Sweet press in Bangor

Well, back to reality here in Massachusetts, but have a little more boasting to do about our great weekend in Rockland for the Rockland Breakwater swim. As promised, here is a short synopsis of the race in Rockland.

When we got up early on Saturday, the rain had already been falling for some time, but the forecasted wind had not yet arrived. That was good news, but I called Greg to see if he knew anything about whether the race was still on or not. He was enroute from Natick and somewhere near Bath when I called at about 7:30, but had no additional information. I then called the number for Doug that was listed on the entry form and got his voice mail which said that the race was still on as planned. Good news! So Mark and I got our things together, sprinted through the enormous, tasty breakfast at the Berry Manor and hit the road for the Breakwater. As we got closer, the rain and wind were picking up.

The race check-in was soggy beyond all recognition. The path to the breakwater was all muddy puddles and the swimmers and organizers who did turn up were huddled under umbrellas and bundled up in heavy coats and ponchos. The air temp couldn't have been much over 55 and it was pouring. I checked in and got my cap. Then we had the race briefing.

The only concession made to the dreary weather was to shorten the race just a bit. Instead of rounding the end of the breakwater and doing a tiny loop on the other side of the rock jetty, we were told to touch the ramp at the lighthouse and make the turn there. It lopped off about .2 miles from each loop, so the shorter race would be roughly 1.4 miles while the longer race would clock in at roughly 2.8 miles (instead of the planned 3.2 miles). While I personally love the far side of the breakwater because it's colder and rougher, in the conditions we had on Saturday, I think it was a very wise decision to keep us on the lee side of the breakwater, which did its job beautifully. (We have a photo of the contrast in conditions between the two sides which I will post soon.)

By the time we got down to the water to begin the race, the wind had really picked up. The only place where it was tolerable was on the beach right next to the breakwater, as that totally shielded the wind. Stripping down in the rain and wind to my bathing suit was chilly, but getting into the 60 degree water was a relief- it was warmer than being on land!

The race went well. I think I did it in about 1:18:40 (at least by my watch) but because of the terrible weather, we didn't have an awards session afterwards. (All awards will be mailed and final results posted on the Maine Masters web site.) I came in just about 30 seconds or so behind Greg, which is good- he's fast, so if I'm hanging with him, all's right with the world. I felt good and strong the whole way, and dodging the lobster pot buoys was fun- a bit like a slalom course!

As soon as we finished, Mark met Greg and me at the water's edge with towels and we trudged back up to the car. The wind had increased dramatically in the hour-plus that we were swimming, so much so that it had begun to shred Mark's poncho, and little bits of bright yellow plastic ripped off and were floating in the surf.

At the car, Greg and I attempted to dry off, and were moving to get into the car when a reporter from the Bangor Daily News approached and asked if I would meet her downtown later (once we had all dried off!) to do an interview. Wow, a face-to-face interview! That's a first for me. We went back to the inn, got showered and dried off and headed to the pub, where Abby met us for the interview. It was neat- she conduced a very thorough interview and put together a great article. I'm incredibly flattered, and this is just one of those little things that make me like this race even more. I mean seriously, how cool is this? The story is the leading one on the sports web page on the Bangor Daily News web site.
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/118327.html

So after lunch, Mark and I said goodbye to Greg who was driving right back down to Massachusetts. We poked around in some shops and tried, unsuccessfully, to stay dry. We got soaked by a car driving though a puddle on the way back to the inn. Thankfully, they had turned on the fireplace in the room, so we were able to dry our clothes and snuggle up next to the fire. We had another great dinner at In Good Company on Main Street, (http://www.yelp.com/biz/in-good-company-rockland) and then, sadly, it was Sunday and time to make our way home. But the weather was great on Sunday morning and we did a little more wandering around Rockland and went out to Owls Head Light to check out the lighthouse there. Beautiful! http://www.lighthouse.cc/owls/

Another great Rockland weekend in the rearview mirror...