Getting back, maybe...  Just did two miles last night for the first time in probably 3 months.  Got sucked into pacing someone at 45 second laps for a while - that hurt, especially with the shoulder,. But it feels like I can stroke around it.  Starting to get psyched about doing this yet one more time.  Have been picking up new swimmers for several weeks - we may be around a dozen folks now.  Probably need another boat or a couple of Seadoos if anyone is interested...  Still love the story about the guy swimming east to west across the entire lake (20+ miles) through the shipping channels around August 6th? Wish him luck.  And hope he gets medical attention after the race. Seriously, there's something wrong with all of us to want to go 14 miles into the wind, but to go 20+ miles across the lake dragging a boat with 2,000 pounds of bricks?  Wow.  There's really something wrong with that guy.  I mean, you can't ever piss a guy like that off.  Because if you do - I don't think he'd ever get over it...  In fact, I may just stop right here, and wish him luck, crazy or not.

Another trend we are facing is a continual dropping of the average age of our participants, which is neither surprising nor comforting to us old guys...  We will now have probably 4 or 5 20 year old machines keeping pace for us.  Last year, Fares was doing 20 minute miles in the middle of the course.  I can barely sprint that fast.  But then, I am probably 30 years older than he is...

For me, the perfect day would be clear skies, 80 degree air and 70 degree water, a gentle NE wind, and a dozen massage therapists waiting at the finish line... Seriously, we will make arrangements for any massage therapists that want to come down to the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and help out around 4pm or so on the 19th...

Last year was the year of the flies, hopefully we will find a better theme as we proceed through this year's crossing.

All the best,
Ric