The Plan [A somewhat adequate Swimmer]

I have been rather lackluster in my sign ups for 2018. There will be no Big shoulders for the first time in 6 years and technically at this stage, I am only registered for one event.

That event is admittedly the longest single 1 day race in the US at 36 miles, this event takes place in mid June. The river is the Red River in North Dakota, the width is between 150-300 meters and the water has visibility of 8 inches, so basically I will not be able to see my hand in front of my face (I should add the water is clean, there is just high turbidity). The water temp based on prior years will be somewhere between 70-80f. I thank Lake Michigan for the fact that I am not particularly worried about not being able to see my hand in front of my face as this can occur fairly often in Lake Michigan and if I am completely honest, I am OK with not necessarily seeing whats around me.

A second event in the works, is not actually an event as such and instead is a marathon swim that a close swim friend had identified as a swim he really wanted to do. It is a lake in Southern Illinois about 17.5 miles in length and to our knowledge of the records, no one has previously ever swum this lake.

So we have begun attempts to organize some boats (preferably 1 per swimmer, potentially 1 per 2 swimmers), some kayaks (1 per swimmer), a few more swimmers have joined us now and we are trying to figure out the logistics and what we will need to do to make this a recordable/verifiable marathon swim. This will also lead to one of these swimmers becoming the first person ever to swim this lakes length which is something that can never be taken away from that swimmer.

Additionally, in my head there is the Swim to the Moon in Michigan (10km) in August which depending on schedule and other details, I may consider doing again but its not on the list right now as a priority.

It will also be interesting to see how the self identified and organized swim goes as that may become more of an option in the coming years. Identify the body of water, organize around it and swim it. But for now we don’t now what the future holds, lets just get through this season.

Thanks

A Somewhat Adequate Swimmer