Is that water not the most ridiculously inviting blue you've ever seen?!
Anyway, I did this race when I was in Istanbul for research last year, so in the interest of nostalgia for amazing swims I present my race report from the 2013 edition.
This morning I swam four miles in the Bosphorus, because it was fun and I'd been looking forward to it for the better part of a year. Now it's done and I have nothing left to live for. Rats.
Yesterday afternoon, when I went to pick up my race number, timing chip, and schwag, I ended up getting a boat tour of the course. I always like a boat ride and figured this one would be useful. We putted up to the start point on the Asian side and on the way back got all kinds of helpful information, like where to sight (middle of the 2nd bridge, middle of the power line, middle of the 1st bridge) and how to ensure you're in the right place (water in the downstream current will feel cold). Good times. The treats were good too – a duffel bag, swim cap, and bathing suit, in addition to like 5 different snacks. This was after a 13.5 mile run so I was starving the whole time and ate two of the candy bars, a pack of crackers, and a pack of cookies. If not ideal recovery food, it was at least serendipitous.
Today I got to the park about 8:10 – I thought we had to be on the boats by 8:30 but it turned out they just wanted us there by 8:30 for the 10 a.m. start. So I sat around for a while and talked to some Germans, who had also been quite punctual.
The energy on the boats was totally vibrant. Unlike a road race, all the participants were confined to a very small space and there was no opportunity to not be involved in the atmosphere. In addition to the two boats with the swimmers, there was a “VIP” boat (I have no idea who was on that) and a press boat. The press boat was fun because every time it went past, and sometimes when it didn't, most of the Turkish swimmers would break into a protest-based chant. In that way, in the sense of good-natured energetic resistance, it was very reminiscent of Gezi Park before the police cleared it out.
So we got to the start point at Kanlıca port and after watching everyone plunge off the first boat, the second boat got unloaded. From the boat dock on one side of the platform to the start itself was only about 20 yards. I'd already decided to dive in, not jump feet first, so it was just a matter of finding a clear spot in the water. Once I saw a spot I don't remember deciding to go, or telling myself to go, I just found myself hitting the water. It was fun and I wish I'd have paid more attention.
The swim itself was mostly uneventful. I recited to myself the things I was supposed to remember about the course and tried to stick to them. After passing the first bridge I found myself without any swimmers around me, so I corrected and headed back over where there were people. The only time I hit anyone or got hit was when a person stopped to fix her goggles on my right, and two other guys were on my left, so I tried to swim between them and the left-hand guy bonked me in the head, but compared to a tri swim leg there was very little physical contact. It was nice.
So I thought about my stroke, and my boyfriend, and my research, and my tri friends, and the shipwrecks I was swimming over... what I did not think about was the skeletons I was swimming over, and I told myself I could do that when I was done instead. I tried to pay attention to the shore so I could see my running route from a different perspective, but I was also having fun going fast so I didn't take too much time to gawk.
Everything was perfectly cromulent until I swam past Galatasaray Island, which we'd been instructed to NOT swim towards until after we passed it, then we could cut right and head to shore. But either I misunderstood, or they were completely wrong, or the current was being wacky, because after going right I found myself in the midst of a very strong downstream current that took me well past the finish boat. After turning toward shore I figured I needed to power across the current but totally underestimated its strength, so for about 5 minutes it felt like I was swimming up a down escalator, or whatever the water-based equivalent is. It was quite daunting for a minute and I wondered if I should stop and ask for help, but then I noticed several other people in the same boat (ha!) so I kept going and eventually made it back around to the exiting side of the platform.
The exit platform was a whole other obnoxious story – it was wayyy too crowded and every hairy man in Istanbul between the ages of 50 and 70 was smashed onto it with me. Definitely a buzzkill after my happy triumphant swim. But eventually I made my way off the boat and in the process found Joel, one of my colleagues, and was amazed that a) he made it for that part of the race and b) I was actually able to see him amongst a rather vast chunk of people.
We collected my awesome towel – those Turks know their schwag! – with its little map of the Bosphorus on it, and my finisher's certificate with a time of 51:27. That put me at 44 among the female finishers and 13 in my gender/age group. WHICH of course makes my stupid little detour even more ANNOYING – it added at least 5 minutes to my time which probably allowed at least 3 other people in my AG to finish ahead of me. Whatever. I now have written proof that as of today, I am a “Cross-Continental Swimmer” so the current can suck it.
No comments:
Post a Comment