Bow Down to Washington!

What makes Seattle so unique and beautiful is that it sits between two bodies of water, the Puget Sound and Lake Washington. On a clear and sunny day it can’t be beat with Mount Rainier in the background.

Over the years I have had a lot of fun and memorable experiences in and around Lake Washington. Hanging out with friends at Laurelhurst Beach Park, jumping in “The Cut” (Montlake Cut) and Seafair, Seattle’s summer party on Lake Washington. Of course, Sailgating before football games at the stadium and I guess a bit of stretch a couple dips in Drumheller Fountain (😳 it looks towards the Lake-right?).

This week a new memory was created swimming between the 520 bridge and I-90 bridge and back. I had often wondered what it would be like to swim between the two bridges. Our friend, Jane from Bend put it on the calendar as a challenge for the both of us. I met Jane at Juniper Park Pool a couple years ago. Jane was also a swimmer back in the day at UW. I am being generous to myself as I lasted less than a quarter as a college swimmer. Jane was a real college swimmer swimming throughout all four years!

Due to our schedules we didn’t always train with each other at Juniper however we saw each other quite often in passing at the pool. We both needed to put solid training time in as it was a 10k/6 mile swim. It would also be a good training swim for my upcoming Tahoe swim.

We had a built in support crew in Seattle. Jane’s son Kevin provided kayak support and mi hijos Ryan & Courtney provided support and guidance from a boat. Ryan’s checked out a boat from his company, Purewater Craft. They make electric outboards and just started manufacturing electric pontoon boats. It was really cool pontoon and quiet.

We met at Madison Park Beach at 7:30am on a Thursday we figured there would be less boat traffic on weekday and in the morning. It was beautiful morning! Ryan, Courtney and I motored from Matthew’s Beach area to Madison Park and met Jane and Kevin.

We started just a bit after 7:30am. Per usual, taking the big leap into the water certainly woke me up. Within 100 meters it was just fine. As it was really the first time in open water since last year the water felt “cool” on my skin for a bit.

It took a “feed” (every 30 minutes) or two to get into a rhythm with all of us (swimmers/support crew). With the pontoon on the outside of Jane and I and the kayak on the other side we made our way towards Mercer Island. My stroke felt wonky at first as I slept on my shoulder weird the night before. That eventually worked itself out and we enjoyed the lake level views of the Bellevue skyline and Medina. During our feeds we chatted with he kids, checked in on each other and enjoyed looking at the views. Mt. Rainier in the distance, was certainly there however a bit hazy.

We turned around a short distance before I-90 as there was a bit of a current pushing us towards it and we didn’t want to get to close to the pylons.

I definitely felt like I got in more of a swimming rhythm on the way back north. It was so cool to be so close to the beautiful big houses along the water in Leschi, Madrona and Madison Park. Some of them are truly spectacular! Once we got to the Seattle Tennis Club I knew we were in the homestretch. I really wanted to go down the bouncy water slide in front of the club. For some reason I didn’t think they would really appreciate that (maybe during a night swim 😉).

We got back to Madison Park Beach and realized we had another 500+ meters to go to hit 10,000 meters so we kept going towards the 520 bridge and the Edgewater apartments (where I use to live) when my watch read 250m we turned around and went back to the beach.

Jane and I did it-10k/6.2 miles! It was such a fun and iconic swim to do in a spot with such strong memories and most definitely with a friend with UW ties and to have our kids as support.

Looking forward to more Lake Washington swims! I think an across the 520 bridge and back swim and a swim around Mercer Island could be in the cards.

Bow Down To Washington!

PS-who knew there was a nude beach in Madison Park?