I’ll be the first to admit that 5:30am is painfully early. But I’ll let you in on a fairly well-known secret. The lakefront starts to get super crowded starting around 7:30am when the colossal hoards of running groups show up. Call me selfish, but it’s kind of nice to have the entire lakefront to yourself while the rest of the world is just hitting the snooze button for the first time.
And, of course, there are the sunrises…
Mike and I raced down to L1 in the Lake Monster Mobile*, and Nick was already there along with soon-to-be Lake Monsters Jason and Elizabeth. The lake temperature came in at 62F, and the swim area was mirror flat and amazingly clear. John and Andrew showed up a few minutes later, and John, Nick, and Mike took off for a 3-mile out-and-back to Ohio Street Beach. The rest of us climbed down the ladder shortly thereafter with slightly less ambitious swim plans.
Given the idyllic swimming conditions, it was a very easy swim to and from Oak Street Beach. There were no chops or currents to give us any grief, and we had the full benefit of a fantastic sunrise.
And what a show it was this morning!
Sunrise at North Avenue Beach
Another sunrise shot pre-swim
Nick, Mike, and John taking off for Ohio Street Beach!
Skyline shot at water level
Self-portrait at sunrise
At Oak Street Beach
Jason, Lake Monster 167 (congrats!)
Elizabeth, Lake Monster 168 (congrats!)
Lots of activity at L1
*Behold…the super-awesome Lake Monster Mobile!
This morning’s video
Does anyone live in Naperville or anywhere in the west burbs? I’d love to carpool sometime.
Steve aka… “the go to man of open water swimming” , needs to collect donations in order to buy a thermometer that will read the correct temperature ! the water was 66.2 degrees from ladder #1 to 67.8 degrees all the way to Ohio street beach and back on Saturday.
please send your $50 and $100 dollar bills to Steve @ open water chicago
Would love to tag-a-long for a morning swim. I see you start @ 5:30 from North Avenues on a regular basis?
I am training for a half Ironman and greatly appreciate a gaggle of people who part take in a morning swim.
When provided with details, I would love to join.
Erin
Hi Erin. We try to catch the sunrise, so we’re out there pretty early this time of year (hence the 5:30am start). But feel free to just come on out whenever we’re out there. I post the details of our next meetup on the website and the FB page by mid-week, so just keep checking there for the details.