At every race, somebody has to end up finishing last, and at SwimRun NC this weekend, that was where my wife and I finished.  It was one of the best race experiences I have ever had.

This race turned out to be very special. Going into the race, my wife and I knew we would be towards the back of the pack, and we said our main goal was to finish and have fun.  We didn’t want to end up finishing last, but that is how things worked out.

The race was fun for me, because I got to race with my wife and I got to see her dig really deep to finish the race.  There were two cut-off times in the race and we just managed to beat them both.  At both of those times, my wife wanted to quit, believing she wouldn’t be able to finish the race.  On both occasions, with encouragement from myself and others, she chose to push on.

The final run down to the river proved tough and took us quite a long time. Once at the river however, we knew we had one more downstream swim to the finish.  We were alone in that river and found ourselves laughing as we go stuck on rocks in the shallows.  We then rounded the final bend and could hear people at the finish line.

As we got out of the water, we were greeted by the race announcer and one of the race directors. They said everyone was waiting for us at the finish line to cheer us in.  I didn’t believe it, but it was true.  We climbed the stairs out of the river and saw a huge crowd lining the finishing chute.  We had a standing ovation. I was very moving and a fantastic experience.

We crossed the finish line and gave each other a huge hug.  If you don’t believe coming last can be fun, watch this video.