How did We make it to the last week in August without a single blog post?
Because we've been too busy swimming, obviously.
This blog post will be a very loose, brief-ish, race report for Point to La Point and Swim to the Moon. If I somehow fail to include you, or fail to include some crucial piece of information, feel free to text me, or maybe also practice the art of non-attachment while I play a tiny violin for you.
Point to La Point (Saturday Aug 2nd) - a 2.1 mile swim in Lake Superior, from Bayfield to Madeline Island.
Water temp: 70-ish
Water quality: increasing chop as the swim continued
Kru:
Cindy - 4th in age group, 11-time event participant
Dragonfly -8th in age group
Fin-Fyn - 9th in age group
Julie
Katie
Lt MJ - 5-time event participant
Magic Mike
Mermaid Princess (10th in age group)
Michelle H (8th in age group)
Mrs. Hollywood
Showgirl
Tattoo'd Lady
We'Taco
Maybe some of the Milwaukee Mermen?
Point to La Point is a fund-raiser for the Bayfield Recreation Center. The area is beautiful and the swim is an amazing opportunity to swim across the channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island.
I think most of our group enjoyed their swims. Several placed impressively high in their age groups.
The weather was great. The conditions got choppier as the swim progressed. As my inner dialog ramped up, I reminded myself that I had trained for this during the abundance of choppy swims this summer. I felt empathy for those who had spent their summer training in flat, warm, inland lakes or worse yet, pools.
The event ends on private property, which we are graciously allowed to overrun. Typically, we mill about, celebrate finishers, walk back to La Point, and then ferry back to Bayfield for a gigantic meal at the Pier Point restaurant. Afternoon naps are common.
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| A view from the finish line. |
Think you might want to do this awesome event next year? Well grab your box of tissues because it's already sold out.
Swim to the Moon (Sunday Aug 17th) - 10k, 5k, and other shorter distances, through the chain of lakes in the Pinckney Recreation Area west of Ann Arbor, MI.
Water temp: hot-- over 80F
Water quality: weedy
Kru:
10K -
Cindy - 4th in age group
Holly
Luna Laguna - SECOND IN AGE GROUP!
Julie Van Cleave - 1st in age group (not a regular Kru swimmer, but friend of Kru)
5K
Dragonfly (5th in age group!)
Katie
Lt. MJ
Showgirl
Tattoo'd Lady
We'Taco
1.2mile
Marian the Librarian
Overall, this is an awesome event, with the icing on the cake being the women's-fit t-shirts. There was an ample supply of post-race pancakes and breakfast burritos. The finisher "medal" is a totally useable luggage tag. 10K-ers also got a towel. Event photos are plentiful and free. The venue and course were beautiful.
At this event, only Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady finished joyfully. The rest of us finished with varying degrees of suffering and annoyance. Vows to never repeat it were uttered, and (for some) subsequently rescinded.
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| 5k swimmers at the much-delayed start |
We do have a few very specific complaints.
#1 complaint: Where the ever-living F*** was the second aid station??? I'll tell you-- it was on a teeny-tiny pontoon boat so far off the course as to be invisible to nearly everyone. The first aid station was also problematic, though anchored directly on the course.
This was the first year they had re-usable timing chips, and a technical snafu caused the start of the 10K to be pushed back 30min, and the 5K was pushed back a full hour. Consequently, food, hydration, mental readiness, &etc was higglety-pigglety. Tempers were frayed.
Other minor gripes included the overly warm water and excessive weedy-ness. The event emphatically stated that no personal buoys could be orange to avoid confusion with orange course markers. What they failed to mention was that they would scatter high-viz yellow course markers all over the place, not to mention other high-viz yellow buoys that were not part of the course, yet were also inexplicably located ON the course. Innumerable swimmers swam past them wearing their high-viz yellow buoys.
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| Survivors of the Very Epic Race |
Big Shoulders looms for a few.
Most of us are done with events this year, and get to swim joyfully, without nagging feelings about increasing yardage and fitness.
Here's a new-this-year event in Duluth that may be a contender for 2026:
https://runsignup.com/Race/MN/Duluth/GreatLakeSuperiorSwim
Enough about events.
The air temp is falling, though the water remains delightful in the mid 60's. Like migratory birds, the annual influx of triathletes fretting about open water may have peaked.
There's a few new landmarks on the shore-- a New new new(?) Mudslide, and new staircase to the north. Briefly the north sewer pipe had a lake and island of its very own.
The usual swim times continue, with lots of amazing regular swims happening without a single timing chip or finisher medal given.
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