Recently on the USMS forums, an OW newbie asked about preparing for his first OW event. Good on him! The more people that get into OW swimming, the better as far as I'm concerned. That'll mean more competitions for me.
One of his questions dealt with purchasing a wetsuit. I advised he not even wear one unless it was mandatory. (It was too late to advise him to not sign up for a wetsuit-mandatory swim as he'd already paid his entry fee.) I realized that on the day I responded to him, it was exactly five months since my 10K in the UK. Dear reader(s) of the blog know that not only was that my first 10K, but it was a mandatory wetsuit swim. Unfortunately.
Here is pictorial (pectorial? ha!) proof for why wetsuits suck. First, my wounds after swimming in the Dart river for just under three hours.
And the left side, right after the swim:
Yuck. Actual pain was minimized by my sheer excitement for having completed a marathon swim. And the beers I had at the local pub. Here's a picture of my barmaid. (For some damn reason she turned around right when I was taking her picture.)
Seriously, though, this pub had great food and, of course, beer. Especially the ever wonderful Guinness, the best post-race nutrition.
OK, back to the point of the post. Here are pictures of my scars today, a bit over five months after this marathon.
I know, barely visible. But try to look past my huge pecs. You can see the remnants of the wetsuit scraping on my chest. I know it's barely there, but point is, it is still there, more than 150 days after the race. And I haven't put that wetsuit on since!
From here on out, I will only swim naked.
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