Saturday, December 31, 2011

My 2011 Swim Review

2011 has been quite an eventful year.  Very fitting given I have big plans for 2012.  Here's an extensive list of this year's highlights!

Swimming accomplishments
  1. Great Salt Lake English Channel Qualifying swim - 21.7 miles in 10:59
  2. Bear Lake Length swim - 19.8 miles in 11:13
  3. Deer Creek Open Water Marathon - 2nd place - 10 miles in 4:56
  4. Virtual Open Water Marathon race around Long Island - 1st place finish - 250 miles in 2 months and 1 day
  5. Literally gave 110% in my 1000 mile goal for the year, finishing the year with just over 1100 miles (13th place out of over 2,800 swimmers in USMS' 2011 GTD)
Open Water Education
  1. Attended the First Annual Open Water Safety Conference in San Francisco
  2. Subscribed to H2Open magazine, the worlds first Open Water Magazine.  Definitely worth it!
  3. Recertified in CPR/First Aid/Lifeguard Training
Furthering the sport
  1. Assisted Josh Green in directing the Great Salt Lake Open Water Marathon
  2. Donated several kayaks in raffles to promote open water swimming participation
  3. Helped conduct several open water clinics
  4. Created the Josh Green Virtual Open Water Race (which hopefully blossoms throughout the years)
  5. Organized and successfully held SDRC Swim Meet, and also funded and built SouthDavisMasters.com
Great Salt Lake
  1. Became a member of FRIENDS, made this organization my charity of choice, and also donated large amounts of money/goods/services to this organization.  
  2. Attended several meetings regarding Great Salt Lake and issues threatening its future.
  3. Sent a letter to Army Corp of Engineers to make my voice heard in regards to reckless expansion of GSLM ponds.
  4. Organized a cleanup of Bountiful Lake and participated in a cleanup at Black Rock.
  5. Conducted lots of research and written articles on GSLOW history, including meeting Phyllis Spencer and family.
Winter Swimming
  1. Was introduced to winter swimming by the UtahOpenWater pioneer, Josh Green, on 24 February this year, and swam EVERY week from that point on in open water, cold or not.
  2. Created the Wasatch Front Polar Bear Club.  Which is an informal club (we don't take dues, or have any recognized "members".  Just a group of crazy cold water friends.
  3. Donated a significant chunk of change to Jack Bright to fund his very cool documentary on Winter Swimming which was successfully completed and released this year.  
New Friends and acquaintances
Last, but not least, I have made MANY new acquaintances and new friends this year:  
Swam by a little before

1 comment:

Josh said...

Holy crap! I knew you had been busy this year, but when you list it all out on one page it's pretty impressive. Nice work my friend!

December 31, 2011 at 11:45 PM

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