So the 4th of July started with a splash this year. About 20 of us went to Devils Lake to swim. It's 1.2 miles across the lake- so swimming across and back is good practice for the 2.4 mile Ironman swim. It's got the advantage of having a nice rest stop at the 1.2 mile point (you've crossed the lake, stand there and rest for a while until you are ready to swim back) and it has the advantage of being far less crowded than the actual Ironman swim. Far less crowded, but it can still be a bit confusing...
Confusion #1: My wife came along with a kayak and spent the morning watching over us. About 1/2 way across the lake I noticed that my normal swim partner (Julie swims exactly the same speed as me- so we are usually right next to each other) was drifting to the right, so I stopped to tell Laura to try to corral people- as I stopped, I noticed that everyone was scattered across the lake- no way for her to corral us all.
Confusion #2: Sighting is nearly immpossible (as evidenced by the people swimming in all different directions- as noted above). At Ironman there are big- REALLY BIG buoys every 100 yards or so. It's real easy to sight. Swimming across Devils Lake we were sighting on a tiny building on the opposite shore. Not quite as bad on the way back, as we were sighting on a bigger building- but still tougher than having big buoys every 100 yards.
Confusion #3: As we got to the South shore (we started on the North shore), we did a quick head-count. We were down 2 swimmers- we could see Laura out in the kayak with one of them, but where was the other? We looked all across the lake and didn't even see any splashing anywhere. Just as we were starting to panic, Laura paddled in to tell us that "the guy in the silver swim cap turned around at the half-way point and headed back."
Confusion #4: o.k., not really a confusion- just poor planning. There were a few people that had to get back home early- so they were the first to start swimming back to the start. What we didn't think of was the fact that Laura had everybodies car keys in a dry bag in the kayak. Laura was watching over us slow swimmers. About half way across the lake I realized that this could be a problem, so I told Laura to head in- give the keys back to people and come back out to make sure we were still o.k.
Confusion #5: By the time Laura got back out to us slow swimmers there were two other groups out there swimming- the Madison Multisport group and one other that I didn't recognize. Now try to keep track of who's who and keep your group headed in the right direction. Pretty much impossible- in fact I'm pretty sure she led somebody from one of the other groups in by accident.
So, lots of goofy stuff happened on the swim- but all-in-all a great swim, a real confidence booster and a whole lot of fun.
The Broadway musical Wicked has flown back into town, thrilling fans at the Overture Center now through June 9th.
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The Broadway musical Wicked has flown back into town, thrilling fans at the Overture Center now through June 9th.
I got a chance to see the production for the 2nd time last night, and once again was blown away. Even though I saw Wicked in 2010, I had...
Today we traveled back to 1975 for a Rendezvous with The Hudson Brothers. This song didn't make it to high on the charts, but Kitty enjoyed it. Her favorite brother was Brett. She also loved their television show. We've included a skit from...
I'm not sure why Pete Yorn decided to name his new music project after a European cave dwelling aquatic salamander, but if he stops by to play us some songs in Studio M, we'll have to ask him.
The Olms is a collaboration between Pete Yorn and...
Today's song was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was inspired by the 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago. No one was inspired by the song this morning. It was rejected by almost all the listeners.
Today is World Goth Day, a day to celebrate the post-punk, anti-establishment, dark clothes-wearing subculture.
I'm pretty sure I was a Goth for at least for little while, for two reasons.
1) I almost hardly ever wear pastels.
2) I used to...
Hello to all from Nfusion. Another round of challenges has moved beyond us all. Congrats to those of us lucky enough to have survived to this point. Sad to see the others eliminated as they were all very creative and talented. Good Bye to our new friends...
This morning it seemed like just about everyone was in the mood for some Funky Cold Medina...except Kitty. This ridiculous song made it all the way to number 3 in 1989. Jonathan says any song that references advertising dogs from the 80's has got...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
