It was a swarm of people. 2100+ competitors plus the 3000 or so volunteers swamped the area. Not to mention all of the family and friends there to cheer their athletes on or help them get ready.
It wasn’t terribly cold, but with a breeze, it was cold enough to hold off as long as possible stripping down to my swimwear. I waited to put on the wetsuit until the last possible minute – which was about an hour before race start, since I still had to wait in a ridiculous line for the portajohns.
The pros race started at 6:50, ours started at 7, so at 6:30 they started herding us to the waters edge. Like lemmings, we jumped off the pier, and into the water, since we actually had to swim to the start of the swim portion. I know, weird.
I held off until after the pros started, and with about 6 minutes to go, I jumped in…and just about jumped back out of the water – it was cold! Official temp was 63 degrees. Only a few of us didn’t have full-length wetsuits – I had one that I borrowed from my friend/colleague Todd that was sleeveless. I wore a swim cap under my race swim cap, and still my forehead hurt like I was in the winter winds of Michigan without a hat. I swam up to the start area, which kind of warmed me up enough to tolerate treading water until the cannon went off.
Then it was a mass of humanity.
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