Another year, another swim to Madeline Island from Bayfield. This year, no excuse for not swimming well (I didn't lose ten pounds just before the race nor did I recently have gallbladder surgery, a husband who recently had hip surgery and an infant at home. Plus, Lilly has slept through the night the past two nights). I had to do the swim. But, without really doing any long swims, I wasn't expecting miracles here. Turns out I am quite consistent. Last year my time was 1:33:52. This year? 1:33:07. The water was chilly this year - 63 degrees. Luckily I got used to it right away - when I first put my face in the water my teeth were cold!
The sweatshirt says "2 mile open water swim" but the race is actually 2.1 miles. I am a little cheesed they don't give us credit for that tenth of a mile. The idea of swimming 2 miles - excuse me - 2.1 miles in Lake Superior all by myself freaks me out a bit, so I do the community race. This means someone in a kayak paddles along side me while I slowly but surely make my way to the finish line. Nick's hip still isn't back to 100% and sitting is the hardest thing for him to do, so sitting in a kayak for 1.5 hours (and then a shorter paddle back to Bayfield) wasn't going to happen. He recruited one of his colleagues, Jonathan Martin, to paddle for me and he was perfect! Enthusiastic but not obnoxiously so and funny. Plus, he kept me on the right path to the finish line, which was the most important piece of it all. To keep himself entertained he snapped some pictures of me as well as took some film footage underwater. If/when he shares them with me, I will see if I will share them with you . . .
The race is pretty remarkable, incredibly well organized, efficient and it feels really safe. Kayaks line up on either side of the area swimmers will be in, then outside of that is the Coast Guard who will make other recreational boaters go around the race. Part of the "fun" of the race is they expect you to get there yourself, so there are only five buoys and then a giant cluster of yellow balloons at the finish, which is another reason why having a kayak guide me to the finish is nice.
Here is a picture of my friend Elizabeth and me, back at the starting line in Bayfield after the swim. The island behind us is not Madeline. Probably should have posed in front of the island we actually swam to. Oh well.
The sweatshirt says "2 mile open water swim" but the race is actually 2.1 miles. I am a little cheesed they don't give us credit for that tenth of a mile. The idea of swimming 2 miles - excuse me - 2.1 miles in Lake Superior all by myself freaks me out a bit, so I do the community race. This means someone in a kayak paddles along side me while I slowly but surely make my way to the finish line. Nick's hip still isn't back to 100% and sitting is the hardest thing for him to do, so sitting in a kayak for 1.5 hours (and then a shorter paddle back to Bayfield) wasn't going to happen. He recruited one of his colleagues, Jonathan Martin, to paddle for me and he was perfect! Enthusiastic but not obnoxiously so and funny. Plus, he kept me on the right path to the finish line, which was the most important piece of it all. To keep himself entertained he snapped some pictures of me as well as took some film footage underwater. If/when he shares them with me, I will see if I will share them with you . . .
The race is pretty remarkable, incredibly well organized, efficient and it feels really safe. Kayaks line up on either side of the area swimmers will be in, then outside of that is the Coast Guard who will make other recreational boaters go around the race. Part of the "fun" of the race is they expect you to get there yourself, so there are only five buoys and then a giant cluster of yellow balloons at the finish, which is another reason why having a kayak guide me to the finish is nice.
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| We think this is me at the finishing chute. People in wetsuits and swim caps look remarkably similar. |
Here is a picture of my friend Elizabeth and me, back at the starting line in Bayfield after the swim. The island behind us is not Madeline. Probably should have posed in front of the island we actually swam to. Oh well.
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| Wearing our stylin' new race sweatshirts. A definite perk of the race, really nice sweatshirts! |
Here is a photos from the first year Nick's dad did the swim and Nick took some photos from the ferry on the way to Madeline Island four years ago. Nick's dad does the swim every year, it is his favorite race.
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| Women in the race division |
It is hard to get a sense of the distance in this photo, but here's a view of Madeline Island from the marina in Bayfield. We start on the beach next to the marina, so over to the left of the photo and head to someone's house in the middle of the island.
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