Swimming in the evening at Deer Creek

Josh updated his FB status reminding me of a group swim at Deer Creek this evening. When I initially heard about this group swim I decided it was too far and cast it out of my head. But after helping our neighbor last night to help cut up a tree that had split due to last night's microburst storm, I had to skip this morning's swim to take a trailer load of tree limbs to the dump.

I was planning on swimming this evening on the way home. Then I thought, I might as well go down and do some open water swimming in Deer Creek where it isn't warm and get some open water exposure.

Although I was a little nervous since there is some pretty strong storm activity going on throughout the Wasatch Front. What happens when lightning hits water? I've not heard of fish getting electrocuted to death and schools of fish dying, so the chances of me needing to reasonably be concerned is minimal. Although this picture isn't very reassuring.

We started the swim at 6:30 and swam down to the end south of the boat ramp, and then back north on the east side. Got back up to the bend across from the boat ramp and worked our way back. I'm sure Josh will post on his own blog the route from his GPS which he brought along.

In a few places the wind was really picking up and the waves were getting pretty good. It was fun. When it gets crazy in the water with waves and wind, you can't panic, go with it. Then you defy what mother nature throws at you. Not by fighting it, but by going with it. I would just make my recovery higher and then focus on a good long reach. I kept my momentum always moving forward.

When we finished it was nearly dark: 8:55pm. We swam for 2:23 and according to Josh's GPS swam 4.39 miles. The thermometer I threw in when I first got there read 73 degrees. It was the perfect temperature. It could have been a little colder, and I would have been fine. The difference between 73 and 84 is huge so I imagine the difference between 73 and say 62 would be just as dramatic. I need some serious cold water swimming.

What a fun time! The water didn't have a bitter taste to it, like Bountiful Lake. Which I'm going to start referring to as "the toilet". However, swimming at Deer Creek cost me $10, while swimming in "the toilet" is free. So either way, your gonna pay for it.

Looking forward to next weekend to swim the 10K.