Open Water Swim

Last week, I nearly took myself to the ER after my first open water swim of the year (and my 5th ever), and nearly gave up on this insane Ironman idea because of what I have come to think of as my swim disorder. Yesterday, I met my swim teacher at the lake for a private lesson; we backed it up several steps---I mean, he had me floating in 6-inch water close to the shore to begin with---and by the end of our time together, I had swum out to a buoy at 100 meters or so and back in waves that had some chop. SST (Supersonic Swim Teacher) taught me how to work with the current and how to breathe in the midst of the waves. Tonight, I went back to the open water swim class. While I'm not yet keeping up with the group, I had to stop several times to laugh---it appears that I actually can swim; and these buoys looked a lot closer than before; I had this wave of elation---"Oh my god---I might be able to do this Ironman thing." There's a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, but there is nothin' like a freezing cold swim in which you don't drown to create a sense of the possible. Now I know.