10 Year Anniversary

Walking into MIT's Z-center this morning I pulled out my identification card to get into the pool locker room and noted the following on the top right corner of the card; member since 9/30/2005. I have been swimming with Tech Masters formerly known as MIT Masters for 10 years! Wow-I can't believe how time flies!

My only real recollection of that first day was walking onto the pool deck with a bit of trepidation of meeting new people and trying to figure out what lane I belonged in.  With assistance from some outgoing regulars and a gregarious coach I settled in Lane 3.  There was also the warning not to touch the toes of the swimmer ahead of you, especially one woman.

(that one woman) ; )

(Coach Bill & me)

Ten years later I have moved up a lane or two, swimming faster (I think) and have made great friends. I can't believe, nor explain how much this morning ritual and the all people, my now friends, are such an important part of my everyday life and life in general.  It is such a great mix of people of all ages old and young and walks of life. I swim with doctors, lawyers, phd's, deans, business people, academics, consultants, students, techie types, the list goes on. 

(A Lane Night Out)

(A Dean and a Doctor)

Everyday I look forward to seeing who is on deck. While you would think the very nature of swimming and having your head in the water that it isn't a very social sport-it's quite the contrary. The camaraderie in the water is so strong that sometimes I feel that swimming is just an excuse to socialize with your friends.

(Lane 1&2)

Special shout out today to the people that help make my life feel so full in and out of the water; Coach Bill, Katie, Elaine, Hubbard, Heather, Josh, Jeff, Carmen, Steve, Ian, Joe, Sarah, John, Bill, Rachel, Elaine2, Dr. Bob, Dr. Bob (yes there are two), Carrie, Jacki, Dustin, Phil, Craig, Mike, Cliff, Frank, Chris, Chris, Joel and the lifeguards that keep us safe, Jimmy and Andy.

My best days are when I start it at MIT's Z-Center with my friends at Tech Masters. Looking forward to many more.

(After 10 years...l need a nap)

(After the next 10 years...?)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Most likely yesterdays Boston Sharkfest was the last open water competition of the year. From here on out the water will get colder and fewer and fewer swimmers will want to compete in organized races. So sad!

Happily though it was a beautiful day in Boston with a gorgeous water temp of 68 degrees and I walked away with a "W" in my age group-again! This was the fourth annual Sharkfest swim in Boston's Seaport District. Swimmers are shuttled from the booming Seaport district via water taxi to Pier Park in East Boston to swim 1500 meters across the channel to the Moakley Courthouse. The Sharkfest Series is organized by Enviro-Sports out of Stinson Beach, CA. Brother Bill and I are familiar with them as their marquee swim and a original swim is the Alcatraz Sharkfest swim which we have done multiple times San Francisco Bay in the late 90's (yikes-that makes one feel old).

It has been fun to see the franchise grow to multiple swims across the country and finally to land in Boston.  I have competed all four years and have won my age group the last two years.

This year I swam with my fast (younger) friend Tucker.  He is a fast former Weston Tide swimmer and Massachusetts state champion. Tucker and I swam this event with each other in a couple of years ago. (see blogpost dated 9/22/13) 

We both had good swims this year. Tucker swam with his fast new wetsuit this year and got second overall and first in his age group. I swam skins got first in my age group and swam two minutes faster than last year.  Me being me I did a bit more analysis of the results and found out I was the top non-wetsuit male in every age group down to 30-34. Not to bad.

All in all it was a great day. Great weather, great water temp and great swimming.  Couldn't have asked for a much better fall Saturday! 

End of summer...

I hated typing that subject line! While I think we have some beautiful summer type days ahead of us the traditional Labor Day end of summer weekend has come and has almost gone. 

Below are some aquatic type adventures for the tail end of the traditional summer.

