Great Salt Lake .5 Miles

                                                                                                        4-28-11

Earlier today I wasn't sure the weather was gonna hold for our swim but it turned out pretty nice.  Luckily Josh decided to reverse the course he had planned or it would have been a tough workout fighting through the waves.  The water was in the mid 50's and felt really good.  We started at the ramp in the marina and headed east finishing at Silver Beach.  We swam against the wind to exit the marina and seemed like it took awhile but with the wind at our back the rest of the way we went pretty fast.  One of the best parts was because of the salt and the big waves I was able to pretend that I was back in the ocean. When we reached the shore Josh got a pretty nasty scrape on his elbow and I got a little one on my knee.  There was also a group of people that were there before us walking around and when they saw Josh and I getting ready they started taking pictures of us and stood with our dad and grandma and watched us do our swim.  It was a really fun swim, can't wait to go back!



.71 Miles?...Huh?

After last weeks swim I was ready to really push myself.  I was planning on 1.5 miles and was confident I could turn in a decent time.  The weather was pretty good except for a cold breeze, and I had a feeling lurking in the back of my mind that today could be 'one of those days.'  Josh's thermometer read 58 degrees and I was anxious to get in and warm up.  There is nothing worse than when you are pumped up ready to go and you take one step off the boat ramp and your foot is numb.  Josh and I looked at each other and said "That's definitely not 58."  I re thunk my game plan and decided to just repeat last weeks swim route.  The water was already cold just walking in and the path to the island got colder.  I made it to the west side ok and was feeling better than I thought I would.  I was startled when I hit something taking a stroke, it was the bottom of the pond again.  Pretty soon my stomach and legs were dragging along the bottom, I tried putting some distance between me and the island but that didn't seem to be helping so I decided to just try and get through it as fast as I could.  I couldn't take good strokes and I couldn't kick because when I did I kicked the bottom and with numb feet it really hurt.  It was a bizarre feeling being in a foot of water and not being able to swim.  I stretched my arm out in front like a normal stroke but instead of bringing it under my body I took it out to the side and brought it in. To that I added a half dolphin kick to stay away from the bottom...I can't even imagine what a fool I looked like.  I gave up on the kick all together and drug my body on the rough terrain the rest of the way.  When I was just about to the north side I swam over a couple big boulders and caught my side on a stick.  Why didn't I just stand up and walk to the other side?  I thought about it but I didn't want to cheat.  I wanted to do a few laps around the island but I didn't want to go through that anymore so I waded til Josh came around from his second lap.  When we met up again Josh told me he wanted to swim to the south pier and from there go to the east pier and then back to the ramp.  I was happy he made the suggestion, although it was cold I wanted to go farther than last week.  When I caught up with Josh he was waving to a little boy on the pier who was dumbfounded seeing two guys swimming in the pond.  On our way to the east pier my brain was in and out of consciousness.  Things would get a little foggy, or I'd feel lost...it was un-nerving.  Luckily we were close to the end and I tried to get there as fast as I could.  When we finished we had some extra support besides our family today.  There was a lady with her family fishing and having a pic-nic cheering and clapping.  As I was stumbling out of the water she yelled over to Josh and I "I don't know you guys, but hell of a good job!"  I got my worst case of hypothermia up to this point.  Usually I don't start shaking until I am dried off and dressed, but today I was still getting to dry land when my body started to shake.  Josh brought an emergency blanket for each of us but they didn't seem to be helping so we just got dressed and went to our cars and turned up the heater.  I was really looking forward to my hot shower and left the parking lot sooner than I should have.  The whole way home I was shaking almost uncontrollably and kept thinking "I really shouldn't be driving."  I got home safe and ran inside and took a nearly 30 minute long shower until I 'snapped out of it' and felt normal again.

.45 Miles Of Perfection

Weather never ceases to amaze me.  With the storm that passed through last week dropping the water temp 10 degrees, I was certain that the nearly solid week of snow and heavy rain leading up to today's swim would be devastating for the temp.  I was thinking 40 would be lucky.  Fortunately the thermometer took a journey in the other direction and the water was a very pleasant 58, only 6 degrees colder than Josh and I's swim at Alcatraz.  Gordon and Josh's plan was to start at the boat ramp and trace the perimeter of the pond, a little more than 1 mile.  Not hitting the pool yet to get in shape I decided to just swim around the island and back, about a half mile.  The three of us took the slow walk down the ramp and into the water together.  When we were waist deep Gordon and Josh took off with no problem but as I had imagined it going for me I started to hyperventilate.  As crazy as it sounds when I just jump in I don't have a problem, but when I walk in I usually have this problem.  I took a few short strokes and tried to swim it out.  This wasn't working so I stopped and tread water while I took a few deep breathes to even out my breathing.  When I was back in control I resumed the path towards the island.  About halfway there my body was climatized and was feeling great.  There were a couple cold spots along the way as well as warm, approaching the north end there was a current pushing against me and all around the island my hand would hit the bottom every few strokes.  When I was on the west side of it I was having a hard time seeing out of goggles from getting fogged up so when I was about to come back into view on the south side I took a break to clear them so I knew where I was heading.  The home stretch went pretty fast and swam through a couple more cold spots.  When I reached the finish my dad and nephew were waiting on the ramp, standing up I was a little dizzy and stumbled a bit but felt great other than that.  As I was taking my first step onto the cement I caught a glance of my skin and noticed something wasn't quite right with how it looked.  It had the familiar bumps and could see that most of my skin was the normal color with no red patches.  I took both hands and ran them across my stomach each finger drawing a line in the slimy residue of the pond. Looking up at my dad I said, "What is that?"  I'm not sure what it really was and prefer to keep it that way.  I felt like some sort of swamp creature.  Today was my favorite cold water swim so far, I finished at .45 miles and with couple stops to catch my breath and fix my goggles it only took 15:30.  Not too fast but for not being in shape and in 58 degrees I was pretty happy with it.

Glad To Be Back?...YES!!!

After time slipped away from me last week and had the beginnings of a cold or flu the week before that, it was good to get back with the cold water swim group today.  After reading the blogs of Gordon and Josh from last week about the excellent conditions, water temp near 60 degrees, I was feeling confident about completing a swim around the island.  Unfortunately as Spring goes in Utah a snow storm passed through the weekend and with a small pond with a perimeter of about 1 mile weather has a more dramatic effect than usual.  Gordon's thermometer read 48.9, a 10 degree drop in just a few days.  As if the significant drop in water temp wasn't enough, the wind was really blowing and kicking up some decent waves for such a tiny pond, and of course the wind chill factor.  I piled my clothes under the pic-nic table by the ramp, put my shoes on top so they wouldn't blow away, and ran to the east pier.  While I stood on the pier with Josh and Goody the rational part of my brain was desperately trying talk me into bailing out.  To those who know me the best know that I like to talk big, but in reality I'm not as tough as I lead people to believe.  However today I was close to succumbing to reason.  The hardest part is often just jumping in.  When you get in there is no getting out until completing the goal.  Right about this time another part of my brain; the crazy, irrational, adventurous, fun...whatever you want to label it was feeding me a different tone.  "Don't think about it, just jump in and go!"  Goody seemed to have been on this same train of thought, as soon as he was ready he was in the water and on his way.  Josh soon followed him and I was in after Josh.  It's amazing how much your brain can process in a split second, hanging in mid-air between the water and the safety of the pier I had thoughts of "There's no turning back now" and "You are really gonna regret this."  Sure enough upon hitting the water it immediately stung my body and had a little regret.  When my head came above water I was slammed with multiple waves and caught a mouthful of water.  Luckily I was able to control the natural urge to swallow and spit out the water instead.  I just did a short 200 yards so it went pretty fast.  This swim was the first cold water swim that I wanted to not waste any time and get out as soon as possible.  Getting dressed I was warm regardless of the wind and didn't start shaking til I got in my car and headed back home.

Swimming For Kidneys charity fundraiser

My brother Josh and I are planning to swim at least a 5k in 24 of Utah's State Parks to raise money that will be donated to the National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho.  This is going to take place in summer 2012.  We look forward to and appreciate any support you can give, whether coming to watch and cheering, donating, being a sponsor, etc.  We have a couple ways to follow us where we will be posting stories, pictures, videos, links, where we will be at that week, etc. www.swimmingforkidneys.com and on facebook under Swimming For Kidneys.  We hope to hear from you!