I CAN DO IT! (CAN I DO IT?)

Well. My 2hour-10minute swim yesterday turned into 15 minutes more. 2:25, 3.2 miles!! WhooEEEE!!!

Except....

After my turnaround at 1.6 miles (1:05, I had set my watch timer for half the time I wanted to total), I found I was facing into the wind and resultant chop. I concentrated on keeping my form clean, cutting through the chop, powering through the current, felt fast and as sleek as a seal, but found at the end I'd swam the second half 15 minutes slower than the first. This could mean that, in a 2.4-mile point-to-point swim, if the wind is against me, I could be in a shoot-out with that 2:10 cutoff time. My tme at 2.4 miles yesterday was 1:43, 3 minutes faster than my previous open-water 2.4. But that's... oh, 27 minutes under the cutoff!! My previous math was off, I had counted 17 minutes and thought, uh-oh, that's cutting it close... but no, 27, whew, I should be able to do that. Whew, I'm on again!!

Linae advises me to "Be an ironman." I have the feeling she means not just in the physical sense. And even if she was referring just to my athletic hopes.... I saw immediately that it doesn't match up for me to tough it out through 3+ mile swims, 100+ mile bike rides, and be a wimp when it comes to asserting myself in life. (Carlene, are you reading? Maybe I better go back and turn 50 again....)