This years Salem Swim & Fin was the last weekend of August. My MIT friend Josh and I did the 5k with no wetsuits. The water was a very nice high 60's to low 70's. It's a big three loop course that gets pretty old by the end of the thrid loop. Josh and I both won our age groups. I'm four age groups ahead of him. There is a good chance I was the only person in my non-wetsuit age group. I'm always a winner!

The long Labor Day weekend started with a Saturday morning workout with Wayland Masters and Coach Jen. She always gives such great workouts. This was the last workout before they put the bubble back on. Very sad. Outdoor pools and swimming are the best! I hope to swim more there this fall.

The highlight of the long weekend was an  impromptu Sunday day trip to Provincetown by Shannon and I. We took the first ferry out from Boston's Long Wharf and the last ferry back with a lot of activity in between. 

Once we got to Ptown we headed by bike to Race Point on the National Seashore for some beach time. After a nice but sometimes hilly bike ride we were pleased to see this long white pristine beach and the blue Atlantic that stretches as far as the eye can see. In fact, the next body of land you hit would be Europe. I  couldn't wait to take a dip.

Walking down to the beach we were welcomed by the sign below. 

Needless to say, for as crowded as the beach was, not many people were in the water and they certainly didn't swim far out. I swam maybe 100 yards about 15 feet from shore. Just 10 miles down the beach a male great white  washed up onto to the beach later in the day.  

The rest of the day we enjoyied all the colors of the rainbow Ptown has to offer. A late light lunch at the Red Inn celebrating its 100th year over looking the harbor followed by the traditional Tea Dance at the Boatslip-oh my!

Our evening was capped of by a nice dinner at Jimmy's Hideaway and a evening stroll  down Commerical Street with homemade ice cream from Spiritus and people watching. A long but very fun day.

The beloved Weston Town Pool was closed for the season so this Labor Day finds me at a beach and body of water a bit less familiar. The Wayland Town Beach is on Lake Cohicuate. While I've done a couple of open water swims here with friends and have picked Courtney up numerous times from crew practice it's has never been a destination beach for me. It's actually a lovely setting with a good amount of activity and a nice way to wind down a Labor Day weekend.

As summer technically draws to a close I've decided that when my next chapter starts I will aspire to an "endless summer" lifestyle. I will wear shorts and flip flops all year long! I will never type that subject line again. Here's to Endless Summers!!!

SAA ACK

After a great vacation on Nantucket last week I found myself back on island this weekend for the Swim Across America Nantucket swim. With Shannon in Los Angeles and the kids busy it was a perfect opportunity for a spontaneous quick day trip.  The Mass Bay weather forecast for the weekend was bit sketchy with clouds and scattered showers. With some gentle urging of my friends I made the call to go Friday night--and I am sure glad I did.

It was an early bell to make the 6:30am Grey Lady fast ferry. With fog and some torrential down pours along the way it made me think twice about my decision. The quick cruise and short bike ride got me to Jettites by 7:45am. Plenty of time to register, listen to the swim briefing and hear from some local cancer patients before the 8:10 start time (thank goodness I changed into by speedo on the ferry).

It was a bit overcast and grey but that certainly didn't effect the size of the turn out. People of all ages swimming in the kids swim, the half mile or the mile swim.  The water was warm and quite shallow. While I didn't walk the mile course it may have been possible do so.  I had a nice leisurely swim trying to keep up with what I think were some kids from the local swim team.

The fundraising for this event goes to providing palliative support and care on island for Nantucket cancer patients. I really enjoyed the post swim ceremony listening to the doctors and cancer patients/survivors speak to the need this program fills on the island. Incredibly,$350,000 was raised by kids and adults alike. There is a real sense of community in this SAA event.  

I swam this event in honor of my mom who had started chemo this week and my good friends the Seifert's mom who died of ovarian cancer last week. Barb was a strong special lady that was loved by many. I have fond memories of spending time with her and the Seifert family. She will be missed.

Afterwards I went to brunch at the Fog Island Diner with my swimming friends and then to Cisco Brewery.  We stayed there for many hours, laughed, drinked and told stories about past and plans for future swims. The more Cisco product we sampled the more outrageous our future swim plans became. Inspiration then hit! It was time for a swim and we made our way to Steps Beach for an evening dip. 

