I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed for a
project at the American West Center at the University of Utah. The Great Salt Lake Oral History Project is
seeking to document current experiences with the Great Salt Lake. In my
interview with Becky Lloyd, the word that I found kept coming up when I was
talking about swimming was “adventure”.
For me, that’s what open water swimming is all about. Sure,
it’s fun to see how fast and how far you can go, but the big draw for me has
been swimming in new places and in new conditions.
It was Gordon and I seeking adventure that got us out to swim
at the Great Salt Lake for the first time. That experience is what solidified
our desire to bring back the historic race from Antelope Island to Black Rock.
My most memorable swims are not the ones where I swam
fastest, but where I experienced new things. I think often about the year the
big storm came through during the Deer Creek race. I had so much fun riding the
swells and getting rained and hailed on.
Open water swimming is about a lot of things: endurance,
being out in nature, pushing yourself to your limit, adapting to new
conditions, etc. But at the heart of it all, at least for me, is adventure.
In an effort to help the club seek out new open water
adventures, we have created the SLOW Check-Off Challenge. Basically, it is a
series of 16 open water related challenges to be completed throughout the year,
with an emphasis on trying new things and getting involved with the club. We encourage
you to participate and hope that you will have many new adventures along the
way.
Details about the SLOW Check-Off Challenge can be found on
our website:
