Day 76: Experiencing the open water

Calli- To be honest…I was nervous.  JAWS nervous. However, there are not many great white sharks in the Costa Rican Pacific. From what I have been told there are next to none. That did make me feel a tiny bit better. I was also worried about big waves crashing over me making it hard to get a regular breathing pattern. It was good to see that the place where we swam was low on waves. Actually, swimming in the ocean was the best experience of swimming that I have ever had. It was so peaceful and relaxing to be in water that was moving melodically all around me. Swimming in that kind of peace makes the fear subside, but I know that it will take a lot more than one day to lose it. I couldn’t be more at peace with myself right now facing that fear. Tonight will be a fun night! One fear addressed before the end of the year. 2012 here I come!

Jose- Today for the first time we had the chance to swim in the ocean. We both had different fears. My fear is to not be able to touch the bottom, which will happen for sure during the race. I also thought that swimming in the ocean was going to be way more difficult because of the waves and the water not being calm like in a pool. But after a few minutes in the water I realized that the fears went away actually very fast. Even though the water was very sandy and you were not able to see past your own arm, the sensation was great and I felt the ocean almost massaging me. We didn’t swim for long because we just wanted to experience the new “ambiance”, but the run that we did before,  around 4 km, with the noon sun shining on our shoulders, was good enough to complete the training day. We are more and more ready to start 2012 …

 “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.” ~ German Proverb