2019 was the first year that I did the Swim to the Moon 5K with Epic Races and it was such a great experience that I’ve come back every year, with 2020 being the exception due to COVID. That meant that this year was my sixth time so of course by now it has become routine for me. I know I can always use this event to motivate me to keep up with my swimming because 5K is some serious distance in the water. I was a bit disappointed in myself for slacking off on my pool time for much of the winter and spring this year though. With marathons in both January and April, that training took priority and I cut back on my early morning swims in favor of sleep to recover from all of the running. I had some stretches where I didn’t swim for weeks at a time and it wasn’t until later in June when I finally stepped up again with multiple swims per week. In 2023, I swam close to 160 miles from January until this race. I dropped down to around 120 miles last year. If I thought that was disappointing, I was kind of shocked to realize now that I had done just over 60 miles during that stretch this year! It’s okay to shake things up and change priorities throughout the year but I’ll have to see if I can do better going forward. I guess what matters most is that I got some good training in for 8-9 weeks prior to this event which was still plenty of time to be prepared.
One tough part about the routine of doing this race is leaving the house around 4:30 in the morning to get to Halfmoon Lake at Pinckney Recreation Area just before 6:00. Sunday, August 17 was the big day and we lucked out with a pretty great day for it. It’s been a warm summer so I didn’t have to worry about the water being a little chilly like it has been some years. The water was probably around 80° this year! I also didn’t have to worry about shivering before or after the swim. It was in the low 70s first thing in the morning and it just climbed from there. Forecasts had shown possible rain or storms but fortunately nothing materialized and we were good to go.
Packet pickup is an option the day before the race but obviously it doesn’t make sense for me to make that drive. Getting there early usually works just fine. I waited a few minutes to collect my shirt, swim cap, and gear check bag. Collecting my ankle timing chip required a longer wait. In the past we’ve had disposable timing chips and plenty of people had them ahead of time because they went to packet pickup on Saturday. This year the timing company had reusable timing chips that were assigned to people on race morning. I suspected that could cause a delay and I was correct because hundreds of swimmers would be lining up for those in a short period of time. I was totally fine because I was in line by 6:15 and had until 7:00 to catch a bus to the 5K start. However, some 10K people were still getting their chips at the last minute which wasn’t ideal when they were supposed to start at 6:30.
The 10K swimmers start at Halfmoon Lake, swim out 5K, then come back. I usually like to see them take off before I catch a bus out to my start, and this year they were delayed a good 25 minutes. I knew that meant our 7:30 start time would likely be delayed by as much time as a result so I wasn’t in any big hurry.
In the meantime, I was able to find my work buddy Cristian waiting in line for his chip. One day we were chatting at work about all of these crazy races that I do and I mentioned Swim to the Moon. It caught his interest because he used to swim in high school. Next thing I knew, he had signed up! I was a bit concerned because he hadn’t done any real swimming in something like 11-12 years and had maybe a month to prepare? We touched base as he got a YMCA membership and got in the pool a few times. I personally like to prepare as much as I can, so his approach of just going for it kind of stressed me out! Some people can pull that off though! Hoping that he would have a good experience helped distract me from some of the nerves I may have had about my own race.
I had another distraction because Kim, a friend who I know thanks to Epic Races, asked if I could join her 16-year-old daughter Sydney for the bus ride and hang out together at the beach where we’d start. Kim was swimming a shorter distance and wouldn’t be able to join Sydney at the start and it would be nice for her to have some company. Hanging out together probably distracted both of us from some of our nerves and it was really nice getting to chat with Sydney and learn about the kind of training she does with her high school swim team.
The 5K starts at Patterson Lake where there’s a camp named North Star Reach. It’s a place where kids with serious health challenges are able to go and enjoy themselves and the race raises money for the great organization. I gave a little money after I signed up and appreciated my mom for providing a donation as well. Over $19,000 had been raised when I looked the day before the race!
As we walked from the bus to the beach I heard an announcement that things would start at 7:35 and I freaked out. I had been super relaxed assuming the first swimmers wouldn’t go until 7:55 and I’d probably be starting at least 45 minutes behind the fastest people. I wasn’t ready to go yet! I hit the porta potty and realized I better pack my clothes quickly to drop at gear check before it closed. While over by gear check, Sydney found some work friends so I knew she would be good to hang out with them. That’s when I had time for my own nerves to kick in!
