{"id":2071,"date":"2012-06-11T21:36:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T02:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2012-06-11T23:21:31","modified_gmt":"2012-06-12T04:21:31","slug":"flowers-tough-sea-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=2071","title":{"rendered":"Flowers (tough) Sea Swim"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday was the 20th annual Flowers Sea Swim. \u00a0 \u00a0This year, 831 swimmers (registration was closed since it was limited to +- that number) and an\u00a0additional\u00a0100 or so “walkers” joined in the fun. \u00a0 The day was perfect ; sunny and hot.<\/p>\n

Here is the start area on Seven Mile beach, 1h before race time. \u00a0This is directly in front on the Ritz-Carlton hotel. (The end of the race was at the Royal Palm)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the start of the race, I made my way to … the bathroom at the Ritz-Carlton. \u00a0Ill spare you the details. \u00a0 Right outside of the door to the (luxurious) restrooms, this fellow was just chilling in the shade. \u00a0 Of course I could not resist and petted him\/her for a little while. \u00a0 Although I assume this is a stray, the kitty sure chose a nice spot to hang out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So the race started. \u00a0It must have been at least 35 degrees outside. A touch of wind and some …. arrrgh … current. \u00a0That made the race that much more difficult. \u00a0 The start looked like this…. i’m somewhere out far from the shore, and near the back, getting out of the way of the fast swimmers. I may be a fast runner, but fast swimmer I aint!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In any case, we are off to the races. \u00a0 The scenario for me during this 1-mile race is always (this is my 3rd Flowers Sew Swim) something along these lines:<\/p>\n

– 1\/4 mile in : What on earth did I get myself into???<\/p>\n

– 1\/2 \u00a0mile : \u00a0The finish line does not seem to be getting any closer!!!!! \u00a0What gives????<\/p>\n

– 3\/4 mile : Enough already! \u00a0Drinking this much sea water can’t possibly be good for me.<\/p>\n

– Finish : YAY. \u00a0Now for copious amounts of pizza and I am already looking forward to start all over next year. \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0(for the record, I\u00a0ate 6 slices of pizza at the food stand where all swimmers are fed post-race)<\/p>\n

So, what are the results you ask.<\/p>\n

The winner, a guy from Australia, swam the 1-mile in 18 minutes and 39 seconds. \u00a0Yours truly, did it on a slightly longer time \ud83d\ude42 \u00a053 minutes and 43 seconds.<\/p>\n

Also, there was one world record attempt and it was successful. \u00a0 Some guy from Italy swam the entire mile with handcuffs on his ankles and wrists. (!?!?!?!) \u00a0He essentially swam like a dolphin the whole way. \u00a0Do I need to specify that he came in dead last? \u00a0Here he is, having his cuffs removed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Being the geek that I am, I swam with my GPS watch so I could see my path. \u00a0As you can see, I started out a few hundred feet out (most swimmers stay close to the shore) and then slowly made my way to shore where the finish was. \u00a0I am quite glad to be able to see this, since I have to be honest, I was expecting to see much more zig-zag in my swim line. \u00a0I’m not fast, but swim straight!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next race is June 15th, 2013! \u00a0If you can be in Cayman at that time, I highly recommend it. \u00a0The time limit for the swim is 75 minutes and almost everyone finishes it. \u00a0 The Flowers Sea Swim is the “richest” one of its kind. \u00a0100,000$ of prizes (most of them being random prizes that are donated … I won a gift certificate to a local store) and the actual entry money all goes to local charities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday was the 20th annual Flowers Sea Swim. \u00a0 \u00a0This year, 831 swimmers (registration was closed since it was limited to +- that number) and an\u00a0additional\u00a0100 or so “walkers” joined in the fun. \u00a0 The day was perfect ; sunny and hot. Here is the start area on Seven Mile beach, 1h before race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-in-cayman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2090,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions\/2090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}