Reston 1 + 2 = 3 Mile Swim

May 23, 2015

Another swim I said I wouldn't do this year...but fear of FOMO got the best of me and I caved. A search for other open water swims this weekend turned up nothing in the area. So, Jim McDonnell it was! 

1 Mile

The 1 miler was mostly a warm up for the 2 miler and it took me a while to get in the groove. I felt tired and seemed to be going in slow motion. WTH? Maybe doing hours of yardwork the day before wasn't such a good idea. Or maybe I just suck. Whatever the case, I finished a couple minutes slower than last year.

2 Miles

I felt much better during the 2 miler. Hallelujah! I quickly got into the groove and, checking my watch a few times, felt like I was on track to beat last year's time. Great, I thought, all of the laps and the Crossfitting were going to pay off! 

But after I rounded the final turn and headed toward the finish, I was startled to hear a kayaker yelling at me to STOP. Glancing up I saw the paddle she had thrust in front of me. What the---?  She told me they were "bringing someone in." 

Looking to my left I saw what she was talking about-- a rescue boat...paramedics performing CPR on a swimmer...it didn't look good. The boat reached the shore and the rescuers began moving the swimmer from the boat to an ambulance, still working on him.  A race official yelled at me to start swimming again, so I did. 

As I stepped out of the water, the scene unfolding next to me looked dire. The race staffers told me to keep moving. A group of Team Zers ushered me over -- they were standing together nearby, watching the sober scene. The paramedics continued to work on the swimmer as a woman --maybe a relative-- sobbed next to him.  

We managed to catch a glimpse of his face as they transferred him to the ambulance and I gasped as I realized that I recognized him! He was an older man whom I spoke with briefly before the swim. We were all joking around about something, can't remember what. During the swim, we played tag for a while.  He was faster than me and would swim ahead, stop to tread water, I would pass him, and then he would swim ahead of me again. This continued until about the halfway point when I lost sight of him. 

We later found out that he had died. A sad ending to this year's Jim McDonnell and a reminder of life's unpredictability. You've gotta squeeze every last drop of adventure out of life because you just never know...

Next up:  The Bay!