No, I didn't die.

But I could have. I spent this past weekend in West Virginia white water rafting for Josh's bachelor party. I guess it could count as swim training because we did a fair amount of that. Plus, swimming in a Class V rapid is a tad tougher than the pool or Lake Erie. In addition to the gear weighing you down the water takes you where it wants, you have very little control (none) over where you go once you are out of the boat. I thought I was a strong swimmer until I met the Gauley River.

For those of you curious types here are a few links you might want to explore:

This first one is a generic series of videos about the river and the rapids. If you go the Upper Gauley links and check out Sweet's Falls there is a section at the bottom of the rapid called Box Canyon (it's near the end of the video). We went in there and our boat got wedged and flipped by the water. We all got tossed and I got driven to the bottom of the river then came up under the boat. I was probably only under water for 10-15 seconds but it felt a lot longer. When I came up I was at the mercy of the water. It took a few minutes but another boat fished me out and took me to my boat. It took about 15 minutes to gather everyone back up and get moving again. We got dumped a few other times, but that was the most exciting (scary?) one.
http://www.gauleyriverrapids.com/index.htm

This link is to the photos of our actual trip. If you click you can choose between Upper or Lower Gualey and the trip time (you need to give an e-mail address but there is no sign up or registration required). We were on the Lower at 12:00 on the 19th and the Upper at 9:00 on the 20th. Our photos are the first ones in the Upper series, and start at number 39 in the series for the Lower. Unless you know one of us real well it may be hard to find us. I was in the back right of the boat just in front of the guide and had on sun glasses.
http://www.leisuresportsphoto.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?eventid=0&categories=no&keywords2=no&groupid=64

Finally, if you google for videos of the Gauley river and Box Canyon I am sure you can find some good ones of people flipping in there. That may give you an idea of our adventure.

All in all a great weekend. Now it's back to reality and to training. It seems like it has been a month since my last run (a 4.5 miler Friday morning).