and I ... after the breather I took collapsing onto the sand. :pCOOL ankle tags! I thought they were used to find us [and/or our bodies if we ever got lost at sea] but they're REALLY used to track your time once you go over the mat at the finish line. I wanted to take mine home with me but the guys are very careful that no one leaves with their tag ... sad.

.results from Cholo's 2000.

Overall I placed 102 out of 396 swimmers and 4th in my age group. Next year, right???


And a text that made my heart smile:

It felt empty without u. Even Delbert asked about u.

YAY. Tommorow I'm getting up at 5:00 to be in the h2o by 5:30 am ... gotta make up for the past two surfless days.