Every year, my family and I do this open water swim. In fact, I’ve been doing this race since I turned 18 (therefore have completed 5 of them). This was my slowest…by 20 minutes. It was also about 2.5 miles (so the race official publically announced). But I still think it was 2.25 and had really bad currents…Which was sad because the water looked so calm from the boat.
Rewind. Why on Earth do I travel to NY to do a swim (run…maybe…but swim?!).
Well my dad’s two brothers who fly/drive from out of town also do it. Now it’s quite close to my brother’s school on Long Island so that is obviously a factor. So yes, I drive that far and there is a swim involved but there are many other motives and I just generally tell people it’s a family reunion.
We woke up at a nice 6:00 am and casually moseyed over to the ferry by 7:00 to check in. You see the swim leaves from an island so missing the ferry, means no swimming. That and check in is right there.
Got to the swim and was ready for the 8:30am start. In my typical Hollie swim race fashion, I did absolutely no warmup (minus chatting). I also almost missed the start because I was busy desanding my goggles. I realized “oh wait all the swimmers are in the water”. So needless to say I started near the back.
The race course is set up 1 mile out and 1 mile back. You get both currents. Today, the current was coming in from the side. Anyways-the first mile went by pretty fast and I hit that in about 30 minutes. I somewhat figured it was long because I have been consistently holding miles in these conditions in low 20s. I wasn’t too worried.
Then rounded the buoy, the sun went straight into my eyes. This mile felt like it took forever. I had lost barings, it was chilly, I got stung by a jelly and the water was choppy. It seems to be like that every year though. You have to remember, at the half way point of this race, you are a mile from shore so it’s pretty scary.
Anyways, I finished the second half in 50 minutes, meaning I swam this 2 mile race in 80 minutes. Even with wavy conditions I was still 20+ minutes longer then I had done. The race director announced that it was 2.5 miles during awards because of tides changing and currents and the buoys were too far out. I’m not too concerned either way.
I was proud of my brother for finishing his longest (and second) open water swim.
Questions for you:
Have you had a scary race moment?
Do you have family reunions?
Thankfully I’ve never had a scary race moment. It sounds really scary to be a mile out from the shore in those conditions. Awesome job!
I just got back from a family reunion too though – to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday. It was fun!
WOW Happy Birthday to her! 🙂
The idea of a long open water swim race would terrify me in itself, much less with the current and it being longer than expected. Great job though!
awesome finishing time…especially with those crazy conditions! That’s a great way to get the family together, too.
Our family reunions are JUST like that…if you sub out the swimming/exercise for eating and sitting around, talking…enlessly. 😉
Can I just say I am really happy I now follow you on twitter? How was this not a much earlier occurance. It made my day.
Amen! Now we can stalk erg follow on all levels!
Once the jelly got me, I would have been all done! I do not do well when I am uncomfortable! Good for you for finishing.
You are nuts girl. I could never swim 2 miles..in open water at that. Well unless there was an island filled with all things wonderful on one side that I could indulge in forever..ha!
There were krispy kreme donuts at the end…does that count?
You still rocked this race Hollie, as usual!! How cool that Matt & your dad did it too 🙂
Well, you already know I’m officially borrowing your abs thanks to my request on Twitter, so other than that all that’s left to say is how much I admire anyone who does an open water swim, let alone one of that length. The water looks so spectacularly blue as well (I know, duh, but we don’t have water that clear in the UK – it always looks murky and monster-infested…) and killer physiques obviously run in your family.
Scary race moments? I honestly think every moment of every race is scary for me – I have such an intense fear of failiure…the worst thing has to be mile 25 of a marathon because I am SO scared that I’ve run so far, and yet something absolutely awful could happen and have me collapse at mile 26.1 – I have literally seen that happen to other people and I just want to stop and drag them across the line (sadly I’m not that great at Piggybacks, being Hobbit-sized).
Teehee. The water was actually more grimey in real life. I am afraid when I get to the last ends of a race I won’t finish either-no matter what!
You are such a fast swimmer! Seriously would take me a LOT longer. Plus in the sea! Nuh uh no way sounds so scary!
I’m glad you’re okay and hope your sting wasn’t bad 🙁
You actually get stung a lot in open water swims! It’s nuts.
Dang, that is quite a swim, especially with a bad current! I haven’t had a really scary race moment, although I did get a really, really awful calf cramp at the end of a super hot 10K last year and didn’t think I was going to be able to walk to the family reunion area to find my boyfriend. That was my first and only (so far) visit to a med tent.
That’s a sweet picture of Matt!! With the currents and the jelly, I’d say you’re ready to start marathon swimming. 10k in the water! Why not? ahahaha
tee hee…only if you tow me.
You probably swam with Jaws too.
I can’t believe you swam 2 MILES in open water! Ridiculously awesome. I had the worst experience last summer – my sister and I got caught in a rip current (in the ocean) and it traumatized me.
that’s insane. especially getting stung by a jellyfish, that always hurts like a mofo. and from someone who sucks at swimming in a closed, clean, calm pool…yeah, wow, that’s epic! I have however gotten sucked out to sea by a rip tide while surfing once and had to swim allllllll the way back…oh man that was not fun and I spent the whole time freaking out every time a fish or piece of seaweed touched me. I was like “OMG SHARK!!” lollll. It’s so cool that you do this with your family though, I think that makes it a lot more fun and you can all laugh about it together afterward!
I like your outfit in the first pic, so cute! Where did you get those shorts? And ignore this if I’m off-mark, since you generally seem healthy and balanced to me, but you’re looking very thin in that bikini pic – then again, you’re an athlete and that muscle-more-than-fat thing and some people have prominent ribcages and hip bones. Anyway, hope everything is awesome! Glad to see you smiling (understatement: you’re always *beaming* it’s great!)
The shorts are actually Hurley and I got them at PacSun years ago. LOL.
I have an extremely narrow waistline (due to genetics..). I don’t post a lot of bathing suit photos, but I can guarantee I haven’t lost any weight at all since running and such. I also think the instagram filter looking back brings more attention to it. 🙂
Regardless of your time, awesome job! I’m super impressed because swimming is the hardest thing for me, but I want to do it more often!
I cannot imagine swimming that far. You rock. I have scary moments while riding when I’m jumping sometimes!
Oh my gosh I can’t imagine swimming 2.5 miles at all especially in open water, kudos to you and your fam!
haha…okay, my fav. part is you wondering why in the heck u traveled to go for a swim….obviously u would for a run tho! 😉 wow, an open water swim, not going to lie i think i’d either end up sunk or clinging to a buoy. i’ll stick to land…but looks like u all had a blast!