Yawn. Ms Hippo is here. /Trots into the blog after a long time away/

So, I finished the race with a 2:24:26 time, taking over an extra hour over my goal-time. As tentrillion posted, the results are in. As you can see, I finished near the bottom -- there were over a 1000 people who participated, but it looks like a good 400 people either didn't finish or finished beyond the alloted time.

The Waikiki Roughwater Swim was way harder than in a pool. Although the length of the course, 2.4miles, was what I'd practiced in a pool, I wasn't prepared for the current and all the waves. The course was marked with flags so that you could see where you were going, but unfortunately, there were so many times when waves completely blocked my view of the flags. However, the flags were just there for guidance -- to point you in the correct direction. You could have the athletic freedom to severely zig zag on both sides of the flags if you wanted to. You could swim to Japan and back if you wanted to. The only rule with regard to swimming the course was that you had to round two particular buoys (one at the beginning of the race and one at the end) in a specified way. Other than that, all flag markers in between were just for guidance. So, I definitely zig zagged a LOT -- not deliberately, but I had some issues with navigation. Even though you did have the athletic freedom in theory to severely zig zag, I suppose it was controlled to a certain extent -- an official on a kayak at some point had to stop me to tell me I was swimming too far off-course and that I should turn and swim in another direction.

Yet, even though I couldn't see the flags most of the time, it's not like it was a storm out there -- there were just way more waves than in a pool, which I wasn't prepared for. I kept getting pummeled, so I forced myself to breathe only on my right side, which faced the shore, to avoid swallowing unnecessary water. By the time 2 hours hit, I felt like I was really dying out there, because I wasn't prepared to swim much longer than 1:30; I ended up swimming really slowly by the end.

The highlight of the swim was seeing a turtle swimming on sea floor...pretty exciting! However, I soon noticed that it was swimming faster than I was, which was rather discouraging. You know a race is going poorly when a turtle is moving faster than you.

All in all, it was an ok race. I was glad that I finished but was really disappointed by my time. I think I'd be up for swim race, though perhaps in a lake. Any suggestions?

Lastly, thanks so much for all the support, enthusiasm, and smart-arse comments! The blog will continue to be in use for the next month or so until I find another race and tentrillion finishes his marathon. So please do write in with your thoughts on other race possibilities. It could even be as out-there as bog snorkeling.