Vignette 4: Dock2Dock 10km: A Bridge Too Far

 So here we were, the hottest day of the year, about to start a 10km swim. The day before they'd told us that it was (barely) wetsuit legal, as previously there was a possibility that wetsuits would not be allowed on the day. The UK had experienced the hottest September week on record, and the water temperature had risen to 23.5 degrees - wetsuits become illegal at 24.

Gary and I at the start.

I decided to go without my wetsuit, as I overheat at the best of times. I think this was the right choice, as although there was the odd cold spot most of the time the water was nice and warm. The course took us down to Ben at the LOW aid station. This seemed to take forever and the footbridge never seemed to get any closer. It was nice to see Nick too as I haven't seen him all summer. 

I barely noticed the second station until I was right on it, but this was when I first met two ladies who I then spent the rest of my swim following them. The swim past the airport also seemed to take forever, and then, back down past the university buildings and our own food station before going past the Excel... very... slowly... I had ongoing cramp in my leg which I tried to help with fluids at each stop, but I now think this was a sign of dehydration. Back down past the bridges, why did I decide to do the 10k? My neck was hurting too from my suit rubbing, despite layering on the lube. I got ahead of the two ladies on the straight towards the airport but then lost time refueling at the last aid station. Although I finished behind them, I discovered I was ahead of them on time.

Unfortunately as I got out I managed to scrape my grazed knee from my clumsy fall the week before. Now there are two things that are almost guaranteed to make me pass out, those are heat and blood (even a little bit). So when I finally got to the changing area I felt terrible. Poor Gary had to come back and check on me (thanks Gary!), but we did get to see Ian struggle through his last km before being directed out of the water.

Afterwards for a few days I suffered with very painful chafing including this bizarre one from the wristband:

I also saw this T-shirt, which pretty much summarises my experience: