Makeup for the cancelled 10 mile Deer Creek Race

So with the cancellation of the Deer Creek Race I was bitterly disappointed. I was determined to make up that race some time this year. I figured that Labor Day was the perfect opportunity, even though I just did a half marathon two days ago and am limping around like a half crippled old man. I was hoping that since my upper body wasn't affected that much from the marathon, that it would be fine and my lower half could just drag along.

So I hired Hayden Buchi and my son Austin to be my support team. They did a good job staying relatively close to me and keeping me fed during my allotted times. I immediately noticed that the water was a good two feet lower than last time I swam at pineview. The thermometer read 71 degrees when I got in at 7:30 am. The sun had not quite come up yet and it was mostly sunny. No chance of getting rained on today!

The first 4 miles went really fast and I was getting sub 30 minute miles. At around mile 3.5 I could see the bottom and it got shallower. I was in the mood to play so I yelled at the boys to come over and see some fish in the water. They eagerly paddled closer. When they got right up next to me I said, "I'm gonna go under and see if I can catch one." Then I went under and planted my feet on the ground and jumped up as hard as I could. I yelled out at the same time and came a good 3 feet out of the water. Hayden about fell out of the boat. It was hilarious. The look of fear on his face was classic!

I immediately then resumed my swim. We went to mile 5 and I decided to keep going and skip one of the many bays that we went into on our way there. So when we got to mile 5.75 we turned around.

Coming back was tough because it was later in the day and the waterskiers and jetski people were zipping right along creating wake and also the wind was coming from the south so I had some fairly decent waves to deal with, but nothing out of control.

Here's the map of my route.



The last mile was tough. From mile 8 and on my shoulders were giving me the "Low Oil Pressure light", but I kept on going, although at a slower pace. My overall time was 5:26:04.

That included a little goofing off, taken some pictures, yelling at the boys to stay closer and some quick feedings. It was very sunny and I'm glad I put on some sunscreen. According to the GPS we went 11.4 miles, but after straightening out the zig zagging that the boys did in the boat, it came to 10.6 miles.

So now I have a new distance PR. Although it was in very toasty water, I'm pleased with this milestone and hope to get 15 miles sometime next spring. You can check out the full collection of video and pictures taken of this swim here.


My entire body is now completely thrashed, not just my lower body anymore. Need to take some serious recovery time. Will pick up the bike probably one Thursday.

Next weekend will be nice to not have a major physical event going. I'm taking Lucy camping on a Daddy-Daughter campout. So I'll be taking this weekend off to spend time with my little girl.