True Friendship

You may recall I tested some Aqua Sphere Kaiman goggles from Bicycle John's and loved them. The only issue I had was that the slim profile caused my eyelashes to rub against the lenses every time I blinked. My eyes became irritated very quickly. Well, a while ago I found another flaw: they're not great in rough water.

I was doing a swim in Redondo Beach and since I was by myself I didn't want to wander too far from shore, so I did a lot of ins-and-outs. Unfortunately, the surf was pretty rough and I was being tossed around a lot. The final wave as I was getting ready to leave the water completely wiped me out and ripped the Kaimans off my head. I never saw them again.

Over the past few weeks I've been switching around between other goggles, but none were as comfortable as the Kaimans. I finally broke down and bought myself a new pair. But then I was stuck with my same old problem: would my eyes be able to handle over 100 minutes of brushing against the lenses? For Ironman, do I use less-comfortable goggles that don't irritate my eyes, or go with the Kaimans and hope for the best? Well, I came up with a third option.

Stupid Dutch stopped by for a visit and I told him "I have a strange favor."

"OK."

"You see, I have these swim goggles that I really like. They are lightweight and very comfortable."

"OK."

"And they have a very low profile, which gives you excellent vision."

"OK."

"But the problem is, the lenses are so close to my eyes that when I blink my eyelashes scrape against the plastic."

I could see him starting to cringe "O...K...."

"So I want you to trim my eyelashes."

Stupid Dutch looked like I had just told him I sat on a rattlesnake. Which is pretty much how I expected him to react. But this is how you find out who your true friends are: a true friend will help you bury a body, and a true friend will cut your eyelashes. And you know what? He stepped up to the plate. I sat there while he very carefully cut off maybe1/8"-1/4" of my eyelashes. He only poked me with the scissors once (a bit under the eye.) I admit, the whole experience was a little freakier than I expected it to be because the scissors kind of tugged on my lashes as they made the cuts, and although my eyes were closed I could hear the sound of the metal so close to my eyes.

But now, when I wear the goggles nothing scrapes and my eyes don't get irritated. The strange things we do for triathlon... and the strange things friends will do for us...