The swim party clearly wasn't stopping however I miraculously pulled myself out of the water as I had already missed one ferry and made my way back to Straight Wharf for the 7:30pm boat.

What an awesome day! So happy I was spontaneous.

#saa #saaafterdark #swimmingtofightcancer

Misery loves company...

This past week I participated in the inaugural Misery Challenge off Tucks Point in Manchester by the Sea, MA.  This was a new and unique event on the North Shore that featured swimming, supping, rowing and kayaking. You could choose your own discipline and distance. Naturally, I chose the 3 mile open water swim to Misery Island. The other disciplines were 4 miles and went around the island.  I drove up to this quintessential New England setting on the coast just north of Boston with my carpooling/swimming friends Rachel and Elaine.

It was an early morning for the swimmers as they wanted to get the swimmers in the water and out so they could start the other races and open up the harbor for the weekend boat traffic.  There were 95 swimmers most of them wearing wetsuits but the few the intrepid proud (me) went sans wetsuits.  

There wasn't a mass start as it was a new event in a narrow harbor so we went off into the water two by two, time trial style.  The water was in the mid-60's and felt pretty good (funny to say that).  Early on the course there were some twist and turns to get us out of the harbor and away from the channel. Once we got through that it was a straight shot to Misery Island. The water was fairly flat with a few cold patches along the way.  Sighting in the long stretch to the island was a bit of challenge due to the sun and to the lack of sighting buoys. I'm sure next year they will have a couple additional buoys.  

I finished in 1:12 and held off a (young) guy I wanted to beat.  There wasn't any categorization by wetsuit or non-wetsuit which was fine. I was 23rd overall and 4th in my age group.  I would say a good portion of the people ahead of me were wearing wetsuits. My fast friend Eric won it in a fast 58 minutes!

After the swimmers they launched the rest of the water craft. It was a bit of a zoo in the harbor at the start but it sorted itself out quickly. It was a great inaugural event and the organizer should be happy with the turn out.

Check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgfnRv6J2Q to see a drones eye view of the swim.

There was no misery it was only in the name of the event!

The second event this week that many would perceive as misery was my visit to the Weston High School summer swim practice.  I showed up promptly at 6:30am to be greeted by a funny smile from Coach Valz. Clearly, he had something up his sleeve. We swam about 1500 yards and were waiting for the next set when Valz said that had a very special guest coach to lead the next set. Well, that guest coach was none other than Fran, a friend and nationally acclaimed former synchronized swimming coach. Yes-you guessed it we spent the next 1.5 hours synchronized swimming.  I performed miserably but had a great time with the kids sculling, doing drills and the finale as team we did some lifts.  There is a lot to synchro. A great way to shake things up a bit!

Again no misery!

The final highlight of my week would never have the word misery associated with it was going to see James Taylor in concert at Fenway Park! It was beautiful night listening to music with Shannon and swimming friends Elaine and Katie.

Very little in life is miserable when you are with people you enjoy spending time with!

#69 Alga Norte Aquatic Center, Carlsbad, CA

Our Summer Sales Meeting brought us to Carlsbad, CA  and the La Costa Resort.  I've learned with some planning, a willingness to get up early and of course the help of swimmersguide.com you can find some pretty cool pools. 

Pool #69 was the relatively new Alga Norte Aquatic Center a short few miles from our hotel.

It was a sprawling complex with a 12 lane 25 yard pool and adjacent to it a spectacular 50 meter pool with grandstand seating around it.

I was able to get in two workouts during our short stay. One a long course practice by myself and then a short course practice with my friend Matt. Post short course swim Matt and I enjoyed another perk of this fine complex the jacuzzi (wish I had a pic of it). 

Alga Norte was a nice little bonus to the summer sales meeting. I highly recommend this pool for anyone visiting San Diego's North County.

