Ridges Resort 5K Swim - SwimOther

In addition to the other racers, there were two swim teams of high school kids who had never swum an open water race before. I got behind them and on the left-hand side to start. For some reason, I veered way right after the start and ended up on the far right. We were supposed to be skirting the shore and the three points on the left so this was dumb. I think I just got turned around in the scrum.

The lake was awesome. The water was clear and green and felt smooth and cool. As we started, I was so excited to be doing the race and felt great in the water. It was such a pleasure to be in the lake and see the beauty all around us as we started.

I felt very good as we rounded the first island and went under the powerlines. The rescue boats (including Doug, in Nat's dad's kayak) circled the group and kept us from wandering off. It was a good feeling to know Doug was there watching for me. The weather was overcast so it was not too hot and the storm clouds looked like they wouldn't catch us.

Out in the channel, I felt a little adrift heading towards the 2-story dock because there was no one around me. The dock was right there just like Rick said it would be so I just kept chugging along. Once I passed the dock (too close to it - bad navigation because the RD said that the shortest route was on the left), I was able to see the first buoy. Joy!

There was not a lot of chop, except when one of the larger escort boats would come by, so that was nice. There seemed to be a little current, but not too much.

I ran into (literally) Rick at the 1st or 2nd buoy. He was in good spirits and we swam in the same area for a while. Because the buoys were so far apart, I started sighting every 20-25 breaths instead of every 15 because it was demoralizing to see the buoy not moving closer each time. This probably cost me some navigation accuracy but I felt better mentally that way. The RD had recommended sighting every 15-20 strokes but I don't know if he meant breaths or strokes. I kept running up near the female high schoolers when I sighted. It appeared that they were not swimming because whenever I looked up they were treading water. They must have been really fast during the parts they were swimming, though, because they still finished before I did. Rick, Babs and I all finished close to each other, which was neat.

As I rounded 4th/5th buoy, I started to tire a lot. Doug circled back and said I was about 500 meters from shore so I turned up the pace and started kicking.

Those felt like the longest 500 meters ever but I brought it home reasonably strong (albeit slowly) and walked gingerly out of the water to hand in my cap.

Stick to the shorter left-side route like we were supposed to.

Sight a little more often.

Maybe bring a GU for a pick-me-up mid race.

Go out a little slower so as not to fade at the end.

Helped Doug carry the kayak up to the parking area. Stood around while he brought the car (he's nice that way) and helped load it up.

Ate an uncrustable in the car on the way home. The post-race food was uncrustables, granola bars and the like. Not bad at all.


Lack of experience at this distance and lack of knowledge about the course.


There are no other 5K swim races in GA that I know of, so I'm pleased that GSMTC does this one. I had a great time and would definitely do the race again.

The course could have been better marked (with buoys and distances) and the race could have been more organized but these were only negatives to folks who had never done the race before. Next year I won't care about that. The course was stunningly beautiful and it was really cool to swim this distance in a race.

Lots of people suited up for bike rides after the race (Rick had even run before the race) so that would be a really cool brick, especially if IM training.