ROUND CHRISTIANSBORG 2008

2000 M (varied crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and a little dash of Butterfly)
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50:48 (Number 120 out of 151 women)

Despite my lack of training, I decided to swim Round Christiansborg again this year. It was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to register on race day.

Anyway here I am, greased up ready to go!

At the start:



One of the guys in the heat (but not pictured) asked an official what the water temperature was. On hearing it was 18.5 he said, "Boy maybe I shouldn't wear my wetsuit after all" The official said - "You've got one minute to decide" and I said "Wetsuits are for wimps..." and he kept his wepsuit on.

The heat I was placed in was really fast, and I immediately lagged behind, freezing and wondering why in the world I entered this race again. No photos from the harbor front as I had agreed with my family that it was OK for them to just take photos in the canals - as keeping a 3 year old happy for a long race wasn't going to be so easy.

Here's my oldest son in the foreground, the buoy in the middle is the 1 km mark, and I think I'm near it. Look for the green swimcap, because it's all on it's own. Everyone else from my heat is far ahead of me.

Finally somebody I can actually pass in this race! Holmens Kirke in the background.

Just as I'm enjoying the sweetness of actually passing somebody, I've got somebody on my tail.

With the Danish parliament(Christiansborg) in the background, I decide to take it easy for a while and swim a little backstroke to use my muscles in a different direction. It had the added adventage that I could look up at my family and wave.



I discovered it was actually more pleasant swimming backstroke under the bridges. Easier to follow your progress and not as dark and claustrophobic as while swimming crawl.

Rounded the bend - that's Christiansborg Slotskirke in the background (no seperation of church and state here)

Swimming along Gammel Strand.

Lifeguards. Thorvaldsen's Museum and Nikolaj Kirke (which is no longer a church but a gallery) in the background.

Swimming under "Strombroen". Time for some breaststroke.

The "Marble Bridge" in the background. I'm pretty tired here, and there's only about 300 meters to go.

Photo taken from the last bridge.

A beautiful day for a swim - Finish line in sight!

Nearing the finish - note the guy in the green cap in the foreground - he looks like he's been standing there for a while.

Finally the medley is completed with a little bit of butterfly - just to show off.

More showing off.

Obligatory head scan at finish!

Success!