It’s possible that the announcement about starting at 7:35 referred to a pre-race meeting rather than actually starting the swim. That’s when race director Eva Solomon went through the logistics. That confirmed what I suspected – we WERE still waiting for the lead 10K swimmers to come through before we’d start. That’s how it has typically worked in the past and why I had been in no rush. If it takes about an hour for the speedy people to get to us, the soonest we would start would be around 8:00. The lead swimmer this year finished his first 5K in an hour and five minutes!
Now I was a little anxious because I still had at least 45 minutes to kill and probably should have hung onto my drink and energy chews. I try to plan the timing of my eating and drinking very carefully! I ate a Honey Stinger Waffle at home before I left, a Picky Bar during the drive, another Picky Bar while waiting for the bus, then a couple of caffeine Clif Bloks real quick when I had to leave my stuff at gear check. I drank nearly 20 oz. of Skratch electrolytes during my drive and sipped on some heading to the beach as well. I like to pre-load with electrolytes knowing that I don’t want to cramp during the swim.
In the future, I may just hang on to a disposable bottle, some of my chews, and maybe even a heat blanket from a marathon if I have to drop stuff at gear check by 7:20 but still have to wait an hour to actually start. It wasn’t a cold morning so I was fine and fortunately I seemed okay with my timing for what I ate and drank.
Cristian found me during some of that downtime so we got to hang out as we waited to start. I took a few minutes to get in the lake off to the side to warm up and get my goggles ready then I lined up when it seemed like we were getting close to the swimmers who might take 1:40-1:50 to complete the 5K. It wasn’t super structured so I may have started a little early, but that worked better for me than last year when I started later than I should have and got stuck in some congestion behind slower swimmers. It’s a tricky art trying to figure out where to line up when it’s kind of a free-for-all!
Cristian thought he would be quite a bit slower but we still started out together which made things extra fun. It was cool having a friend to share the beginning moments of this crazy thing we were about to do.
I think Cristian had a pretty strong start and we were probably by each other for the first few minutes, but eventually it was hard to tell with other people around and each of us settling into our own paces. It was a cloudy morning at that point which was ideal because it made it easier to spot buoys. The water was comfortable and I didn’t really think about the temperature at all.
I knew where photographer Greg Sadler had set up for photos in the past and didn’t see him there so I wasn’t sure where he might be along the course. I usually like to mug for him when I spot him. I found out later that he had been positioned on top of a bridge. He got some nice shots of the action from up there.
You can see a number of people standing because the transition from one lake to another was pretty shallow. I was just barely able to continue my stroke without swiping the bottom, but I’d imagine people with longer arms had more of an issue. Whenever people chose to walk it seemed like they went the same pace as me as I continued to swim so it really didn’t matter which I did. I just told myself that I was there to swim 5K so I wanted to keep swimming.
No big smile this time around, but Greg caught me in action as I approached the bridge.
I did pretty good spotting the buoys and staying on track for a while. One thing that messed with me was approaching buoys when we actually needed to turn. There were a couple of buoys that were good for sighting so I knew which direction to aim for, but then I didn’t realize that we actually needed to turn and head into the next lake. I found myself still on track to get to those buoys when I noticed that people were rounding a corner instead of heading straight toward the buoys. I have to be more aware when I do this race in the future so I can cut those corners rather than adding unnecessary extra distance. Although some individuals might swim out of the way and stray from the path of the buoys, if a whole group is headed one way, there’s probably a good chance that I should follow them.
We pass through five lakes in this point-to-point course which is something that makes it extra special. It’s so much more enjoyable than swimming loops around buoys in one lake. Some of the transition spots get a little tricky though. There are the shallow spots, and some spots have pretty thick weeds. Those stretches don’t last very long though before getting back to a more open lake.
I bypassed the first aid station a mile into the race because I’m used to going two miles straight without stopping to drink. I planned to stop at the 2-mile mark for some water. I snuck glances at my watch along the way when I knew I should be past two miles but still hadn’t seen the aid station. I saw a bunch of people standing in the distance and figured that must be where it was. Nope – it was just another shallow spot. This time it was shallow enough that I decided I should walk so I could get some relief from my goggles. They were killing my face by that point and it’s a struggle that I still haven’t managed to resolve. I want the goggles to suction tight enough so they won’t leak, but eventually they start to hurt. I’ve tried what seems like a million different kinds and keep coming back to the Speedo Vanquishers just because I can keep them from leaking more than any of the others.
