Success is Counted Sweetest in Magical Realism

Another month, another entry. After getting back from Italy work kept me busy, outside of that trying to train, trying to yoga, trying to eat decently, trying to get enough sleep but not be lazy. My constant struggle.

My interns were done the last week of August, and for once everyone got offers, which made my life so much easier. Really nice dinner at Fig & Olive to see them off, their last day went smoothly and then straight from work to meet up with A, pick up Lizzy, and meet Alex and Janine uptown at La Marina. Traffic was kind of crazy, we met them at the boathouse and had Mr. Frosty icecream cones before heading out. We were making horrible time on our way to Lake George and compounded things by stopping for dinner in Kingston, NY.

The restaurant, Boitson’s was super cute, as was the town, kind of like a movie set/hipster version of what a small town should look like. Dinner took forever, I had 2 glasses of red wine and we ended up getting to Bob and Deb’s house after midnight. Washed up and slept really well until the alarm went off around 6am.

Got ready, had some breakfast/coffee, and headed up to Lake George for my second attempt at this 32 mile swim. We decided this time we’d start around 8am, just me and Alex kayaking, then A and the rest of the team would drive up to the Marina to pick up the powerboat and meet us on the lake. The lower lake was pretty busy even early in the morning but Alex did an amazing job of navigating us around boats, fishermen, and even parasailing. (Have you ever seen this? It’s really cool - I would like to try it one day.)

We met up with the powerboat around 11am, Alex kayaked for maybe an hour more, through the Narrows and over some really neat rock formations. After Alex, Lizzy took over as kayaker. She was really great and went for about four hours, then A took over in late afternoon. Lizzy came back on after sunset and around 10pm there was an amazing fireworks show. Almost no moon but so many bright stars and tons of meteor showers. I adore her and while no one will ever compare to A, I was so happy to have her and Alex there to paddle for me.

In general, I love swimming at night, especially when it’s not too cold, but I had some major moments of mental stuggle on this swim between sunset and sunrise. I kept my stroke rate up and kept my commitment to swimming “fast” until I couldn’t any more. A kayaked with me in the darkest pre-dawn hours, as this is always the most difficult time for me, mentally. Then the sun rose and I felt a bit better. A was hinting that if I kept swimming hard, I would be “pleasantly surprised.” I was thinking I was on track for a 24 hour swim, but after only 21 hours he shook my feed bottle at me, wagged his fingers and said, “No no no no” meaning I would be done before my next feed time, meaning I was almost done.

And then just as the sun was coming up, I turned the corner and saw Diane’s Rock. (Diane Stuble was an amazing woman and the first person to swim Lake George, after multiple attempts. She was smart and funny and glamourous and one of my personal heroes.) Diane’s Rock is a tiny island near Ticonderoga named for her and is the starting point for most swims, but was the ending point for mine.

I hit the buoy at 21 hours, 24 minutes. Eighth solo, third female solo, fastest female and second fastest solo ever for this 32.5 mile swim. I don’t usually focus on times or placement for a swim this long, but after the failed swim I set a goal for myself to keep my pace the whole time and this result proved to me that I accomplished my personal goal. We played around a bit and I tried to climb onto the rock but it was super slippery with moss. Swam back to the boat, then enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise.

Boat ride back to the marina took a long time but it was nice to see some of the islands I’d passed in the dark. So pretty. Headed back to Bob and Deb’s house, A helped me take off the zinc and we both took showers. David, the most recent Lake George swimmer and current record holder, came by to congratulate me and we all had a coffee and some good conversation. I thought that was really nice of him. After a bit of time we headed out on the road. Stopped for lunch at a Panera and Alex offered to drive and A took him up on it, to my surprise! It was good because Alex had slept through most of the night and A did not. We cuddled up in the backseat and napped like puppies. We hit a lot of traffic on the way home and Alex/Lizzy wrangled with Waze/Google to find the best route home .

Finally got to La Marina and it was hopping! Dropped Alex and Lizzy off at the Boathouse where a party was in full swing. Love it there. A and I headed home to cuddle up with some pizza and wine. Overall a good experience, but work the next day felt like a million miles away. I felt good physically, even went into the office, but then the next day felt super sore. I don’t think I loaded up on protein enough after the swim. I ate a lot through food sources but I think I needed to supplement with protein shakes.

Week went by quickly, had an early night on Friday and then Saturday we headed out for another swim. This is the 17-miler I do every year so I wasn’t too stressed mentally, but by the time we left the house at 4:30am, it already felt like an oven outside! Luckily the swim started just after sunrise at 6am so we were done by noon and missed the worst of the heat. We swam from 23rd Street down the East River, under the Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, past South Street Seaport, Freedom Tower, Lady Liberty, Governor’s Island, then down the Brooklyn shoreline to Coney Island. Hit the buoy in just over 5 hours, first female, second overall, and my fastest time for this swim by 25 minutes. Again I was focused on swimming as strong as I could and keeping my stroke rate up and was really pleased with the result. I think focusing on this my past few long swims has helped my mental toughness and gotten my body used to what it needs to do. This year we didn’t get out at Coney Island, but took the boat back to midtown and went to the after party at The Crow’s Nest at the River Club. It was crazy hot but really nice. Had a snack and a few drinks, then headed home.

Got washed up and then went to meet my mom, sister, sister’s husband at The Mermaid Inn for dinner. It was good as always, we were there in time for happy hour so many glasses of rose, the tuna avocado crudo and then some lobster gazpacho. Soooo good. Had a beer afterwards at Big Bar with everyone and then took my mom back to Grand Central and then home. It was only 11pm but I was about to drop so we washed up and went to sleep. Next day we got up, walked around, had brunch and then napped the rest of the day.

Monday morning I had to get to work by 7:30am to help out with a training, which was tiring but nice to see all the new analysts. Worked the rest of the week, said goodbye to my last intern on Friday, then got on a flight to Minnesota. Work event on Friday night and then very early morning start at 7:15 on Saturday. Yuck but it meant I could get on a 3:30pm flight and home by 7pm. Yesterday was a wash, slept in, went to the library, did some errands, and then today back at work.