The Beginning

I am a physics grad student at the University of Texas at Austin. I swam at Bryn Mawr College as an undergrad and was middle to back of the pack. When I was 12 one of my friends did the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim and I thought that was so cool. When I decided to make a list of the things I would like to do in life, the first three on there were run a marathon, ride a bull and swim the Chesapeake Bay. From college up until a year ago I turned into a complete couch potato. I would play Ultimate Frisbee in the summer and took Kung Fu lessons, but other than that, nothing. My friend Cindy, who I pretty much credit with overhauling my life, convinced me to do the Danskin triathlon. This was three weeks before the event and she drastically overestimated my fitness level. Well for three weeks I worked my body harder than I thought possible, often to the point of complete collapse and finished the triathlon in a reasonable time. It was an amazing experience. I got hooked and throughout the summer trained and did the Dilloman Triathlon in September and knocked about 15 min. off my time. I was then convinced to do the swim leg of the IronStar triathlon. The swim was 1.2 miles and it sounded fun. I did well and our team, Splash Grind Mosey, got third, mostly due to the amazing biking a running, but still, I helped. I was mentally rougher than I would like to admit. I'm not afraid of open water, but damn, you have a lot of time alone in your own mind when you swim for that long. I thought of giving up, not because I couldn't do it physically, but because I didn't know if I could do it mentally. There is almost no noise when you are swimming and all you can do is think. People go crazy from that! Well after that training I decided this year was the year to conquer The Bay. I signed up for the lottery, sent in my IronStar swim time and I am on the list. Let the training and nerves begin!