Big Shoulders, 11 Sept. 2010, Chicago

5 weeks to go to the 20th Annual Chicago Masters' Big Shoulders Open Water 2.5k and 5k swim. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway of Swimming! But without the flags! www.bigshoulders.org This swim is also part of the USMS H2Open Series and the Great Lakes GLOWS series, all compelling reasons to attend the church of the 5k butterfly. For those unfamiliar with the venue, swimming can be done at Ohio Street Beach any day (short of bacterial counts high enough to close the beach), so a trial swim along the seawall in the days preceding the meet is easily done. Lake Michigan temp has been much warmer this summer. We don't need woollen leggings and ski caps after a 6 a.m. swim. :)
  • The New Year's dip is compulsory. And there's FIRE afterwards!! Word! Unless you are out of town on some sissy slope in Idaho. Attendance is taken. :)
  • Word! Unless you are out of town on some sissy slope in Idaho. Attendance is taken. :) Wait - what is this new years plunge?
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    I don't recall ever ripping on OW swimmers! In fact I have a great deal of respect for them! They can do something I don't like to do! OWS is "icky" but this NY Plunge sounds like a lot of fun! I will have no more doggie in 2 weeks. No more doggie ? :( Maybe I should bring Patch. She jumps in even when there's icebergs!
  • Wait - what is this new years plunge? For North Siders, here are some pictures, with an internal link to Chgo Polar Bears Club and plunge at North Avenue Beach: ottorascon.com/.../ The NYT usually has an article on the revelry as well. Otherwise, you might get a PM, if you stop referring to OW swimming as "icky" and OW swimmers as "mere directionless flotsam at the mercy of wind and tides." Of course, Sophie would have to come too. And somebody to ferry your frozen corpse home. Further, my lips are sealed. :)
  • For North Siders, here are some pictures, with an internal link to Chgo Polar Bears Club and plunge at North Avenue Beach: ottorascon.com/.../ The NYT usually has an article on the revelry as well. Otherwise, you might get a PM, if you stop referring to OW swimming as "icky" and OW swimmers as "mere directionless flotsam at the mercy of wind and tides." Of course, Sophie would have to come too. And somebody to ferry your frozen corpse home. Further, my lips are sealed. :) I don't recall ever ripping on OW swimmers! In fact I have a great deal of respect for them! They can do something I don't like to do! OWS is "icky" but this NY Plunge sounds like a lot of fun! I will have no more doggie in 2 weeks.
  • Polar bear is something I have thought of over the years, but always chicken out!:bolt: