One Crazy Goal

So yesterday I got a call from a friend at work. Russell and his wife are generally awesome people and, despite what they might say, are both in really good shape. Last year they did a 100 mile bike ride for charity. If I attempted to ride 100 miles on a bike, they would have to found a charity to pay for my medical bills and therapist fees.

Russell's question, "Have you ever heard of the Lake Travis Relay?"

Now, my first thought was that this sounded like some kind of run, and being that on land I have the lungs of a hamster, I was uninterested.

"No. No," he assured me. "It's a swim. It's a swim in Lake Travis."

Russell had read my blog post from Wednesday, chronicling my return to swimming. He knew I was excited to be back in the water, and he was looking to encourage/challenge/murder me.

An open-water swim? I've never done one, but I did find the idea enticing. Then I heard the catch.

"It's 12 miles," Russell told me. He said it as if he were reading me the weather report. I'm going to encourage his wife to get him a brain scan.

12 miles? People do that? Are they unaware of the existence of boats?

Apparently, the Lake Travis Relay is pretty popular. The Open Water Daily News listed in their top ten list of open water swims in the country. The rules are pretty straightforward. Teams are composed of 6 members who each swim in 20, 15, and 10 minute shifts until they finish the distance...or, you know, drown trying.

The whole thing sounded a little nuts to me at first. The more I thought about it, though, the more it ate at me. I've certainly never tried something like this before. I've never even done a competitive open-water swim. Why would I start now, ten years and forty pounds removed from my varsity swim team roots?

Then again, maybe now is the best time. I've said that I'm committed to changing my life. Why not start with something a little ambitious?

So there it is. October 10, I want to be jump into the 78-80 degree waters of Lake Travis and taking on my first open-water swim. I don't know how well I'll do, but I do know that I'm going to finish smiling.

If you think that you or someone you know might be interested in joining our relay team, please let me know. We need another guy and another two girls. They don't have to be Olympic swimmer (though, they sure would be welcome), they just have to be committed to finishing the race with us.