well the disappointment of last year is behind me with this event.. I remember sitting there, watching the race, and thinking ‘I should be doing this’. The Strand Swim is run by the Townsville Open Water Swimming Association every year over 2.5 or 5 km distances.
Obviously it is held down the Townsville Strand.. 
Well, I had my full wetsuit with me. This is generally frowned upon by the open water swimmers.. they treat it as a form of cheating in their circles.. They did not have to worry, I come last (except for one person that did not complete the distance). I have never been able to get the wetsuit on, but I have lost a little weight in the last couple of weeks, and it fit very nicely indeed. My wife described me as looking like a Teletubbie.. that’s ok I guess.. Telletubbies are cute, yes ?
Well, I really found myself very calm.. no panic. I tend to be like this when faced with actually doing something that scares me. Most of the fear happens in the days leading up to these sorts of things. The 5km swimmers were let go first, for about 10 minutes, then us 2.5km people were let go.
As usual, with any swimming race, I totally forget any form and just grind through the water for the first lap.. all I could think about for the first lap was ‘oh man, just pull out’. Luckily by the end of the first lap, I was starting to feel comfortable, and was thinking more about what I should be doing, rather than being shit scared and willing myself to fail.
My navigation was absolutely pathetic. I found myself swimming towards the island or beach.. both 90 degrees from the direction I should of been going.. I got a bit better towards the end, but of course, that is the wrong time to get good at it.
Last place.. thats cool.. I finished.. I was so frigging happy.. This big 130kg dugong in a rubber suit finished the 2.5km. I really feel like I have finally achieved something.
When I got to shore, I tried to stand up.. um.. no.. the sand was soft, and my legs had turned to jelly.. after a few attempts of standing up, I just give up and fell backwards into the water, laughing loudly.. I could hear people cheering.. so it was all worth it.
