Ohio Street, September 7

Yesterday was Big Shoulders but neither Jody nor I swam it. Neither of us would let the Big Shoulders guys intimidate us into signing up before summer swim season started and we had some confidence that we could do the race. But by then Big Shoulders was closed so we couldn't enter. Given our temperature observation last Sunday and the dire forecasts of 7 foot waves, which we did not find creditable, we weren't exactly sorry we weren't there yesterday. I did briefly talk to Joe who swam the race with his son Kevin and he said it was "fine but wavy". Looking at the results it seems about 900 swimmers did complete the race (2.5 or 5K) which isn't bad. But the times were very slow, so either the course was extra long or the waves were a deterrent.

Today Jody and I did our penance swimming a mile at Ohio St. Jody had stuff to do so we went a bit early. The hypothermia warning level is a total of less than 120 degrees, air and water. According to her car the air was 55 degrees and the sun was just rising so adding no warmth. We didn't find out until we got to the 1/4 mile buoy at Chicago ave that the water was 63.6, so we didn't meet the minimum. But we felt OK so we decided to complete the swim anyway. By the time we got out the air was 60 so we were legal. The water was glass flat at the beach with a small swell and very light chop at the turn. The only bummer was the sun at water level shining directly into my eyes on the way out. But as our friend Heidi showed us at Sharkfest, seeing is overrated for open water. Jody thought it was a great swim but I only give it a very good. Between the sun, some hot coffee and heat in the car we were very comfortable after we got out. We are hoping for a few more swims this summer.