Swimming in the Blind

"I know how to not drown." That's what I heard Randi say. Taking what I knew to be an already athletic person and turning her into a swimmer was going to be a new challenge for me, especially since I really only learned proper swim strokes about six years ago. In no way am I an expert swimmer. But I am a great coach, but swimming was a different beast that I was excited to take on. Of course that was with the help of my able-bodied partner Pete who swam in high school, college  and has completed countless triathlons and some distance swimming in Lake Superior. He knows his sh*t and is a great coach himself. My swimming experience was from pool to triathlon and back again. Nothing fancier than that.

We don't need another bulls*t inspirational story of how some kick ass blind chick overcame obstacles and trained for a triathlon, what we need is HOW she did it. Completing a triathlon is inspiring on it's own, no matter who accomplishes it. When Randi decided, in her freakish state of overachievement that she wanted to do a triathlon, my only response was, "Ok." 

The research began. Unfortunately, the our resources were limited. The wide world of the internet didn't lend itself to much guidance, for both her, the blind athlete and me, the guide. Being that we're both type-A pains in the asses, we just decided to figure this out on our own. And dog-gone-it we're going to document it so that maybe someone else can benefit from our experience/mistakes/wins/f*ups and more.