Swim to the Moon has become one of my favorite events each year and I completed the 5K open water swim for my fifth time on Sunday, August 18. Swimming a 5K is within my limits but also something I really have to work toward. I think about this event the majority of the year because the distance is just intimidating enough for me to want to maintain my swimming fitness so I will be prepared to tackle it. It’s a great motivator for me to get to the pool on those early mornings when I don’t want to get out of bed!

I don’t follow any kind of structured training to prepare for this swim. Basically, I try to get as much distance in as I can on the mornings that I swim before work to make sure I have the endurance aspect covered. Ideally, that would be three times a week but I don’t always pull it off. I tell myself that I have to get to the pool at least once a week so I don’t lose any gains I’ve made. I usually have just enough time to swim a little over two miles each time I hit the pool. Because pool swimming is much different from swimming in a lake, I go to Stony Creek Metropark for some open water swimming a number of times throughout the summer as well. I may have approached 2.5 miles during my longest swims. I guess I was a little more disciplined last year when I racked up 158 miles from January until this race, while I swam around 121 miles this year. I hoped that wouldn’t mean that I was less prepared this time around.

This year the race celebrated its 15th anniversary so Epic Races added a 15K swim to the variety of events. Usually everything takes place on Sunday with 10K being the longest distance. This year they spread the events over two days with a 10K, 2.4 miles, 1 mile, and a half mile swim taking place on Saturday, and a 15K, 5K, 1.2 miles, and a half mile swim taking place on Sunday. Some participants did multiple events, even choosing to double up and swim on both days! The shorter events took place later in the morning which helped avoid congestion that would come with so many people in the water at once.

Considering how hard I worked toward this event all year, it would seem very questionable that I chose to go to a concert the night before. Juggling my love of music with my love of endurance events has lead me to do this a ridiculous number of times and I’m fortunate that somehow I pull it off fairly well. I really wanted to see the band Vandoliers in Detroit on Saturday night despite aiming to get to the race at 6:00 the next morning. I decided I better suck it up and pay for a hotel to make it a little more doable. Rather than drive 40 minutes home after the show then face a drive of an hour and a half in the morning, I drove 40 minutes out to Ann Arbor then only had 30 more minutes to drive on Sunday morning. Saving that hour in the morning was wise, but it was still pretty brutal trying to get out of bed after four hours of sleep. At least I made a point of getting over nine hours of sleep the night before.

I got to Halfmoon Lake at the Pinckney Recreation area just before 6:00. The park really doesn’t have any lighting and of course the porta potties don’t either so my cell phone flashlight was especially useful. I added a headlamp to my packing list for the future because it stays dark until around 6:30. I’m curious how the swim start worked for the 15K people who were scheduled to start at 6:00.

I needed a raincoat for my walk to the packet pickup because it started to rain just as I got to the park. I got a bit chilly standing in the rain with my skin exposed so a volunteer could use a Sharpie to write my race number on my arms and back. Unfortunately it didn’t work very well because I had loaded up with sunscreen which I didn’t really need because we sure didn’t get any sun! I took my stuff back to the car and packed my gear check bag with a towel and a long sleeve shirt knowing that I would be cold when I finished the swim. The rain let up but popped up a couple more times throughout the morning. Nothing during my swim though.

The 5K is a point-to-point race so I caught a bus around 6:40 which took us to Patterson Lake at North Star Reach – a camp for children with serious health challenges and the beneficiaries of fundraising from this race. I already had a protein Picky Bar at the hotel and ate another normal Picky Bar on the bus. I made a point of preloading with an electrolyte drink during my drive and on the bus knowing that Gatorade along the course usually doesn’t sit well with me. For good measure, I ate a Clif Shot Blok chew just before the race too and hoped all of that would tide me over for three miles of swimming.

It was a relief that the 10K took place on Saturday because last year our start time relied on the timing of those swimmers. They started at Halfmoon Lake and turned around where we would start. That meant that although our race was due to start at 7:30, only the fastest swimmers who could keep the same pace as the 10K leaders (around an hour for 5K) would start that early. We were supposed to start with 10K swimmers who were going the same pace we’d swim. Knowing that I’d swim a hour and 50 minutes at best, I didn’t start until 8:25 last year. After that experience I was kind of lax about getting ready to go this time and waited until about 7:20 to use the porta potty and check my warm clothes. 

7:30 truly was our start time this year and the 15K swimmers were still out far enough that we didn’t have to wait for them to get to us first. I still figured that with two swimmers starting every three seconds I had some time to kill because I’m usually more than halfway back in the final results. I went to another part of the beach to get in the water and get my goggles ready. When I got out, I realized the crowd of nearly 300 people had moved much faster than I expected and now I’d be starting toward the back of the pack. I didn’t need to be near the front but I also didn’t really want to start at the back. I guess I got a little TOO lax this year. One of the things I stress about most with this race is when I should start. Some races have pace signs which makes it a no-brainer where I should line up, but there isn’t anything like that at this race. It leaves me guessing and this time I guessed wrong!

I tried swimming toward the right side hoping it would help me avoid some of the crowd to my left.

I avoided most of the crowd for a couple minutes but then congestion became an issue for me. I found myself stuck behind someone while also trapped on the sides with no way to get around people. I couldn’t speed up and go my own pace. It’s one of the challenges of racing in open water. Things space out eventually but it can be a little frustrating at times. That kept me distracted for a bit at the beginning as I tried to figure out how to make my own space without feeling crowded.

I was thankful for the crowd when it came to spotting the first two buoys where we made turns. Lately my goggles have been fogging up shortly after I start to swim. I had trouble spotting the first two buoys and had to rely on following people in front of me. Fortunately my goggles cleared up after a bit. At least they didn’t leak! After that we just had to keep orange buoys on our left side for the rest of the swim and I managed to spot most of those pretty well.

I am not sure what the water temperature may have been but I would guess that it was somewhere in the low 70s. While swimming through three miles of several lakes the temperature is bound to fluctuate along the way anyway. The water felt cool but I know there was at least one year when I felt colder and this was tolerable enough.

Fairly early into the race we swam through a short tunnel and I know photographer Greg Sadler is always stationed there. I started to do breaststroke after I spotted him because it’s a very narrow stretch where we could only swim a couple people wide. Things slowed down and it got congested leading up to the tunnel. That gave me a chance to say hi and wave to Greg who always takes the best photos of me. 

There are a few other stretches where our path got a little narrow as we swam through smaller lakes before getting into the wide open part of Halfmoon Lake. Some parts were shallow enough that a few people chose to stand and walk. I figured as long as I wasn’t swiping the ground I would keep swimming.

Trying to get around people can be one of the bigger challenges of open water swimming. I might feel comfortable swimming along then suddenly someone shows up on my side and cuts in on my path. I’ll stop for a second to let them keep going that direction while I find my own space again, then suddenly they come back and cut my direction from the opposite side. Sometimes it starts to drive me crazy and I have to try to stay patient and just cope with it.

Dealing with other swimmers kept my mind distracted for part of the swim while songs running through my head kept me distracted at other moments. After having just seen Vandoliers the night before, their songs were top of mind. It was too perfect that they have a song called “Together We Will Sink or Swim” which amused me as it played on my internal radio throughout the swim.

I also kept my mind busy by tracking my distance. My watch buzzed with an alert every 500 yards and I knew a 5K was roughly 5,500 yards. I kept track of my current distance as I went and counted down how much I still had left.

I’m not sure I even noticed the first aid station but I knew I should stop for the second one two miles into the swim. I often swim two miles without needing a drink during my normal training so that worked for me during the race as well. I stopped and hung onto the aid station boat for maybe a minute as I drank two cups of water. The stop also provided a nice break for my arms.

At that point I knew I had just over a mile to go and tried to work a little harder. It looks like my pace improved for the last 1,000 yards of the swim. Too often I get into a routine of swimming comfortably without putting more power into my stroke. I really should push more instead of just trying to cover the distance. It was a good feeling to actually still have some strength left at the end to do so. Sometimes that long stretch in Halfmoon Lake feels like it can take forever but I kept breaking it into manageable chunks. 1.2 miles to go? That’s the amount I swim in a half Ironman and it’s nothing. Half a mile to go? That’s just over 15 minutes in the pool.

As I approached the finish I felt pretty proud that I got out there to swim 3.1 miles on a Sunday morning. I told myself it’s a pretty badass thing to do. That empowering feeling helped fuel a strong finish.

My finishing time of 1:53:10 was exactly three minutes slower than last year but I was totally happy with the results. I came in under two hours which was the real goal! I felt strong, didn’t cramp, and it all went smoothly so I was thrilled.

I felt fine when I got out of the water and went to gear check right away. The water had been cool and there was no sun so I got cold quickly. Once I had my towel and warm clothes I went to take some celebratory pictures. Then I went for the food!

While I was eating I listened to the announcers speculate when the first 15K swimmer may arrive. It was pretty impressive to see the 20-year-old woman come across the line in 3:43.

A 16-year-old male had won the 5K in 1:07, and the day before a 17-year-old male won the 10K in 2:15. That gives you a good idea of how non-competitive my time is! I am so impressed by all of the strong young swimmers.

My shoulders were in desperate need of a good massage so I was willing to wait in line at a tent where we were lucky to have three massage therapists from Reach Bodywork Studio volunteering their services. It was immediately obvious that ten minutes would barely scratch the surface of the work that I need to have done. Sometimes I forget what a tight mess I am and how I probably ought to get massages every few weeks. I can’t even remember when my last one was. Still, I’m sure it helped some so I was grateful.

After chatting with some of my Epic friends, it was time for the long drive home. As I drove, I reflected on my background with swimming and how my relationship with it has evolved as an adult. I viewed swimming from a competitive perspective when I was a swim team kid. I wasn’t very fast and I’m not especially driven by competition so I didn’t see any point in continuing to do it. As an adult, I’ve realized that I’m driven by feelings of accomplishment and empowerment, and being able to swim a 5K certainly satisfies both of those no matter how I place.

I felt pretty strong this year so does that mean it’s time to consider stepping up to the 10K? Probably not simply because of the time it would take to train. I’m good for just over two miles on a regular basis but I don’t have many opportunities to double my time in the pool. It’s also hard enough to keep myself looping around buoys for an hour and a half in the lake at Stony let alone think about going even longer. It’s fun to swim through a chain of lakes, but circles around buoys over and over for training…not so much. I’m happy enough with the accomplishment of doing a 5K. Not to say that I won’t consider going longer one day!

I love this race so much that I will certainly plan to return for next year’s race. You can find a 5K running race anywhere any weekend. You can’t do that with a 5K swim. It’s hard to find many long distance open water swims, especially one that takes athletes through a chain of lakes. This is definitely a unique and very special event so it’s understandable why people choose to travel from all over to participate in it.

Many thanks to Epic Races for providing this awesome opportunity and for making everything run so smoothly. Major thanks to Greg Sadler Photography for taking so many wonderful shots to remember the day and making this blog more exciting to scroll through. 

– Janet

Follow me on Instagram @janetboltz