In April 2023, I completed the ~40 mile SCAR swim series held just east of Phoenix, Arizona. This event is named after the four lakes that are swum in succession over four days – Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt.

While SCAR is a very well-known event in the marathon swimming world, and even won the WOWSA Event of the Year in 2022, it was not something on my radar as a newer marathon swimmer. I initially learned about SCAR in April 2022 when a woman on my USMS team recognized my Marathon Swimmers Federation cap and asked if I wanted to join her for some long training swims at Lake Del Valle. Leeann was training for SCAR and we ended up swimming together a few days later. 

The seed was officially planted. 

I wanted to attempt SCAR in 2023.

In October 2022, I began asking around for tips about all things SCAR. The idea of swimming four lakes consecutively was unfathomable to me, and I knew I would need as much guidance as I could get. This would not only be my first stage swim, but Apache Lake would be my longest ever swim both in distance and time. As I began expressing my intentions to participate in this event, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people were willing to offer their experiences and connect me with other SCAR alumni. I was quickly equipped with so much information about crafting my application, training, event logistics, recovery, and more! Thankfully, my SCAR application was accepted and I was ready to put in the work to prepare for this epic adventure.

At the end of March, I traveled to Los Angeles for a training trip with my training partner, Abby. We had planned to capitalize on the warmer water in Southern California, yet ended up doing a 4-hour swim in 52-54F water. This was a huge confidence building swim for me, and I was really pleased with where I was at with both my fitness and cold tolerance. Following this trip, I developed bronchitis, then underwent an emergency oral surgery, then began breaking out in full body hives. With each new health challenge, it seemed increasingly more likely that I would not be able to swim SCAR in 2023. 

While it seemed that everything in the universe was guiding me to defer to 2024, something in my gut kept me optimistic that I could make it to Arizona. 48 hours before my flight, I talked with my friend, Erika, who was also dealing with some health issues and unsure if she would be able to swim. She encouraged me not to make any decisions until the next day. By then, I was feeling worse, and she encouraged me to just get on the plane and decide what to do once I was in Arizona. I felt overwhelmed and underprepared, but narrowing my focus to the immediate moment allowed me to get on the plane. I had only been in the water one time the whole month of April, and though I didn’t believe I had the physical stamina to swim the whole event, I had made peace with showing up and taking things lake by lake.

Saguaro Lake

3 hours, 53 minutes – 13,527 yards / 7.7 miles – 55F-64F

It felt surreal to pack my swim bag and drive to the Saguaro Lake Boat Ramp. Before the swim, everyone was buzzing around with excitement and anticipation for how the day would unfold. Soon enough, we all began loading onto the boats to begin our adventure. I stood on the dock with my wife as we watched our friends speed off towards the Mormon Flat Dam. We listened to event organizer, Kent Nicholas, interview with a reporter from the New York Times as we waited to board the next available boat. On the boat, I met Claire Russell, an accomplished marathon swimmer from the UK. She instantly reminded me of my grandma who passed away in 2017, and meeting her gave me a sense of peace surrounding my decision to come to SCAR. 

We only had a few minutes to get swim ready after arriving to the beach where the kayaks were staged. It was a mad dash to apply our sunscreen and re-board the boats to be ferried to the swim start. In just a few minutes, I was covered in a thick layer of sunscreen and Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. In the chaos of the moment, I forgot to eat my pre-swim banana and felt anxious as my stomach growled all the way to the dam.

Plunging into the 55F water at the swim start felt like home. I am used to swimming in this temperature of water, and I was feeling grateful to be back in my element after what felt like such a long time away. I began swimming away from the dam and was quickly entangled in a group that was pushing towards a cove on the north canyon wall. I allowed them to pass in front of me and then began aiming more toward the middle of the canyon. I was feeling hungry but otherwise strong in the water. 

Canyon Lake

3 hours 51 mins – 13,767 yards / 7.8 miles – 54-63F

I woke up feeling exceptionally physically exhausted, far more exhausted than I had ever previously felt after a long swim. My shoulders and back were tight but emotionally, I felt energized. I was approaching this event with openness and curiosity, and I was genuinely interested in seeing how my body would respond to another long swim. 

We checked out of the hotel, grabbed some breakfast, and started the 35-minute drive to the Canyon Lake Boat Ramp. My friend, Christine, would be my kayaker for the day, and it would be her first time supporting me on a long swim. We had a beautiful boat ride to the staging beach and I was mentally prepared to get swim ready as quickly as possible.

The water at this dam was quite chilly, but the cool water felt like a relief for my tired shoulders. Almost instantaneously, my mind turned off and I settled into a rhythm. I could feel my body beginning to relax and release the soreness from my shoulders. For no real reason, I was pushing a bit harder than I normally would at the beginning of a long swim. I was swimming behind my friend Anna, who swims considerably faster than me. I made a mental note of that and prepared to continue to check in and ensure I was swimming at my own pace. Retrospectively, I think my body wanted to work a bit harder at the beginning of Canyon to counteract the cooler water. It only took about 13 minutes to connect with Christine on kayak and seeing her gave me a boost of energy. 

The first four miles of the swim were shaded by the narrow canyon walls. Several people got pulled from the water during this section due to hypothermia. I was feeling comfortable in the 55-degree water, but it was hard not to momentarily question my own abilities. When the canyon walls opened, the water temperature became quite patchy for some time before finally feeling consistently warmer. 

In conversation with people who had completed SCAR in prior years, many noted that Canyon was the most beautiful of the four lakes. I agree! This lake had considerably less chop from boat traffic than Saguaro, but there were a few jet skis and boats with people partying towards the end of the third hour of swimming. There was even a large tourist boat called the Dolly Steamboat that cruised past us. I wondered what the people on that boat thought of us swimmers!

With all of this action, I became a bit mentally unfocused during this part of the swim, and was fighting the urge to stop and socialize with Christine. The mental aspect of endurance swimming can sometimes feel like the most challenging part. It can feel next to impossible to continue swimming when my mind is wandering. I’ve learned that there is a breathing pattern I organically utilize when I am in the zone, and I will intentionally implement this breathing pattern when I am starting to feel restless. This can help shift me back into a state of mental focus and effortless swimming. 

Christine and I did end up stopping briefly to take a leg day picture to send back to my San Francisco podmates. I didn’t realize I had posed in front of a DANGER sign until seeing the photo afterwards! After the photoshoot, we crossed the lake to the north canyon wall. The canyon abruptly opened up and a few people on kayaks were positioned to tell us to make a hard right towards the dam. I couldn’t see the dam from there, but the large bluff to the left reminded me of one of my favorite local swimming spots, the Berkeley Marina. There is a restaurant near the marina that sits at the end of a sea wall. When I swim near that restaurant, it always feels like an eternity before this restaurant seems any further away. In reality, it is probably only 400 yards from the restaurant back to the dock, but on more than one occasion, I have wondered if I could make it 400 more yards while staring at that stubborn restaurant. I felt similarly in the final stretch of Canyon Lake, and though I knew I would make it to the dam, it felt like that same eternity before I could see the red buoys. 

I ended my swim by doing a flip turn and touching the buoys with my feet. I then noticed that there were hundreds of small dead fish floating all around me and I wondered how many I would find in my suit later (thankfully, none, but most of my friends weren’t so lucky). Before climbing onto the support boat, I asked Christine to take a picture of me licking the buoys to send to my legendary friend Kelley Schall. She is famous for being the first (and only?) person to start an Anacapa Crossing by licking the rock. I knew that she would get a good laugh out of seeing me, surrounded by dead fish, licking a buoy covered in bird shit. Ah, the glorious sport of marathon swimming.

After the swim, we met Erika and Kim at a restaurant called The Hitching Post. Anna and a few other SCAR swimmers came through as well. It would take about two and a half hours to get to the Apache Marina Resort from there, so we didn’t spend a whole lot of time enjoying our meal. We took much of our pizza and chicken wings to go, and I spent the car ride laying down in the backseat trying to rest. It was well into the evening by the time we arrived, and I still had to shower, clean my equipment, and prep my feeds for the next day. I was especially thankful for Deedee and Christine’s willingness to help with all of these logistics, which allowed me to sneak away for 30 minutes to get a massage before bed.

Apache Lake

6 hours, 29 mins – 24,261 yards / 13.8 miles – 52-66F

When my alarm went off at 0500, I was surprised to find that I was even more sore than the prior morning. Christine, Deedee, and I walked down to the marina at 0530 and were some of the last people to arrive to the pre-swim briefing.

Soon after leaving the marina, our boat began having some mechanical issues, so we returned to the marina to get things checked out. Some of the other Wave 2 swimmers wondered if this delay would cause us to start later than anticipated and risk getting stuck in afternoon wind. This anxiety was quickly quieted once our boat was fixed; en route to the staging beach, we overcame the two boats full of wave three swimmers. Balance restored. 

Even with the minor hiccup in getting to the swim start, we all ended up at the beach ahead of schedule. There was ample time to get ready for this swim, and the vibe on this beach was joyous and relaxed. Of course, I was nervous to be preparing for my longest swim to date, but I distracted myself by chatting with the other swimmers.

Wave 2 was piloted to the swim start by Phil White of the NEKOWSA. My anxiety amplified on this short boat ride. I had been trying not to acknowledge that my left shoulder was aching in the area of a prior injury. I wasn’t sure how to determine whether I was just fatigued or if I was reinjuring myself. I was eager to get in the water and hoped that I would feel a lot better once I was swimming. 

The water at the swim start was 52F and I actually felt a little chilly! As I approached the dam, I could feel the water pushing me back towards the boat. This was encouraging as we would be getting a nice current assist. Thankfully, I remembered to pee before we started swimming… I had begun the last two days with a full bladder!

The water stayed chilly for the first 30 minutes, and the first feed came so quickly I was certain that Deedee had the timing wrong. After that feed, I took a breath to my right and Catherine Breed was suddenly a few inches away from me with a huge grin on her face! I started laughing and stopped to give her a hug and a quick word of encouragement. This interaction reminded me of when Cat snuck up on me behind the Balclutha at a swim event hosted by the South End Rowing Club in 2022. Swimming can be such a lonely sport, and I always love seeing friends in the water. 

After the one hour feed, the water suddenly became noticeably warmer. It was as if there was a wall keeping the cold and warm water separate. I had decided to mentally break this swim up into two hour increments, and at the two hour feed, I asked Deedee if she wanted to go for a two hour swim. Momentarily, she looked confused, but she quickly understood what I meant and enthusiastically agreed.

I was in a good head space, and my body and mind felt strong. The worries I had about my shoulder had dissipated. We had great conditions on the lake with a light tailwind and almost no boat traffic. The very few times we swam through boat wake, I popped my head up to tell Deedee I was having fun. I was having a great time swimming Apache!

Around hour 3, I suddenly felt like I was swimming under the shade of trees. Every stroke I took felt like I was on the precipice of entering the shade, but in reality, I was swimming in the middle of a large lake in Arizona with zero trees anywhere nearby. I have only had a feeling similar to this once, when during my Anacapa crossing I felt panicked for about an hour thinking I would imminently swim into a telephone pole. I wasn’t feeling distressed about the shade, though it was an interesting feeling! Also around this time, I had a moment of irritability with Deedee about something inconsequential, and I used this as an opportunity to practice intentionally recentering myself. I decided to count 50 strokes and then check in to see how I was feeling, and if I was still irritated, I would count another 50 strokes until my mood returned to a neutral baseline. This was effective and I will definitely be using this tactic on future swims.

Before we started the swim, I asked Deedee to try and protect me from seeing the Apache Lake Marina if possible. I wasn’t consciously thinking about this during the swim, but I began having a sneaking suspicion we were nearby when Deedee started kayaking very close to me (I feel most comfortable with my kayaker 10-15 feet away). When I inevitably ended up seeing the Marina, I popped my head up to tell Deedee “Gina!” with a smile. She knew that I was referring to the oil rig, Gina, that stands 4 miles from shore in the Anacapa Channel. When I was preparing for that swim in 2022, I had worried about how seeing the oil rig and knowing how much longer I had left to swim would affect me mentally. I did a lot of preparation to encourage seeing Gina as a positive and exciting experience, and that translated well to seeing the Apache Lake Marina. I looked at my watch and saw that we were at 8.6 miles, and I realized I could finish the swim under 8 hours if I maintained my pacing. 

After passing the marina, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had a pod of swimmers just behind me. I thought I was swimming alone, and it was such a boost to have some others nearby. The Zemaitis brothers quickly passed me on my left, and Sarah Thomas and her swimmer, Bill, were to my right for about an hour before pulling away. 

I started to get a bit restless and unfocused around the 5 hour mark. My stomach was growling so aggressively that it was challenging to focus on swimming. Though I tried to ignore the rumbling, I ended up asking Deedee if we could stop between feeds to ingest something solid. This was absolutely the right call! I started feeling better after only a few gummy candies. 

I had my 6 hour feed and mentally reset my 2 hour timer. I was feeling mentally and physically strong, and knew I had less than 2 hours left to swim. I started checking my watch frequently because I wanted to see when I passed 6 hours 25 minutes, my previous longest time in the water. Deedee lovingly told me to quit messing around and keep swimming. I didn’t know this at the time, but she could see the red buoys up ahead marking the end of the swim. When I saw the buoys and asked her if we were already approaching the finish, she told me that we were only at 13.5 miles and would have at least another hour to swim. I thought about this and realized it wouldn’t make sense for there to be buoys like that randomly in the middle of the lake. I kept sighting and eventually noticed the pontoon boats which confirmed we were at the swim finish. 

Touching the buoys felt amazing, but I didn’t want the swim to be over. Apache took me 6 hours 29 minutes, so it was still my longest swim, but only by four minutes. I was hoping this swim would take closer to 8 hours because I am training to swim the length of Lake Tahoe in July and need to do some 8+ hour swims in preparation. Overall, this swim was an amazing experience and I am so proud of everybody who attempted this lake. 

