We've written our weekly blog from many weird and wonderful locations but few have been as great as where we find ourselves on this gorgeous summer evening. Yesterday morning we jumped in the car and headed south for another one of our 'adventures', three days of quality time with our close friends Martin and Liz and our first meeting with their beautiful baby girl Ruby Rose. As luck would have it our mate Greg was also in Bournemouth this weekend and taking part in the VOTWO open water swim, it's been a while since we shared the same start line (probably Reading Half Marathon in 1999!) but we've been close mates for over 15 years and that made today's race really special.
The three of us lined up next to each other on the beach (running start into the water) and having done a few triathlons with a dry start we assured Greg that it wouldn't be that crazy... five seconds later the hooter went and five seconds after that all hell broke loose as 150 athletes set about the 3800 metres as if they were 380! Although we both did a sea swim in Lanzarote this year, the currents in Bournemouth we're much stronger and as we headed straight out for about 300 metres to the first buoy Martin and Liz wondered if our goggles had misted up as the entire field drifted way left of the first right hand turn. Sea swimming is a real skill and very different to 'still water' events, although the leaders seemed largely unaffected the rest of us faced a serious battle probably covering well over 4000 metres a piece, half of which was 'uphill'... some GPS tracking would be really interesting! In the end I finished in 66 minutes for 24th out of 133 finishers, H followed in 75 minutes and 60th overall and Greg completed his first ever Iron distance open water sea swim in 80 minutes and 74th. All three of us were super pleased (see today's photo) to conquer the most challenging OW swim conditions we've ever faced - it was tough and we got our butts kicked by some great swimmers, but we all gave it our absolute best... if anything it'll make 1500 metres in a lake at next weekend's Olympic distance triathlon seem a little easier :)
Racing over, it was time to kick back and enjoy one of the most valuable yet rare things in modern life... quality time with great friends. Greg had made the journey from Oxford with Mik, Lillia and Morris and together with Mart, Liz and Ruby we kicked back over a lazy lunch watching the world go by on the Bournemouth beach front... I'd even been strong enough to leave my phone at home (you should try it some time, although uncomfortable at first the feeling of freedom due to being out of contact is rather liberating!). An evening of chilling on the beach followed and as the sun fell on a truly wonderful day we found ourselves looking forward to a lifetime of 'adventures'....
See you next week,
T & H x
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