Chad's Open Water Adventure's: Dam to Dam The Great Moose Migration

Thursday I left town for the 11 mile swim just outside of Boise Idaho at Luck Peak Lake. I stopped and picked up Josh, Ryan and Justin for the trek up north. I also stopped by and picked up the Spot GPS from Gord's as well. after what seamed like forever we arrived at our hotel and got checked in and headed over to the conference room for the pre race check in and safety briefing. Josh and I were the only two from out of state we picked up our shirts and had a few snacks. I finally got to meet Oscar "Moosie" and chatted with him and got some specifics on where we would meet in the morning. Chandra took CJ and Emma down to the pool and I tried to sleep but my mind was going in 200 different directions after she came up to the room everyone lay ed down for some sleep. I slept like a baby that night. That's right I woke up every hour on the hour just like a baby. I was afraid that I would miss my alarm and be late to the lake. my alarm went off and I met everyone down in the lobby and we loaded up and we were off. We got to the lake and it was where we would be finishing and the wind was blowing quite hard. the only good thing about the direction of the wind was it would be pushing us to the finish. we loaded back up and made our way to the starting point and started to get things ready to go. Josh and I were still getting greased up when everyone was in the water. to get to the edge of the water was a really steep trail and about 12 inches of shore before you were in the water. Moosie told us that it was going to be that way and we had to drag the kayaks down to the water. I got into the water and started the Spot GPS so that it would be going when we started. the water felt great! it was a little chilly but great. I did not take a temp but I would guess that it was mid to upper 60's. Moosie did a count down and we were off. The start of the race was my only complaint I soon realised that we were swimming with a bunch of tri swimmers and all I could figure is that they like to swim in packs and draft and grope. I haven't had that much action in a long time. I stopped so that everyone could get a head of me and then I took off again, this time I cut way wide and passed most of them. I got into a good groove and before I knew it 2 miles were down and I was stopping for my first feed. I stopped every 30 minutes after the first hour for feeds during the whole race. At every feed I had Perpetuem and every 3rd I had squeezable apple sauce. at about mile 3-1/2 there was a crazy wind and the current was just as crazy. I fought and basically sprinted for 2 miles begging for it to go away. I got behind quite a bit during this mess and I could remember Moosie saying the last 3 mile were always tough because of the wind. I finally got out of it and caught a tail wind and started making up some ground. I could see Josh when I took my feeds and was actually catching him. the swim was one of the best as far as views goes there was shear cliffs, nice grassy areas, rolling hills. This lake had it all. when I swam by one of the camp grounds I could smell the camp fire and I thought bacon. the last 3 miles that I was dreading was great there was no current and the lake was pretty smooth. one of the things I did see quite often was the rescue boats. I knew that I was being looked after and they seamed like they were always close. That was a good thing because we had to wave one down to ask for directions double checking that we were going the right way. I could finally see the finish area and told Justin I was skipping my next feed and would just swim the rest of the way. once I figured out that I was swimming towards the swimming platform and swimming area I adjusted and headed for Joshes kayak and walked out of the water. I did not even see the chute I was supposed to go thru until Chandra and Josh pointed it out to me. I stopped my watch and my time was 6:07 and 11.47 miles according to my GPS. I walked over to the tables and downed a diet dew and peanut butter cups wile watching the others finish. When I finished I felt really good and could of swam further and I actually wanted to keep going I enjoyed that lake that much. The swim went off with out a hitch and everyone finished no one was pulled. it was very well put together and I will defiantly be back next year. The workouts that Gord's has been giving me have really helped I can feel my speed picking up. when I was struggling thru that bad 2 miles I kept invisioning him slapping the back of my head saying "bend your wrist" get everything out of your stroke. With this swim I felt 200 time better in the water than I did at Bear Lake and I'm back to my 30 min. mile. Thanks Gords!

By the way this distance is half of the English Channel and I feel like I'm right on track again foe my crossing next year!