My first OW swim - sorry for the lengthy post

I swam my first OW event this past weekend after a year of thinking about it, swimming masters, and looking forward to the big date. The swim was the Long Bridge Swim on Lake Pend Oreille in Sand Point, ID. It is a 1.76 mile course (as the crow flies) along the I-95 bridge. It was a beautiful day, the water temperature was about 73-76. The air temperature grew hotter latter that day to the upper 90's. I swam in jammers, bathing cap, and my socket rockets. All-in-all, the swim was fun. It was a great experience. By far, the mental game was the toughest part. Everything I thought I would panic about I didn't. Would the mass start freak me out? Would there be kayakers and safety boaters if I needed help? Could I swim in a strait line? Ect, ect. None of it phased me. It felt comfortable. When the horn blew to start the race, I just put my face in and started swimming fast. I wanted to get out to avoid the masses. I hit someone's leg with my arm. Someone hit my feet. I tried to breathe to my off side, but I thought, "screw it, not now, let's just keep going and get to a point where we feel comfortable." There were people on the right and left, in front and behind. We were swimming on top of each other for 1-2 minutes, if that, but I just kept doing my thing, moving forward and relaxing in my stroke. After five minutes, I was on my own for the next 40. Sighting was more tiring then I predicted. I kept looking up, every 10, 20, 30 strokes to make sure I was following the bridge in a strait line, and following the people in front of me. The bridge itself is about 1.1 miles, and it looks far away from the start. I could see the bridge pilings on my left from the corner of my eye as I swam. I breathe to the right, were I could see other swimmers, the sun, and the lodge-pole pine tree covered Idaho mountains. After the bridge, I could see bottom. It was 6 feet away. I swam over a trout, a snake, a cement piling. At this point I was tired. I wanted out. I felt like standing up, but I didn't. I kept moving forward, working on my stroke with high elbows and a strait pull. There were people passing me wearing Blue Seventy suits, I cursed them, but laughed. This is fun. It's tiring, but fun. Once I could finally see the beach (finish line), I wanted to sprint. I tried, but my shoulders and arms were fatigued. I got out, felt dizzy and wobbly, and crossed the finish line. I arrived in 74th place, out of roughly 950-1000 or so. I was excited to have completed and competed! Extremely long story short, swimming OW is exciting, challenging, and rewarding. I've been watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, so I am not too eager to swim in the ocean, but the lakes and rivers in the Pacific Northwest are beautiful. On the drive back home, every body of water we drove alongside, or passed over, I wanted to jump in and swim it. Lessons learned: learn to breath comfortably to both sides, work on sighting during practice prior to swimming, swim further in practice than the distance of the swim by 20-40%. My shoulders and back were really sore after the swim. I believe this must be from lifting my head for sighting. I swim this distance frequently and never feel sore in a pool. Swimming in the pool will never be the same. Thanks for letting me share my experiences with people who understand.