 

Post sales meeting Shannon, Courtney and I went to Los Angeles and stayed in Venice at hip bungalow just off of Abott Kinney. The only swimming that was done was some leisurely strokes in the Pacific. The water temp felt great! Wish I could have found a group to ocean swim with.

Below are some pics from our short vacation. 

(this is the center piece of art @ our hip bungalow 521 Rialto)

(sunset at Venice Pier)

(sunset selfie @ Venice Pier)

(California sunsets rock)

Swimming Serendipity-39th Olympic Club Trans-Tahoe Relay

Serendipity-noun

1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

2. good fortune; luck

I seem to have a knack for serendipitous swimming related matters. 

A serendipitous email a week ago from my English Channel swimming friend Tim led to a great last couple days.  Tim who lives in Oakand said one of their relay team members for their Trans-Tahoe relay had just dropped out and wanted to know if I wanted to fill the spot. Knowing that I live on the East coast and that Lake Tahoe isn't necessarily easy to get too he thought it was a long shot...not so! The swim was on Saturday 7/18 and little did he know I needed to be in San Diego Sunday afternoon for business. Serendipity!!!

I got to Lake Tahoe on Friday mid-morning. Wow-I forgot how beautiful it is! The azure blue water is incredible. There was quite a bit of time to kill before I met my relay team. I rented a beach cruiser bike and went for a ride along the lake . Stopped by a deli got a sandwich and had a picnic in the beach. Took a short nap and went for dip in the lake. Cool but very refreshing. Late afternoon met up with my friend Matt for a swim by the Trans-Tahoe finish line at Skylandia beach.  Following that swim I went for a short swim at Kings Beach with my team mates followed by a captains meeting and Mexican dinner.  Tim, Eman and I made the trek back down to South Lake and to bed as we had an early bell in the morning to drive the boat north.

(Sunnyside area beach for picnic)

We got to the South Lake Tahoe Marina at 5:15am when it opened as we needed to drive our pontoon boat north to the start at Sand Harbor Beach for a 7:40am start. The air temp was a bit cool and the lake was pretty calm as we started out. When we got to Sand Harbor it was pretty choppy with dark threatening rain clouds.

(Sunrise over Lake Tahoe)

(Part of the team)

So here is how the swim works. There are about two hundred 6 person teams and each relay team member cycles through with a 30 minute swim, a 15 minute swim and then a 10 minute swim until you  hit the finish line at Skylandia beach just off Dollar Point. The start is a zoo as there were roughly 230 escort and safety boats looking for their swimmers coming out the channel with three wave starts. This was the 39th year so the organizers had it all figured out and it sorted itself out fairly easily.

(the start Sandy Harbor Beach)

After a bit we found our first swimmer Sean and we settled into our rotation (I was number 6). The first couple legs were pretty choppy, overcast and pretty cool air temp. By the fourth leg it was beautiful and sunny out. Donning my stars & stripes Budgy Smuggler I was raring to go when it was my turn. Despite the water being mild 65-67 degrees there was still brief gasp because of the cold. Within moments I settled in was trying to run down the sailboat ahead.  The cool translucent blue water is simply amazing feeling and looking as the sunlight shines as your hand pulls through the water. I finished our first rotation and we moved through our second round of 15 minute pulls. By the time I got done with mine the red channel marker to the finish was well in sight.  We had two 10 minute pulls left with Tim appropriately bringing it home to the finish.

(on the course)

Post swim we anchored with the scores of boats near the finish line, enjoyed a couple beers and told stories about our current, past and future swims. We pulled up anchor and settled in for the scenic ride back down to South Lake. At one point we stopped and turned off the ignition on our pontoon boat and just drifted in the middle of the lake marveling at the thousands of years old scenic beauty around us-stunning!

(finish line area)

Perfect day. Will I do it again? Absolutely. My only wish would be to spend more time in the crisp cool water.

What serendiptous swim is next?