Morse Posse

Many people have asked me…..Where do you train for this? Here is that story.

This past summer I had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. I was at Circle City Swimwear (http://www.circlecityswimwear.com/) purchasing some equipment for my sister and I got to talking to the lovely ladies who run the place about my ultra-marathon swimming endeavors. They mentioned that there was a group of people who were crazy enough to swim up at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville on a regular basis. I was intrigued! With the exception of my English Channel training partner, Clara, I had never trained in open water with anyone but a support boater. I got some contact info, thanked the nice ladies, and left the store. I was feeling a bit uplifted.

The number I received was for Herman Arrivillaga and Victoria Rian, and after a phone call I had a Memorial Day date at Morse. My husband Morgan came along to kayak that day, and it was glorious. Victoria and I hit it off, as evidenced when we stopped at the beach and proceeded to talk for 20 minutes despite the fact that the water was 65 degrees. Morgan and Herman also hit it off, though they were the lucky ones that got to talk for the entirety of the swim. The swim got a little hairy in the end with some rain and lightning, but we made it out okay and my place in the Morse Posse was established.

This wouldn't be possible without a dock to push off from. Dick Sidner is a HUGE open water swimming enthusiast and is generous enough to give the Morse Posse what we need……….access. His family is absolutely wonderful and very supportive of the “freaks” that congregate at there house all summer and beyond. Dick also brought USMS 25k Open Water Nationals to Morse in 2008 (unfortunately, I was in England swimming the channel at the time) and is bringing 10k Nationals to Morse in 2010. He has offered to mentor me through the process of holding an open water event when I put on my fundraiser next summer near my hometown of Plymouth Indiana (more on that later). His generosity is something I hope to be able to repay someday.

So beside Victoria and I, there is Jim Barber who swam the channel back in 2005 and Will Simmons and Jeff Halbert who swam the channel this summer. Tom Perrin (that’s Dr. Perrin to you) is a great student of the sport and is a cold water training enthusiast. In addition to joining the cold water swims he sends us articles about research on the subject. There is Kevin Sherman who is always up for a LONG training swim. Kevin, Jim, and Victoria all swam the 25k Long Island Sound this past year. There are more who swim with us here and there, and others who swim just as often in another group, but this makes up the core of the marathon and ultra-marathon distance swimmers. I learned that I missed swimming in a team atmosphere as well as the accountability aspect: Putting it out there on the listserve that you want to do 20k on a Saturday seems like a good idea on Monday. By the time Saturday does roll around and the alarm clock goes off at 4:15 its too late to back out, unless of course you want to face the stigma of wimping out. I’m still amazed that I found a large group of people in Central Indiana that are as much as a freak as I am. (Well, maybe not AS much of a freak, but close.)

The Morse Posse helped make this year the best one ever as far as open water training and I look forward to the spring when we resume swimming outdoors. Until then, I’ll have to make do in the pool and with the New Year’s Polar Bear Plunge.