Frogman

For Sunday, Jan 2, 2010

Frogman Swim

I had an early run with Robin Hawk this morning. We had to limit it to 50 minutes since I had to get going as soon as we were done. The run was nice, jog 9 minutes, walk 1, five times. We were a little surprised that it was overcast today, and actually started drizzling. We were not expecting that!

After the run, I picked up Dawn Clark and headed to the Gandy Bridge for the start of the Frogman 5k swim across Tampa Bay. It was a nice start to the event as there was a rainbow adorning the start line! What a great turn out! 67 participants were braving the cold water (around 53 degrees), head wind, and light chop. Darry Jackson brought out his swarm of kayakers and there were a few stand-up paddlers as well.

Boat support for the Frogman Swim

On Board: Eric Herman, Tim Kennedy, Chris Burke, and Bryant Davies

Dawn Clark with her kayaker, Kathy Selles, getting ready to start.

I watched the start, then drove on to Picnic Island to be there to greet my friends who were participating in this great fundraiser to benefit wounded Navy Seals and their families. The first swimmer was out of the water in 1 hour and 3 minutes. The last swimmer was in after about 2 hours and 35 minutes. Roger Little was second to last in 1:30, but he is 70 years old! There was one swimmer out of the bunch who did the swim with no wetsuit.

Dawn finished at around 1 hour 45 minutes after a rough start having to stop for about 10 minutes to mess with her wetsuit. When I greeted her on the beach, she smiled, and I frowned. Her smile was just not working and it really concerned me. The lower left side of her lip wasn’t moving. Why would that happen? Could it be that she was just cold – early signs of hypothermia? It looked kind of like Bells Palsy? Could she be having a stroke brought on by that much time in the cold water? I looked at her eyes and her pupils were pinpoint. Not good.

“You’re freaking me out” she said. “Well you’re freaking me out” I said.

There was no medical tent at the finish line. I took her to the car and we tried to make some shade around her head so that I could see if her pupils would dilate. They did, slightly, but we didn’t create much shade either. We got her out of the wet clothes and into warm dry clothes and got her a cup of hot chocolate. Sure enough, as she warmed up, her smile was back in working order!

Later that day, we had a nice, warm, relaxing dip in the hot tub… that’s sure to get the last of the chill out!

Frogman Finishers