I took that little break to wade through the water while I messed with my goggles then continued to swim. Just when I thought I wasn’t going to get to an aid station, I realized there was a boat off to the side. I worried that it might take me off course and add distance, but I thought it would be smart to have a cup of water to help avoid dehydration. I held onto the boat, drank, then got going again and realized I was still on track for the next buoy from there.
Halfmoon Lake is where we finish so it can seem like a big relief to finally get there. Yet it probably covers about a third of the swim! It’s not like it’s a quick straightaway to the finish. It’s also where the water got a little more choppy. It wasn’t anything too annoying but it was more than we’d faced in any of the other lakes. The sun also came out by the time I got there. That WAS super annoying because then I was heading straight toward the sun and it was really hard to see the buoys and know whether I was on track. The best I could do was follow people ahead of me and hope they were going the right way.
I held up pretty well throughout the whole swim without any real issues. I decided to pick up my pace when I figured I had 1,000 yards to go. It’s not like I suddenly found more speed, but I definitely felt myself really working.
Eventually I came to a pelican buoy and then a turtle and knew those marked the turnaround spots for people swimming some of the shorter races. Those helped keep me on track and motivated me to keep pushing because I was getting close.
As always, the finishing arch became visible enough eventually.
My official time was 1:54:05. Out of the six times I’ve done the race, that falls somewhere in the middle of my times, with the best being 1:50:00. That was my very first one and I still haven’t figured out why I can’t seem to improve on that time yet!
Surprisingly, I didn’t stumble when I stood up after being in a horizontal swimming position for so long. I was able to jog under the finishing arch and felt fine. The only thing that bothered me, which hit a little bit later, was some tightness around my neck, shoulders, and back. What I really needed was a good shoulder massage! I was totally fine otherwise though. I got my stuff from gear check, sprayed some sunscreen, then went to check out the food.
Pancakes, cookies, an egg and cheese wrap, and a peanut butter and granola wrap – all of the usually goodies at the end of an Epic race.
I hung out by the finish for a while and as I started to walk away I ran into Cristian who was exiting the finisher’s chute. I must have just missed his finish! I gave him a high-five and was so excited for him. He thought he might take at least three hours and was worried he’d miss the cutoff. He finished in 2:27 and didn’t have to worry at all! We hung out with his girlfriend for a while and talked about our races. Cristian’s shoulder started to bug him a mile into the race so it was uncomfortable for a good chunk of it. Being undertrained probably had something to do with it, but it’s totally awesome that he was able to pull it off. I was relieved that he wasn’t cursing me for putting the idea in his head – he was already talking about doing it again next year!
I saw my friend Dawn and she told me that I had placed fifth in my age group. Epic was giving awards to the top five people in each age group, so I decided I should go check on that. I was shocked because I usually don’t place very high in this race. I’m a decent swimmer when I’m racing against people who are stronger cyclists in triathlons, but when it’s purely a swimming event, I can’t compete. Yet it was confirmed that I was listed as fifth and I collected a little backpack for an award.
I don’t get any cell reception at that park so I wasn’t able to see the results. It wasn’t until later in the day that I was able to check and I found that my finishing time was listed as 1:38. That would have been nice, but there was no way. I knew my Garmin could be off by a few seconds, but I definitely swam 1:54-something, NOT 1:38. I felt bad knowing that I’d probably taken someone else’s age group award but I hadn’t been aware of my supposed time when I collected it. I sent a note to the timing people about correcting my time and I finally saw that it was fixed a couple days later. I was actually 7/19 in my age group and 156/289 overall.
Because I’m totally crazy and Sunday is usually my long run day, I decided I would attempt to get a run in after the swim. I realized that Hudson Mills Metropark was just a few miles down the road on my way back to the highway so it would be the perfect place to go. It was 1:00 by the time I started which wasn’t great with the sun was beating down on me. It wasn’t so great trying to run after eating pancakes and cookies either! It got better as I went though, and fortunately a good chunk of the park’s path has some shade. Somehow I managed a solid 11-mile run. It caught up with me the next day though when I didn’t feel so great.
Once again, Swim to the Moon left me feeling very accomplished. Swimming races like this are pretty rare and we are lucky to have such a cool opportunity around here. It sounds like I can count on seeing Sydney and Cristian next year too because as soon as we were done, all of us were already thinking about doing it again!
– Janet
Follow me on Instagram @janetboltz
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