Monday, August 17, 2009

Word of the Weekend = Water

If there is a word to describe my weekend, it would probably have to be water.

Why?

Because I swam for the first time all summer on Friday. I have jumped into the lake for a post-run cool off, but I don't think that counts. Friday I actually got in because I was so warm! Finally, a nice, hot sunny day at the lake! I needed to do 30 minutes of cross training, so I decided to tread water for 30 minutes. My sister-in-law and her niece kept me company so those 30 minutes went fast.

I rarely swim, so I was pretty tuckered out when I got out of the water. I definitely used muscles that don't get used when running! The slight exhaustion I felt on Friday night was nothing compared to what was to come on Saturday...

Before I go into this story, you should know that I come from a pretty intense family. We are competitive, we do things just for 'pride.'

So when my brother texted my mom on Friday night and said he was going to swim across the lake, I knew I had to be a part of this. I didn't honestly think we could swim across the dang lake, but I decided to give it an honest effort.

This will give you a slight visual of how far it is across the lake.


See? Not a short distance. We are estimating it is around 1.5 to 1.75 miles. Aside from treading water the day before, I hadn't really swam for a decent amount of time since I was in college.

But, miraculously, we made it. My brother, my sister-in-law's 12 year old niece (who kicked our butts, btw), and I made it across the lake. Unfortunately the lake was NOT as calm as it was in this picture. It was quite rough - lots of big waves and it started to rain when we were around the half way point. But we did it. I guesstimated that it would take us 2 hours. I finished in about 1:40 and my brother was close behind me.

And boy was I exhausted when I got done! My dad, brother, and sister-in-law had followed along with us in the pontoon - they really didn't think we were actually going to get all the way to the other side, so they were quite impressed.
I think we are going to make it an annual event. We even have a few people who have already said they are going to join us next year. I'm thinking that I might do a little training for it next year. Jumping into the water with zero swimming conditioning might not have been the best approach, but I got the job done.

The rest of the weekend was a blast. We only saw the sun on Friday, so I am glad I took the day off from work. The rest of the weekend was pretty wet and miserable outdoors, but we still had a blast! I forgot my camera this weekend, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats! that must make you feel awesome to have accomplished that with no training. Good for you =)

Mama Nastase said...

Omigosh, swimming across Battle Lake is no small feat!! I am impressed, you must be in great shape after all your training.

Abby said...

Congratulations! I cannot believe you guys did it! I am way impressed!!

I am incredibly jealous. Words don't explain. It sounds like you guys had so much fun at the lakes this weekend!!! Saturday morning, I was getting ready to head out for a hike with Ryan for the day...and I broke out into completely sobbing tears saying, "There's no lakes in Tucson to swim across, Ryan. No lakes. Even if we wanted to!!"

My true reason for the emotional *outburst* was that I miss being with you guys incredibly. And cannot wait for Ryan and I to move back to Minnesota where we belong!!!

Jessica said...

Wow much kudos for you. I probably couldn't even make it a quarter of the way. It's been raining here all summer & not very nice so I just started swimming too.

Amber said...

Wowza! That is a LONG swim, especially considering you haven't swam in a long time!

Good job, though! I bet it felt good to accomplish!! Swimming is such a great cross-training workout, I really need to get back into it!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

And we thought we were cool when we would swim across OUR lake. Though, we swam there and back.. But even that there in back, in front of my parents house would maybe equal 1 mile. If I can find a picture of our backyard I will.. :P

Joey said...

Wow, that's amazing. What a swim!! I can barely swim a few lengths in the pool.

Kelly said...

That is so awesome! Good thing you warmed up a bit on Friday. I'd love to do that at some point.

aimee said...

Holy cow...that is a long way! Awesome job. Maybe now you're ready for a triathalon??

Little Fish said...

Wow, good for you!!

Lisa-Marie said...

Well done!

My word of the weekend might be water too, but for other reasons1 Autumn is starting in Scotland, and it has been pouring for 3 days now!

Anais said...

I love swimming, but hate open water swimming like that...so I find it super impressive that you made it!!