Great Hudson River Swim - SwimOther

The water was freezing when I jumped in. My hands felt numb at first, the the bodyglide residue on my hands turned thick and tacky-feeling. Weird.
We started out, and I headed right for the buoy, but had to pause to start my watch, which I'd forgotten to do. Little bit of a washing machine at the start.
I did a great job of navigating to the first buoy and cut the turn so close to it that I could smell the plastic. :)
From there it was a mostly straight shot downriver. At one point, I noticed that I wasn't swimming in a pack anymore and realized that it was because I was about 50ft off course. I corrected my course, got back in the pack and started passing a lot of people. The water was still pretty cold, but I felt ok. Breathing was good and my arms felt ok, even though I was going at a fairly good pace. Swallowed a couple of gulps but nothing major.
At about the 3/4 point, the water got really choppy and I had to time my sighting to make sure I was on top of a wave. Made the last turn really close to the marker again, and got funneled into a crowded little channel which became an even bigger washing machine than the start. I think I hit someone in the head, got kicked in the ear. Finally hit the ramp and got my medal and a hose-down.

I wish I hadn't gone off course. That probably cost me a minute or two, but otherwise it was fine.

Chatted w/Lazymarathoner, had some fruit and coffee, got my swag bag (which was awesome, by the way) and my t-shirt and went home.


Nothing really. I think, other than the slight navigation problem, this was a good race.


This is my first swimming race and my first event with the Manhattan Island Foundation. I had a blast. A lot of their races are really long, and that's out of my league, but I'd definitely do this event and other Manhattan Island Foundation events. It was really fun.