Celebrity Swim

A local race group hosted an open water swim Sunday morning out on Lake Travis - 2.4 miles, the IM distance.  I was excited and nervous to see (1) whether I could do it, and (2) how long it would take.  But those nerves were nothing compared to the nerves I felt upon realizing that the guy in front of me picking up his swim cap from the race coordinator was Lance Armstrong.  Here are just some of the million thoughts I had in the course of the 3 seconds between the time I realized it was him and when he walked away:

That is AWESOME!  I'm going to race against Lance Armstrong.
God, I hope he doesn't lap me.
I wonder if many swimmers dope?
I wonder if he's got any juice in his system right now?
I wonder if he'll win?
WTF is he doing out here?  This is supposed to be a "practice" for amateurs.
Maybe the rumors about him becoming a pro triathlete are true.
Wow, he has a personalized wetsuit.
Wow, he really is short.

Then he walked away and I gathered myself, got my swim cap, and joined my friends at the start.  I took a paparazzi shot with my less-than-advanced iPhone camera:

LA is the second from the left (in the distance, can't you see him?) and with him is professional triathlete James Bonney, whose feet Lance drafted off of the entire race.  They finished the 2.4 miles in about 48 minutes.  Wow.  Lance came in 3rd.

Here I am with my friend Paulina:

Paulina is doing the IM too, as is her husband, Buddy.  We did not beat Lance Armstrong, but we did not get lapped by him either!  I finished my first of two laps in 41 minutes, 7 minutes before Lance finished his second...  I finished the whole thing in 1 hour, 31 minutes, which is 49 minutes ahead of the race-day IM cut-off.  Rock on!  I think I can do this thing!  It was more of a mental challenge than anything else, and there was definitely a period where I was certain that the buoy I was swimming to was being carried further and further away by the wind.  Coming around that final buoy felt incredible though, and I'm excited and confident about the swim on race day.  Bring it!