Sunday, September 21, 2008

Swimming in Lake Michigan

One of my greatest joys this summer has been open water swimming in Lake Michigan. In addition to swimming down at Ohio St. beach where all the triathletes train, I also swim in the basin area between North Ave and Oak St. beaches. Early Sunday mornings, I meet up with a group (I use the term loosely--it is whoever shows up) called the Lake Monsters. We started out at 6:30 am, but have since moved it to 7:30 (thankfully) . Still, it's amazing how many folks are out there in the early hours. There are the usual hoardes training for the marathon (I'm glad those days are over for me) and lots of dog walkers.


Then there are some folks you wouldn't expect: there's a guy who scuba dives and is known simply as "Diver Dave"; the extended Ochoa family who come all the way from Cicero to set up camp for the day, bringing a myriad of lake toys. But my favorite, by far, are the twins--two ladies 72 years young who are out there every day, swimming backstroke together, wearing the old-fashioned caps with chin straps. They really are amazing and look fantastic. I want to look like them when I'm 72. Hell, I'd like to look like them now...

Enjoy the last official day of summer!
* Photos couresty of Steve Hernan of Lake Monsters

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