After returning to the Marina, I realized that I didn’t have the keys to our room and I had ALL of our gear. Deedee and Christine were on a different pontoon boat and I had no way of knowing when they would get back to the Marina. Finnoula saw me wandering around in the heat carrying multiple heavy bags, and I must have looked terrible because she gave me her towel to protect me from the sun. Honestly, wandering around in the heat felt more challenging than swimming Apache! Thankfully, Jax was in her room and was happy to give me some cool water while I waited for Deedee and Christine to return.

Roosevelt Lake

3 hours 27 mins – 11,876 yards / 6.7 miles – 72-75F

The final day of SCAR arrived unbelievably quickly. I couldn’t sleep past 0300, but I forced myself to stay in bed until 0400, at which time I got up and went for a walk. I explored all around the Apache Lake Resort before settling down on a small beach to stretch out and write some notes on my phone about the prior three days. I did yoga to the sunrise over the lake and enjoyed having some quiet alone time to process. 

I had breakfast with Deedee and Cat before lounging around the hotel with Abby, Jax, Deedee, and Christine for as long as possible before making our way to Roosevelt Lake. It was surreal to see Apache Lake from the vantage point of the windy dirt road. I was amazed at how far I swam!

We had lunch at Ffinch’s before hurrying to the swim start. It was approaching 100F and I was not feeling so great after a day of celebratory hydration and minimal water. I lounged in the shade for quite a while chatting with friends before it was time to prep our kayak for the grand finale.

Unlike the first three days of SCAR, the final swim was a triangular 10k course on the eastern portion of Roosevelt Lake. We began the swim just before 6pm from the boat launch at the Windy Hill Recreation Site. Kent Nicholas gave an encouraging address before the swim started, and I realized that this was the last time I would see some of these people that I had spent so much time with over the past few days. I originally planned to have Christine kayak for me, as Deedee does not like open water at baseline, and is absolutely terrified of being out there in the dark. However, after Apache, Deedee decided she wanted to finish this swim series with me and face her fear. I was so proud of her bravery!

I took off with Wave 1 and began swimming east. The water was exceptionally warm and full of debris. I got a number of sticks lodged in my bathing suit, and even accidentally swallowed a small twig! The course was well marked with mylar balloons that shimmered with the setting sun. 

It was still dusk when I rounded the first triangle buoy and the lighting was a bit disorienting. It wasn’t quite dark enough for me to be able to see the glowsticks on the kayak, but it was just dark enough that I wasn’t able to see Deedee well enough to feel comfortable. This in between time was a little unsettling and I was looking forward to total darkness. To further complicate the tricky visual situation, Deedee kept swerving aggressively from side to side. I stopped to ask her what was happening, and she told me that she was being attacked by bugs. She hadn’t wanted to say anything and potentially worry me, but it benefited us both to stop momentarily and check in. I reminded her that my goal for this swim was to get some more experience in the dark and to eventually finish. We agreed that we would support each other through this swim and could stop at any time to check in if either of us were feeling nervous. 

Darkness settled in on the way to the second triangle buoy. As we rounded that buoy and began the final leg of the swim. I flipped onto my back to look at the stars. I was tracking well with Deedee and spent some time intentionally swimming away and towards her kayak to train my depth perception in the dark. I was feeling sentimental about SCAR ending and stopped pretty frequently during this leg of the swim. When I said hello to a kayaker that ended up being Jax, I realized I should probably stop stargazing and get moving. 

The last 20 minutes of the swim felt like 20 hours. I was checked out and just wanted to be done. This feeling reminded me of the ending of my Vikingsholm swim, which was the most mentally challenging swim I have ever done. I did make it back to the boat launch, albeit slowly, and triumphantly touched the illuminated triangle buoy that marked the official end of the swim. I enjoyed some celebratory beers with Erika and Kim on the boat launch and made plans to meet up with Claire in England when my time comes to attempt the English Channel. 

I am a SCAR finisher.

This experience surpassed all of my expectations, and I am so proud of how I approached and executed each swim. It was wonderful to spend time with friends, make new connections, and to enjoy this collective experience with a truly unique group of people. Major kudos to everyone who participated, and thank you to all of the volunteers who make this amazing event possible! 

Author and Journalist, Adam Skolnick, published an article about SCAR in the New York Times. Keep your eyes peeled for a photo of me in a pink swimsuit and yellow cap towards the end of the piece! The photo was taken after I jumped into the water for Saguaro.

Adam was also interviewed on the Rich Roll Podcast and can be heard discussing SCAR starting at the 2:32 minute marker.