Green Lake Open Water Swim Race Report 2015

Moving a race report written elsewhere to here. (ergo, no photos and the date stamp being wonky)

I did GLOWS (Green Lake Open Water Swim) today for the 5th or 6th time (I’m losing track). Seattle has been having a huge heat wave, highs in the 90s and lows in the high 70s.  I barely slept the night before, and woke up tired and cranky.  The water temperature was 71, so I chose to swim without my wetsuit for the first time in this event.  Last year it was so cold that they waived the “no wetsuit for award” requirement, and almost everyone was wearing one.

My cousin T was in town, so I invited her to join me.  So around 8am T, her boyfriend and my husband and I made our way down to the lake. Packet pickup was smooth, with body marking (which I usually don’t do because of the wetsuit). They wrote my number, 29, on my arm, to which my response was “how cool, they are putting our age on our arms.”

I ran into my brother sister in law and nieces. My oldest niece, M, was going to swim for her fist time (she’s 13).  My sister in law and her swimming buddy were going to pace M in the half mile then swim the full mile as their event.  We all made our way around the lake to the start in a van, and hung out for about 10 min waiting.

After last year’s event, where I couldn’t catch my breath the whole time, I was determined to warm up and not have the cold water shock me into hyperventilation. So I did about 5 min of paddling around and made sure to go fully under water three times.

Starting gun and we are off—I promptly get kicked in the side, and so drop back, let people go ahead of me, no  need to fight for space, the lake is large. About three minutes in, I’m swimming just behind my niece, I lift my head to cheer her on and she takes off. I get a good rhythm and keep stroking. I’m focused on swimming and have very little memory of what I was thinking about.  A few times I think I’m feeling so good I should pick up the pace a bit, and so I do.  I stroke hard.  I’m pretty much a breast stroker, but throw in some crawl here and there.  This morning, before heading to the lake, I’d looked up prior times and they ranged from 22:20 to 25:40.  I have no idea what my time will be like, but figure I should push it here and there.

Just as I’m passing the last large buoy (there is still one small one to go) I see a swimmer a few strokes ahead of me and contemplate trying to catch him.  I pick up the pace again. I realize I’m too far out to start a sprint to the finish, so try to go faster without it being full out sprint. It works. I don’t catch the guy, but I do close the gap. Then I look up and see the finish clock. I think that it is still under 20 min.  That seems fast for me, so I push the pace again.  As I get closer, I realize that I can beat my best time, if I just keep pushing. So I do. I swim past the buoys that mark the guarded swim area during the week, and stand up, run through knee deep water (which is pretty hard) and up the stone stairs to the finish. 21:44, a personal best!!

My husband and brother both high five me in the chute. I tear my tag and my husband greets me with a bottle of water and a towel.  My niece finished in 19 something and my cousin in 17 and change.  They are both happy and relaxed.

We watch the mile swimmers start, and watch the thunder clouds roll in.  The mile swimmers are near the turn around point when the lightening starts.  And it starts to rain.  We wait for my sister in law to finish, and then run for cover. Most swimmers say they didn’t realize it was raining. I’m glad I’m not a lifeguard responsible for the event!!

Great morning for a swim. Proud of my accomplishment. Makes me think I should push my speed a bit more, and see what I can do!