| Here is a Course Map of the Swim |
Both are correct. Not sure how it all worked out but it did.
The first race was the Brooklyn Bridge swim. I'm actually wearing the shirt now coincidently. It was a Saturday race and we 2-fered it because we had family coming from oversees. Kids and wife came in to the race and it was all good.
Week later, I did the Maggie Fischer 5.25 mile swim. That was a Friday and no time was taken from the family.
That was it. Wasn't supposed to do anything else, but Jeremy needs a Bar-Mitzvah project and we are not sure what he should it on. One suggestion we got was for him to "shadow" a Holocaust survivor and he went and interviewed someone and while it was interesting, he got nothing about the Holocaust.
Well, while trawling the internet as I usually do, I discovered a swim. Interesting...It's an Open Water Swim (OWS) at the Great South Bay which is where I swam the week before with the Maggie Fischer Swim. The event was a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF). Hm - a 2-fer. Jeremy likes to swim and it could be his project. There were 3 events in 1. A 2 mile OWS, a 1 mile OWS and for those new to OWS, a loop swimming event where they swim as many loops as they want of a 0.1 mile course in a protected little section of the beach. It was a closed of section of the beach. You can't get swept out and their is lifeguard support. There would be no drowning, no accidents and no issues.
Only problem was the deadline was July 29th and we only have a week. Finally decided that we are doing this and mailed in the application. Yes - I mailed it. No email, no electronic registration, just actual snail mail. Mailed it in and waited. And waited. And waited.
Emailed the RD and found out that we are in. Yay!
Here's a little background to the race:
Welcome to the Waves of Hope Swim Website!
I have been blessed with the opportunity to swim on the varsity team
at St. Anthony's High School under the direction of head
coach, Dan McBride. Coach Dan has been my mentor and grown to be my good
friend. He has taught me so much, not only about swimming but about life
as well. Most importantly, I have learned that others may not be as
fortunate as me.
Coach Dan's son Danny was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile Diabetes back
in 2004. Since that time, Coach Dan teamed with the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation, raising money at each of our swim meets and with
an annual walk-a-thon. I decided that since Coach Dan has taught us to be
such great swimmers, we needed to put those skills to work helping
defeat this terrible disease.
The solution was a charity swim event. I founded a two mile open-water
swim that takes place along the shoreline in Amityville. I named it
Waves of Hope as “Waves” are the waves of the swimmers and “Hope” as
we hope that a cure will be found very soon!
Together with the help of Coach Dan, my sister Erica, my brother Billy
and my Mom and Dad, all of our friends and the Village of Amityville
officials, our first event took place in August 2009. We enjoyed a
beautiful day with the sun smiling down on the efforts of 100 caring
swimmers. The day was concluded with lots of food and beverages for
everyone but best of all with a check to JDRF for $8500!!
Please join us each year as we work to put Juvenile Diabetes behind us
once and for all.
Through our website, you can get information on how to join our fight.
Depending on your interest and time, you can:
• Support Waves of Hope through an individual contribution
• Volunteer to help on a variety of committees
• Participate as one of our generous Corporate Sponsors
• Go Swim!
Sincerely,
Christine Swartwout
Founder and President
Wow, right? A teenager trying to make a difference in a big way. Wow.
And here comes reality. The race is scheduled for Monday, August 15th which means it doesn't affect training on the weekend. Awesome. But we gotta talk about the weather.
Saturday went riding. Rode 62 miles but had 2 flats! I had a lot of trouble with the first one. It was on the LIE and I started but I couldn't get the new tube into the tire nor could I put the tire on it. Some guy stopped and helped. Next flat was on Avery while I was climbing. Sucked. And then I had to change it by myself on a road that is not frequently travelled. But did it without a problem.
Told Jeremy that he does NOT have to go through with it even if it does happen. Just because his father is too stupid to quit it does not mean that he can't be smarter.
Sunday - rain. Lots of rain. Saturday night into Sunday morning, we had bombs go off. Sky constantly lit. LC was terrified. Skipped the run. Not sure what's gonna happen with the swim. Constantly monitoring the weather report and it does NOT look good. Rain, rain and more rain is expected. Got an email from the RD. Swim is on. No thunderstorms expected. We're on....
Now, a little more of a description of this race. If you're doing the lap thingie then it's simple. You come to the finish line (YES - the finish line), check-in, attend the meeting and swim. If you're doing the 1 or 2 miler then things are a little more interesting. You come to the finish line, check-in, attend the meeting, then board a bus to the start line. This is a point-to-point swim. Very similar to the Maggie Fischer swim. The only problem is is that I don't know the area. The starting line is easy to get to. It's at some country club and I could easily put that into the GPS and be done with it. The finish line on the other hand is at Amityville beach which I don't know where it is nor do I know how to get to it. I was also wondering about parking.
Gotta love email tho. Emailed the RD and got directions...
There is plently of parking at the amityville beach. Just take the Expressway (Rt 495) to exit 49 south. This is Rt 110 south. Take it for about 8 miles to end. Make a left on Rt27A (Merrick Road) for approx 1/2 mile. Make a right on Bayview avenue (Jeep Dealer on corner) and go to end. This will lead you into Amityyville Beach. Go all the way to end. You will see a pavilion on left where check in will be taking place.
Guy gave good directions. Only little snag was the road forked at 1 point and I stayed with what I thought the main road was (left) and I was correct. I was scared because route 110 changed it's name and I did not expect it but whatever.
