#73 California Dreamin' & Thanksgiving 2015

California Dreamin' the classic 1970's summer of love song by The Mama's & Papa's took on some added meaning this Thanksgiving break. Rather than having Ryan fly back to Boston for the holiday we flew to SoCal to bring Thanksgivng to him!

It was going to be a quick trip only Tuesday through Saturday so we headed straight-away to the SC campus to pick up Ryan grabbed a fast lunch at a food truck and then made our way to the OC. Shannon yet again found another great place to stay a half block from the beach on 24th Street on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach.  When in Orange County you are never far from a great place to swim, be it a outdoor pool or the Pacific Ocean so I knew I would get in a couple of good swims!

Wednesday morning started bright and early with the 5:30am practice with Newport Beach Masters at Newport Harbor High School. It was nice 50 meter x 25 yard outdoor pool home to championship swimming and water polo teams. Backstroke Olympic legend Aaron Peirsol swam for NHHS. Coach Kevin was all bundled up and welcoming on a very cool dark morning. It was a lightly attended 3500 yard practice and a perfect way to kick off a sunny (but cool) Southern California day. 

On Thanksgiving Day there were no open pools or organized masters practices so it was time to hit the Big Pool-The Pacific Ocean! It was yet again another cool morning and I made my way to Corona Del Mar State Beach (aka Big Corona) around 7:30am hoping the air temp would warm up a bit-it didn't. Big Corona is an expansive protected bay that abuts the jetty that leads into Newport Harbor-perfect for open water swimming. The beach was quiet but as I drove up I saw two men walking towards the calm water so I knew it was safe to swim. A quick deck change in the parking lot and I found myself wading (slowly) into the cool water. Bracing myself I took the big plunge into a wave and per usual it wasn't as cold or as bad as you always imagine. The water was fairly clear and I swam out to the buoy line and swam up and down it a few times. My guess is I swam 1-1.5 miles before I got lonely and decided to get out.  The water was in the low to mid 60's and ultimately quite refreshing. Not a bad way to start my Thanksgiving.

Early Friday morning I found myself back at NHHS with Coach Lexie Kelly, FINA open water swimmer and friend of some of my Swim Across America buddies. It started out as a dark, cold and rainy morning and ended up just cold.

We have so much to be thankful for and this quick trip California once again reminds me of that fact yet again. Family time on the beach at sunset, boat cruises in the harbor, and new places to swim-what more can you hope for? Well...two things; Ryan found out he got the summer internship at Aloca he was hoping for and Sean was accepted into one of his top school choices CU Boulder!

There are always reasons for California Dreaming and I will be dreaming (again) for a long time to come.

Tough Turkey Throwdown 2015

The week of Thanksgiving always brings a special treat to a handful of us at MIT Masters the Tough Turkey Throw Down (newly coined name by Coach Bill). Urban legend has it that I came up with this set-I beg to differ. I prefer to believe that it was a collective effort between a couple of my primary partners in crime; Hubbard and Ian. This set has been part of our pre-Thankgiving festivities for the last 4-5 years.

So here is the main set after a light warm up: 200 fly, 400IM,1650 free all in one stop now-stop swim!

The most daunting part of the set is the anticipation of the first 300 of fly. After the fly there is a bit of a reprieve with back and breast followed by lots of free. Counting laps is the hardest part. While clearly a challenging set it is rarely as bad or as hard as we make it out to be. 

Coach Bill set aside three lanes for this event as the number of participants increased along with the sense of bravado and hence the set took an interesting twist this year. 

It all started with an early morning stop to Dunkin Donuts...

Somehow over a series of emails it was decided that post main set we would slam a Boston creme filled donut and swim a 50 fly sprint for time from the blocks. At the 25 yard turn is when the Boston creme began to kick in...ugh. There was a clear sense of accomplishment by all post time trial.

Not sure whose wise ass idea it was (read Joe) for the warm down but it was a good one...

400 reverse IM, 200 fly followed by a 100 fly (with short breaks in between this time). 

Let the season of Thanks begin! I'm thankful for crazy swimming friends.

Gobble Gobble

#72 Chinatown YMCA, New York, NY

This weeks travels brought me to Manahttan neighborhoods that I rarely spend time in Wall Street, NoLita and Chinatown.

I was in town for John Hancock Investments Bell Ringing Ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange for the launch of our exchange traded fund suite. There were a couple of pools to choose from in the area and I am sure glad I chose the Chinatown YMCA. The Y was a 1.5 mile walk from my hotel so I took a leisurely morning stroll up Bowery watching the city wake up and come to life. There was alot see but two highlights were great view of the Brooklyn Bridge and a restaurant with fun name as I made my way into Chinatown. 

I didn't have high expectations for the Y but as it turned out I really liked it. It was fairly good sized and very clean. They waived the $20 guest pass day fee for me as everyone gets 3 free visits to NYC YMCA's before they have to pay-looks like I have two more to go.  

The pool was a brightly lit subterranean six lane pool. It was fairly crowded at 8:00am and as expected there many elderly Asians swimming pretty slowly. I was able to find a lane with older gentlemen that seemed to move at quicker pace. It's was a leisurely 2000 yard swim weaving between other swimmers and timing starts and stops off the wall. The funny thing is I was required to wear swim cap. Luckily I had one with me. 

Post swim I stopped for tea and muffin at the Little Cupcake Bakeshop in NoLita and then walked back to the hotel people watching and checking out street art.

The day capped off with our Bell Ringing Ceremony at the NYSE. I couldn't help but think that it may be the last time that I would be on the floor of the exchange during my career.  Another great trip to NYC and certainly a place to continue to look for new pools.