Louisville River Swim

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I drove down to Louisville for the third annual Louisville Ohio River Swim.

The swim takes place just north of Louisville in a town called Prospect and near a subdivision hidden down a long winding country road.

I'd heard of the swim before from a few athletic friends, but never made it down to check it out.

Some background on my motivation for doing it this year:  I was out of town on business for an extended period prior to Cincinnati's Great Ohio River Swim.  I got home around midnight the night before the swim-after spending a long day moving heavy equipment.  Followed by spending a long day in the car.  Coupled with four hours of sleep and my muscles just weren't up to the race.  So I decided to go down and watch the swim without participating, but immediately regretting not doing the race.  I set my sights on Louisville instead...

Oh, and Louisville gives you a t-shirt.  Gotta love a good race shirt!

The area where the race was held was beautiful.

I was happy to have my boyfriend with me this year.  We met at a dinner party last spring and the first time we hung out just the two of us was at the Great Ohio River Swim (After a post race shower we met up at Pompilios for some Italian).

They let us in the water for a bit of a warm-up before the race started.  It was hard to hold yourself in place because the current was really pushing against you.  The race officials said it was only 1/4 mile per hour current, but it felt a lot stronger to me.

I'm sitting on the far left end of the dock in this photo.

The race started in the water, so when it was time to start, they just gave us a little count down and off we went!

I'm right behind that person in the middle blocking my photo :)

The race offered three different race lengths.  800 meter (half mile), 1.2 mile, and 2.4 mile.  You could tell who was doing which event by the color of their swim cap.  This helped the race officials make sure you were taking the correct turns on the course.  And it also helped you size up your competition!

In the picture below, I am swimming around one of the 'turn around buoys.'  I took a break from freestyle and did some breaststroke to help me catch my breath.

And here is me following through on my game plan: go fast on the way back because the current is pushing you!

I'm thankful to my honey for taking all these great pictures for me during the race.  I appreciate your support!!

This is me cruising through the finish line.

And just after the finish.  The look on my face says it all.  I felt great.

After the race, we goofed around with the camera and hung out in the shade on the grass while we waited for the race results.  We waited a really, really long time. 

But, our patience paid off, because I won a medal :)  Which I wore the entire way home.

On the way home we stopped at Subway for lunch, then I zonked out for a good half hour.
Can't wait to try it again next year!