This year, I had the honor of kayaking for the winner of the 18th TBMS! It was a very different swim this year. Nice winds made it a little wavy, but also gave the swimmers a push and every single one finished. JC kayaked a RECORD 18 hours and 9 minutes. His swimmer quite literally broke the record for the longest TBMS swim ever, coming in just after 1:00AM.
Watching my swimmer made me a little envious that I did not have similar conditions, but paddling beside a swimmer also gave me lots of time to think about the true team aspect of marathon swimming, and the differences and surprising similarities between kayaking and swimming a marathon swim.
As we passed race director Ron Collins roughly three quarters of the way into the race, he asked if paddling or swimming TBMS was easier. Well, paddling was quite a bit easier, of course! I was surprised also at how quickly the time went, compared to how time seems to stop as though you have enter some sort of alternative universe when you are swimming. There is so much to do when you are paddling. Feed the swimmer. Stay on the course. Watch the stroke rate. Take care of your own paddling and nutrition.
A marathon swimmer at heart, though, I would still be hard pressed to say kayaking was necessarily better though. And some things were scarily the same! I had the same songs that frequently get stuck in my head while singing, numbered the day off by counting the number of feeds, and had random thoughts pop into my head to occupy my time.
Saturday was simply a splendid day; I am extremely proud of my swimmer and I have an even deeper appreciation for everyone who has supported me for all of my marathon swims. Similarly to when I first started coaching swimming, you do not quite realize what goes into something into you get in there and do it yourself.
"Success is best when it's shared" -Howard Shultz
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