A hurdle overcome

Today I jumped in the lake. And swam. For a half-mile, without touching ground or dock. I didn't go far away from anything solid, not even out to the floating docks which are no more than 25 and maybe 75 yards from the end of the main docks. No, I just went back and forth about 10 feet off the ends of the 2 main docks as if I were swimming laps, but never touched. I did some breast stroke and some random paddling, but mostly genuine, halfway good form freestyle, trying to get in a good TI groove. I never really hit it - my legs dragged -- but I was close. For the first few minutes I felt surges of anxiety about all the weird pond sensations - tickles of seaweed, sudden changes of temperature, little waves, sun in my eyes - but gradually realized I felt strong and calm. So now I know my body is capable of swimming that distance (nice and slow, nice and slow.) I felt a bit wobbly after getting out (and something went up my nose that has caused me to sneeze my head off ever since -- I hope THAT doesn't happen on Saturday!) but I think I could have gotten on my bike after that! And after my 30-mile hilly ride 2 weeks ago, a 9 mile mostly flat spin seems like cake! (We'll see how a 3 mile run seems after that... but I can always walk if I have to.) So I guess I'm STILL planning to do this race! (Somehow I think I'll feel more like a REAL triathlete if I do more than one - like, "oh yeah, had another tri yesterday!" all blasé, as opposed to it being a once-in-a-lifetime fluke thing.