Dwight Crum Pier To Pier Swim - Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach

The Great Magnetic Wife and I arrived at the Hermosa Beach Pier at about 7:50 in preparation for The Dwight Crum Pier To Pier Swim. I didn't know who Dwight Crum was, or why he has a rough water swim named after him, there is no information about him on the official website, but none-the-less about a thousand people swim in his name. I did a Google search and found out that he was an L.A County Life Guard. But, I digress. I had a short line to get my swim cap, body marked, my wrist band and timing chip. We wandered around for a while, I took a quick warm up swim and was ready to go. I saw a number of L.A. Tri Club people there including Iron Monica from I Just Want The Tattoo. She did start to get the tattoo after having finished her first Ironman in Brazil. However, she hasn't finished her race report on the blog. I had to tease her about that. Just before the start of the race, I found myself next to Steve "Polar Bear" Herbert, who was not bothered in the least by not being able to use a wet suit, because he is, of course, the Polar Bear.

It was a mass start, probably close to a thousand swimmers, but far less hectic than the average triathlon swim start. I went in slowly and just tried to stay out of the way. We were to swim from the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier northward for two miles to the north side of the Manhattan Beach Pier and exit the water. I felt pretty good the whole swim. I was never really tired, I seemed to have a rhythm in my stroke, I didn't have any problems like being kicked in the face, choking on sea water or cramping badly like my last couple of triathlon swims, but I certainly wasn't swimming fast. After forty minutes or so, I was obviously well in the back of the pack. There were people behind me, but not that many. One of the problems was they kept moving the Manhattan Beach Pier farther away. I would get in a good grove, and then look up to sight and it seemed as if I was farther than the last time I sighted. This fact was confirmed by other swimmers as I got out of the water. Why they did this, I don't know. The logistics of moving a pier must have been enormous, but there is no other possible explanation. The really tricky part is that when I got out of the water, the pier had been moved back to its original location. Go figure.

I'm not sure of my time. As I so often do, I forgot to press the timer on my watch as the race started. It was supposed to start at 9:00 and I got out of the water at about 10:40. That is a pretty bad time for two miles. I didn't even have an excuse like my last two swims. I guess I am just as mediocre on the swim as I am on the bike and run. Oh well, I'm not there to win, just to finish.

**UPDATE** My final time was 1:43:25. Yikes! At that pace I would miss the swim cut-off at the Ironman. I think August will be devoted to swimming.

The Great Magnetic Wife and I had lunch at Wahoo's Fish Tacos after the swim. This fuels me for the ride back home. I rode my bike back while The Great Magnetic Wife took the car and found a very nice yard sale. It took me less time, about 1:10 to ride my bike from Manhattan Beach to West Hollywood than it took to swim from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach. Somehow there is something wrong with that. I know that comparing biking and swimming is like comparing apples and oranges. Actually, biking is nothing like apples, nor is swimming like oranges. But, I digress. Oh never mind. It is still odd to me that I could ride home from Manhattan Beach, traffic signals and all in less time than I could swim from Hermosa to Manhattan Beach.

John Thum