Posted: Tue, 4 May 2010 10:24 PM - 9,560 Readers

By: Pam LeBlanc

I’m fully thawed from yesterday’s Money Box Cap 2K Open Water swim race, a brisk blast down Lady Bird Lake from Red Bud Isle to the dock at the Texas Rowing Center.

It’s such an Austin cool race. About 200 people swam this year, getting a fish-eye view of the Colorado River from the dam below Lake Austin to the dock on the east side of MoPac.

Hank Jones took the pictures above of me and Susan Rank, executive director of The Trail Foundation, before and after the race.

Here are some of my favorite things from the race:

1. That water, which felt like snow-pack melt from the Rocky Mountains. We all whimper, yes, but it’s like a badge of honor to stick it out. Race co-organizer Keith Bell said the water temperature was reported at 64 degrees just off Red Bud Isle, where we hopped in. It was a little warmer farther out. My left foot was still a little numb at the finish.
   
   
2. Not everyone swam the 400 yards to the start line. Some caught a ride on a pontoon boat. I loved watching the swimmers, standing shoulder to shoulder onto the boat, jump like lemmings into the river.
   
   
3. Kayak support was great. Lifeguards and kayakers lined the route, watching for swimmers who needed help. Thank you! (This means you, Sarah McCabe!)
   
   
4. Those exuberant high schoolers. They’re just so dang fast. And enthusiastic. I think I rode their wake the first 100 yards out. Then they disappeared.
   
   
5. A small group of Navy Seals in training participated in this year’s race. Maybe the race should be required.
   
   
6. I love the first half of the swim, which goes along high limestone cliffs. You don’t feel like you’re in the city limits at all. Just the blue-green water, the gray-green of the foliage, and the ivory-colored sheer cliff walls. Thank you Mother Nature!
   
   
7. Seeing Austin’s swimming community come out in force. I saw friends from teams (and non-teams) all over the city. We’ve got one big thing in common — we love to swim!
   
   
8. It’s awesome stroking under the pedestrian bridge beneath MoPac. Yes, we can actually hear the folks lining the bridge cheer us on.
   
   
9. The finish line. Always a beautiful sight to behold!
   
   
10. The post-race picnic, complete with my personal favorite — black raspberry flavored Jim Jim’s Water Ice.