Swim 4 Life Race Report

First, thanks to my sponsors who helped me raise money. They had a good crowd and the event raised over $20k for the Chester River Association and a number of organizations that help AIDS/HIV patients. Also, special thanks to Anathea who served as my race sherpa and pup-arazzi, taking lots of photos.

The Swim 4 Life was held at Rolf's Wharf in Chestertown, MD. We got there about an hour early to get registered and bodymarked. Well, I didn't get marked, but I did get a cap (which I didn't wear). I was #23 (just like Michael Jordan). We did a little walking to warm up. I got geared up in my life vest and headed over the swimmer's meeting. The organizers introduced me and let everyone that know that I would be swimming in the 1 mile event. Everyone was happy to see me and clapped for me. A few folks even wanted to take pictures with me.

The event had 5 waves for the 5,4,3,2, and 1 mile events in that order. We planned to take off a few minutes after the humans in the 1 mile wave. Getting started was a little challenging. I'm used to the pool. Was I supposed to swim to the beach? Oh wait, you want me to swim to that buoy. Woah, that's a long way away. Luckily, Mom brought a toy to keep me pointed in the right direction. But darn, she kept getting in my way. After a while, we figured out a system. We were about half way to the buoy when the leader in the wave was already heading back. Yikes, I thought we better pick up the pace. Pretty soon most of the one milers were headed back towards the beach. I have to admit to a passing thought of ditching Mom and heading back with one of them. We reached the turn around buoy at 38 minutes (we were swimming against the current). Darn, I was hoping the finish under an hour. I was really going to have to pick up the pace. We made the turn around and I could see the beach (with all my new fans waiting for me). We were also starting to get passed by some of the blue caps (2 milers). I wasn't tired and just kept paddling my way towards the beach. As I got near, I heard folks calling my name and of course the cameras were flashing. We ended up at 1:00.50 (a huge negative split!) according to mom's watch.

Afterwards, we hung around a bit, accepted congratulations all around, and posed for a few more photos. Indeed, I was the top dog of the Chester River. I must have had a swimmer's high because I didn't even snooze on the drive home. Anyways, I had a lot of fun. Up next: still searching for my next event

Here are some photos
Working out some pre-race jitters


Pre-race photo with the 1 mile wave


And we're off


Leading Mom back to the finish


Post race celebration


My complete album is here

I will be the King of the River!

Chester River, that is. I'll be swimming this weekend at the DCAC Swim 4 Life. It's a great event with a 1,2,3,4, or 5 mile swim. I'll be rockin' the 1 mile. It's a fundraiser, so please visit my page and help me out
http://www.firstgiving.com/keatonwerner

Publicity

It looks like some of my competitors have been getting some good press. Unfortunately, my phone hasn't been ringing for interviews.

So I've been thinking about what to do about the race (besides the obvious of declaring myself the winner of the swim leg aka "king of the river"). New York is expensive (especially with my discriminating tastes) and I could use the travel money to help out a lot of dogs at my favorite animal charities. It's my protest - if I can't swim, then I won't run. Unless, there's another reason to head to the Big Apple like a gig on Leno or Letterman or Colbert. I'm sure they're looking for my phone number.

But fear not blog fan, race or no race, the blog will continue!

Total major bummer

Well, I guess word must have gotten out about what a threat I would have been in the water. I just found out that the doggie du is now going to be a doggie uno. The NYC PD has revoked our doggie swimming privileges due to some construction or something.

Bummer.