After another mouthful of salt water, before a peek above clawing kelp reveals a surge of sea washing over the 60-some swimmers nearby, and right around the moment a second overhand right from a swimmer next to me comes crashing into the back of my head, I have a thought.


Thanks to these Saturday morning mists – and these bodies, kelp fronds and foggy goggles – I cannot see the buoy I’m supposed to be aiming for. For that matter, I can’t really see myself surviving long enough to round this first buoy, should I find it.


Fortunately for the lifeguards present, as my hyperventilation melts like the fog and I am left with my meditative breathing and waters far less frothy than the start, my initial can’ts retreat. Unfortunately they are supplanted by another can’t that repels more affirmative thoughts: I can’t feel my feet.


A combination of 58-degree water and a 40-kilometer bike ride with clip-in shoes mean that dead-foot sensation will accompany me for hours.


But somewhere along the way, the athletic humanity blurring by with Triathlon at Pacific Grove’s Olympic distance race wrenches sense into my head. 


This, their collective efforts tell me, is no place for can’t.


A 50-something man with a hand-cranked bike shows you can complete the bike segment – four laps from Lovers Point to Asilomar Beach and back – without the use of your legs. A quick-striding woman with a prosthetic limb proves you can knock out the whole damn thing without a foot. Nine different Team in Training athletes demonstrate they can redefine resilience by competing in relays, Olympic and sprint distances after surviving lymphoma, leukemia or other blood cancers. The wider group of T in T racers, meanwhile, proves they can leverage more than $288,000 in funds for research through just the P.G. Tri event alone.


Volunteers rallying by the scores remind athletes how a well-timed cow bell or clap can deliver vital energy. Rogue onlookers – like the man with an accent who spontaneously chirps “You’re the best!” – can provide a similar boost. The neighboring Pacific can share inspiration and invaluable distraction from, say, creeping knee pain. Bouncing and catching a small pink ball every few steps, one lanky runner proves, can offer a similar diversion.


And while not all the cans are heaven-sent, even the less savory are empowering in their own way. You can almost throw up while swimming, biking and running (but keep going). You can break a particular Porta-Potty moratorium five minutes before start (and be in position for the opening horn). You can believe you set a personal record, then realize some 10 minutes later that you owe another two-mile-plus, Aquarium-and-back lap (and sheepishly dig it out). 


Terry Davis, founder of the spectacle and its Tri-California Events, Inc. parent, is familiar with the theme, and not just because he runs the increasingly slick and expansive business out of a tiny cottage in Pacific Grove. (P.G. is his original undertaking; Wildflower, which celebrates 30 years this spring, his biggest; Alcatraz, his most famous.)


“People that aren’t ‘athletes,’ who aren’t playing football, basketball and baseball, but everyday people who have the desire, can take triathlons one step at a time,” he says. “I don’t know how many people I’ve seen come out, volunteer or watch someone else, and think ‘I can do that.’ It’s can do.”


That spirit, by necessity, will pulse through both the organization of and competition within May 4-6’s Avia Wildflower Triathlon at Lake San Antonio in South Monterey County. 


As one of the biggest triathlons on the planet – with enough spectators alone to outpopulate Pacific Grove and Carmel put together, not to mention 7,000 athletes – safely managing the hundreds of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo volunteers and fleets of campers is a feat in and of itself. The course, meanwhile, draws athletes from as far off as Europe with its legendary buffet of scorching-hot temps and hellacious hills. And that feat will only grow greater as TriCal invites back three decades of competitors for a blockbuster 30th birthday event.


But if any group can do it, it’s this one. In fact, they could start preparing (and training) any minute. Yes they can – just like you can regain feeling in your feet. 


TriCalifornia hosts its last event of the season with Scott Tinley’s Adventures Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Lake Lopez near San Luis Obispo. The Avia Wildflower Triathlon happens May 4-6, 2012. 373-0678, www.tricalifornia.com.