The air temp was in the low 70's and I heard someone say the lake was 63 degrees. That might have been high...white caps were crashing into the shore and it just look miserable out there. I was in Wave 3 and was frezzing on the beach as the wind was whipping through the area.

Our horn sounded and I was numb from head-to-toe in five mintues. My teeth were chattering in the water and the swells were out of control, it was like riding a roller coaster as you would breath and see someone above you. The first turn was okay I was in a rhythm and moving a good clip, turn two is what I called the mixing bowl. It was close to the wall so the waves were reflecting off it and creating a whirl pool effect, the waves would litterally knock me out of my stroke and push me onto my side. Turn three was a kick to the nuts as the 2.5K swimmers were exciting the water and calling it a day...as us suckers took off for your next lap. by turn four my rotator cuffs were completely fried and the cramping in my calfs started...turn five, aka the mixing bowl was similiar the second time around BUT I knew what to except and just swam through it....I was cramping like crazy and my skin was ice cold....after the mixing bowl you have a 1/2 mile swim in relatively shallow water (you can touch in most parts) so my fear of both legs locking up went away...motored through the next 1/4 mile and ran up the bench....Quickly put on clothes and tried to warm up. Wetsuit are frowned upon in open water swimming and only a handful of people had them...they competed in a seperate race.

This was the 5K national race for masters and some amazing swimmers were out there...

WARM DOWN? More like WARM UP! Sweatshirt and pants on right away.


I don't know the seven foot swells that threw me around like a rag doll