Woke up in the morning and it was not raining. Cool. Got ready. Even Jessie got ready fast. We had to leave at 7:30 to drop her off at her friends house and then to go back East. Jeremy raised almost 400 dollars and he told me he had everything ready. That morning, I gave him a check from us and then realized that he did not have everything all ready. We couldn't find some of the money and things were not organized. He was going to do it in the car. STRESS! Left at 7:45 which is not good. Dropped off Jessie and promptly got stuck in traffic on the LIE. Usually it clears up after Douglaston and I was hoping that was the case. Traffic cleared up and the rain came or rather we went to the rain.
Check-in was from 8-8:50 and I pulled into the lot at 8:49. Stomach going all loopy. Not happy. Ran to check-in in the rain. Check-ed in and then went to get body marked and get our caps. We were about to get body-marked by a very helpful volunteer (we'll come back to her in a few) when we realized that the woman with the list of numbers just walked away. My new best friend chased her down and things are all good.
Had the meeting at the beach and things were explained to us. Jeremy is in protected area. Kinda fenced in so no problem there. The 1 and 2 milers needed to board a bus to the start. From there we follow 5 buoys. The 1 milers were supposed to make a left turn at the 5th buoy onto the beach while the 2 milers were supposed to continue to the 6th. Make a left and head to the 7th. Another left and back to the beach.
We were also told that the current was gonna push us. I didn't think so. It looked to me that the current was a little against us but whatever will be will be. We were also told that there would be about 9 boats making sure that we would be ok. Great. When the Coast Guard spoke, I realized it was the best time to go use the indoor plumbing and I was right. No line.
So, the meeting was over at 9:05 and the busses were'nt do until 9:30. While we were waiting, a (Japenese?) woman came over to me and asked me some questions. I think that I usually come off as if I know something and also very accessible so I get that all the time. Anyway, she had 2 kids in tow. One was doing the lap thingie with Jeremy and one was going for the 1 miler. I answered her questions and I could tell that the girl was nervous. I tried my best to make her feel better and actually got her to smile. We boarded the bus together and went to the start. We jumped in and waited for the start. She lined up with everyone and I called her over and told her to start at the right. This was she would not get hit.
We started and my friend (#76) took off. Cool.
I didn't feel that the current was with us but I swam. Actually counted buoys. Everytime it rained, it felt like jellies in the water. Hated that part. Hoped Jeremy was ok. I told Lee that her sole job was to look out for him and no one else.
Unlike the Maggie Fischer swim where the gates were every mile, the buoys here were much closer so it was fun and less mentally taxing.
Got to the 5th buoy and the 1 milers (really 1.25 miles) were supposed to seperate. On to 6th. This guy (#28) was initially trailing me but at one point we were trading spots. At some point, I was just following him.
Buoy 6 and 7th came and it was a mad dash to the finish. Out of nowhere, another guy (yellow cap as opposed to the girls with pink caps) came out of nowhere. I hoped to catch to him or to beat number 28. I didn't beat either one of them but I did pass some of the girls that we caught up with. Number 28 beat me by 3 seconds. Oh well. I finished, got my towel and water and looked out for my guys.
Jeremy was at an outdoor shower and they missed my finish. Oh well. I predicted somewhere between an hour and an hour and 10 minute swim based on Maggie but did it in 47:20. They thought I was alreayd finished which didn't make sense.
Jeremy's goal or target was 6 loops or 12 laps which means 0.6 miles. He did that and got out. This was his first OWS and he wasn't used to less visibility and sighting. He said he kept going off course and bumping that he ended up doing some backstroke and some breaststroke as well. Live and learn.
I left my sandels and a shirt on the bus so after a quick outdoor shower I went to retrieve only to find out that 1 of the busses was open and the other one was locked. My luck of course meant that my stuff was locked. While they went to look for the driver, I decided that where there is a will there is a way and quietly opened up the emergency door much to the shock of some of the teenagers there. Boo-yah. It's been a while since I walked on gravel bare foot and since I just did that to the bus, I wasn't going back the same way. Got my sandals and shirt and all is good.
Afterwards they had a BBQ and we had a great lunch and stayed for the raffles which we didn't get anything for. Jeremy got a finisher's medal - I didn't which is probably my only complaint. He actually got called up in front of everyone with the other kids and got his medal and their picture taken together.
I big time recommend this race. They really went all out and it is a good cause. Besides the actual swim, they gave out shirts for both of us and we each got a nice regular size towel when we came out of the water. Not sure how but we came home with 3 towels. OOPS. We also found out the 100 lbs of burger meet was donated by Outback and hot dogs too so they were delicious. The meat itself was about 2 inches thick while the bun was about 3 inches thick. They also gave out tons of water, juice, pretzels, nachos, chips and nutrigrain cereal bars. I also ate about a 1/4 of a watermellon - YUMMY. Jeremy and Lee got the last 2 burgers so I had to wait. When they were ready, my new best friend hooked me up before everyone else (kinda cut the line) and she also answered a few more questions and actually made sure we didn't leave before the BBQ. Did I mention she was great?
During the presentation, we met Coach Dan and his son, the reason this thing was started for. Also, it turns out there were 2 other Juvenile Diabetes kids there who swam so that was cool. Made it real if you know what I mean.
By the way, Outback donated the meat and Mercedes Benz apparently donated $ 2,500. Nice!
In this world, you usually only hear bad things as opposed to compliments so I went to one of the organizers and told him about my new best friend and how she is awesome and great. He asked me (while smiling from ear to ear) if I am talking about the girl that he likes to call "daughter"? I told him that was his problem while laughing. My new best friend was not only his daughter but also the founder and organizer. It was the girl who decided to start this whole thing. Amazing.