After saying "good bye" to Bert and Liz, Janet and I walked over to my meeting place for the race, South Cove. We watched the early morning fishermen at Battery Park. When we made all the way around the tip off the island, I was feeling nice and warmed up from our morning stroll.
At arrival time, the race officials were setting up, swimmers were roaming around, saying "good morning greetings".
At arrival time, the race officials were setting up, swimmers were roaming around, saying "good morning greetings".
We arrived on time, as instructed. Wandering around, too early to get ready. Janet took some pictures of the harbor. We decided to head over to our hotel, which was only a few blocks away. An easier place to get the sun screen on and to put on my suit (Speedo Endurance).
At 6:05am, we went back to South Cove. All the swimmers had made it there. Martin Belderson was interviewing John VanWisse for the documentary.
I found a nice, dry bench to set up my equipment and started some stretching. George Hunihan came over and we chatted about his days on Wall Street, the disaster on 9/11 and what was going on today.
At 6:45am the kayaks began arriving from North Cove and Pier 40. We knew time was getting close. Our #'s were written on our arms, me ... 16.
At 6:50am, Janet started heading out to the Brooklyn Bridge for some photos. Then we got the news, that the start was going to pushed back until 7:15am. That 15 minutes may make a difference for some of the slower swimmers.
At 7:10, Morty Berger, the Race Director, signaled us to head down the gang plank and line up in numerical order. One by one, we jumped into South Cove and swam away from the dock. The Cove was lightly littered with debris, making the few warm-up laps abit disgusting.
After the last swimmer entered the water and we lined up behind the bright orange buoys, the Count Down began.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BEEEEEP....the 2009 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim begins.
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