10Jul13 - Jordanelle

Got up early this morning to see how far away Jordanelle Reservoir is from my house.  Turns out that driving there at 0500 means the roads are REALLY clear!  I got there much faster than expected.  The group was meeting at 0600 and I was ready to go a half hour in advance.
A pretty good group showed up this morning.  There were about 8 people there.  Josh knew everyone but I only knew Josh and Sue.  Josh showed me the route and each T-lap was 1.4 miles.  Perfect.  2 laps it will be.
We all took off and there is a line of white cigarette buoys that run the entire swim.  I just kept spotting off each white buoy which never seemed to be far away.  It's a GREAT Jedi Mind Trick there.  Just focus on how close the next "goal" is over and over.  I felt pretty good out there today.  The air was chilly but the water seemed hot.  I spent a LOT of time thinking about ice swimming yesterday.  A few things have happened lately about the Bering Straight swim that I have been following.  I even talked with a fellow ice swimmer on the phone and we shared our mile blog with each other.
Even though we both swore we would never do another ice mile, both of us are considering it again.  I guess I relate this to birth.  From what I heard from my wife and other women, during the actual birth, it's horrible, agonizing pain, etc etc...worst experience EVER.  While they are in the middle of it, they swear they will never do this again.
Once it's done, they are glad it's over because they achieved their goal...a baby.  A few weeks later they forget about how horrible the ACTUAL birth was and I've heard many women say (including my wife) "It really wasn't that bad"!  DID YOU FORGET???  Are you serious?  It sounded like you were dying in there, even WITH the Epi!  My wife just laughed it off and sure enough, right in the middle of contractions for baby #2, they REMEMBER!  Oh yes, THIS was the horribleness I swore off.  I actually HAD forgotten about this moment.  What was I thinking claiming that it wasn't "that bad".  I remember now...IT'S WORSE!
But, just like a delete button on a keyboard, you forget and weeks later they go right back to, "It wasn't that bad".
I guess I'm in the same boat mentally.  (No idea what it would be like physically.  Thank heaven!  I can't imagine trying to push a watermelon out of an opening that when dilated, is still only the size of an apple!) I know it was horrible and I have reread my account of it many times but your brain doesn't remember the actual pain, only that it was painful.  Well I'm sure if I do another ice mile, I'll be just like my wife.  I can do it....Oh Lawd this is the WORST pain imaginable...2 week later - It wasn't that bad!
ANYHOW................
I did 2 laps.  The 2nd lap I was doing some heads up breast while chatting with Josh.

Josh and me

 Sue was steamrolling the water.  She got in first and never looked back.  She got so far ahead of everyone that she wondered why everyone was so far behind.  She thought there was a problem.  No Sue, you are just kicking ass!
Got out and felt great.  I really like this lake.  It's close so I'll probably start using this as my OW lake when the GSL is too warm/nasty to swim in.

2.8 miles OW