Lake Tahoe: Length

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”

T. S. Eliot

Lake Tahoe holds great significance for my journey as a marathon swimmer. I completed my very first marathon swim there in 2021 and had such an amazing experience that I returned in 2022 to tackle a second course. The Lake Tahoe Open Water Swimming Association ratifies swims on three officially recognized routes, and those who have successfully completed the trio are awarded the prestigious Tahoe Triple Crown. When I decided to return to the lake in 2023 to swim the Length, I was nervous about attempting my first 21.3 mile swim. In addition to the massive increase in distance from my prior longest swim, this endeavor would pose other novel challenges, including swimming through the night. I anticipated that it would take 12-14 hours to complete and by the time I arrived to the greater Lake Tahoe Area, I was feeling eager to get swimming.

I spent the weeks preceding my swim camping at various sites around the lake with my wife, Deedee. We were busy almost everyday, which prevented me from expending energy on worrying about my swim. Some of the highlights from this time were:

• Celebrating my 30^th birthday
• Swimming the Trans Tahoe Relay with an incredible group of friends, the Ta-Homos!
• Crewing the True Width for my friend, Maja
• Hiking down to Emerald Bay to cheer for my friend, Cyndy, as she finished swimming the Vikingsholm course
• Crewing the True Width for my friend, Golda
• Cheering for my Girlinas podmates, Phil and Todd, at Obexer’s Marina at the return of their tandem True Width
• Getting a few taper swims in with my friend Stacey, who was in the area preparing to swim the Vikingsholm course
• Observing a True Width for Pacific Open Water Swim Co.
• Meeting Lauren Grouse and Hannah Meyer
• Swimming my friend Kelley in to the beach with her mom and Lauren at the end of her successful Length attempt
• Watching the Barbie movie… twice 😊

I woke up the morning of my attempt feeling surprisingly overwhelmed with anxiety. I hadn’t been intentionally avoiding thinking about my swim, but the excitement of being with friends and supporting other swimmers kept me blissfully distracted. After breakfast and getting my gear organized, I started prepping my feeds. I recently switched to taking only liquid feeds using Infinit Nutrition, and because I’m still not used to the new formula, I was having a harder-than-anticipated time ensuring that I was concentrating my feeds accurately.  Deedee joked that it looked like I was running a chemistry experiment in our hotel room, and I was definitely ready for a nap once I had finished!

My dinner dates followed me to the marina at Camp Richardson where we met with my captain, Kelly, and observer, Katie. Seeing these two put me at ease. Kelly is an incredible captain and marathon swimmer, and Katie had observed both of my prior marathon swims on Lake Tahoe. Joining us three on the boat would be my wife, Deedee, as crew chief and my good friend, Maja, as support swimmer. I was thrilled to have a crew of incredible women supporting me across the lake.

Kelly gave us the safety briefing and pointed out a W shaped area of mountains on the north shore that we would be aiming towards. When we stood up to walk over to the boat, I turned around and was surprised to see Al Jarique from the South End Rowing Club standing behind me! He is an extraordinary chef who routinely prepares food for everyone after club events, and it was so great to get a hug from him before my swim.

We motored west through a mooring field to the nearby public dock. I kept exclaiming “WTF!!!” and “Is this really happening?!” I truthfully couldn’t process what I was about to attempt. The anxiety I was feeling in the morning had passed, and I was left feeling like I was in a dream and that life wasn’t real. I have seen this lake from an airplane, and it it huge. Like, unfathomably huge. How could I possibly swim across it?!

Deedee covered me in Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, which seemed a bit unnecessary as I would be swimming through the night, but it was part of my usual pre-swim routine and I think we were both functioning purely on muscle memory at this point. Kelly gave me the go ahead to hop off the boat, and I dove headfirst into the pristine water to head to the beach. I was thankful not to have much concern about getting cold during this swim, as the lake was a balmy 68 degrees. I swam past a family of baby ducks and it made me smile to see their little legs kicking furiously underwater. My beach support crew had made some friends on their walk over to the starting location, and I waved goodbye to everyone before re-entering the water to officially begin my swim.

There were numerous boats whizzing around creating chop to add to the wind-formed waves. Kelly had told me that the first few hours tend to be wavy until the afternoon winds settle down, but it wouldn’t be anything more extreme than where I train in the San Francisco Bay. Maja sat on the bow holding an orange flag to alert nearby craft that there was a swimmer in the water. I knew my support crew would keep me safe, so my mind was free to wander. I thought about when it was bumpy on Apache Lake during SCAR and I lifted my head to tell Deedee “fun!” I chose to implement the same mindset now and focused on enjoying the unpredictability of the chop.

The water was feeling chaotic and my mind was assessing different parts of my stroke in rapid succession. Internally, it felt like multiple voices were talking at the same time, all with different needs and priorities that urgently required my attention. At hour 1:30, Deedee had me change my tinted goggles for a clear pair with a blue light affixed to the strap. I already had a green light attached to the cross on my suit straps, and these differently colored lights would allow my crew to see me and verify I was swimming in the right direction once the sun set. I have used a glowstick for my suit light in the past, but wanted to try a more stationary option as the swinging back and forth of the glowstick can sometimes be distracting.

My clear goggles quickly fogged, and I stopped to clear them. I said “foggy” out loud so my crew wouldn’t be concerned by my brief pause. I wanted to be able to see what was happening on the boat for the limited time I had before the sun set. I continued to feel my body being pushed and pulled by the chop. Once it was completely dark, I lost the ability to see the waves around me and would occasionally take a splash to the face when turning my head to breathe. This was a little unsettling, but I would continue swimming while I cleared my airway underwater, slightly more concerned each time water would enter my lungs.

At some point, Kelly told me that I was doing great and that the wind was helping me. I was thankful for the encouragement but wasn’t so sure. Swimming with wind at my back causes me to alter my stroke in such a way that I end up kicking even less than usual to keep my core tight. Mentally, the feeling of being pulled backwards and then having water crashing over my head can be unsettling at best and panic inducing at worst. I was enjoying the swim and feeling great, though it required continuous mental focus to keep my body and mind in a joyous state. Around hour 4:00, I started doubting whether the wind was actually ever going to calm down. I began to feel a bit frustrated with the water and though I knew I was powerless to change the conditions, I did have ultimate control over my mindset. Before my swim, my friend Cyndy enlightened me to a bit of local native history.

“Washoe legends tell of several creatures that have special powers and lived in the Washoe territory. “Water Babies” inhabited all bodies of water and were considered very powerful, sometimes causing illness or death to a person, but could also be a good omen. Washoe healers visited the sacred Cave Rock, where the Water Babies lived, to consult with them, bring offerings of respect, and renew their powers.”

Trent Unruh, Visit Lake Tahoe

Instead of allowing myself to fester in frustration, I decided to thank the Water Babies for energizing the lake. Offering gratitude anytime a particularly strong wave came my way proved to be effective!

At hour 5:00, I shouted, “Is it tomorrow yet?!” I got giggles from the boat in response, but no confirmation or denial of the date. I thought I was supposed to get pain medication at this feed, but the container was empty. Soon after, I started feeling profoundly nauseous. I asked Deedee if she could send just applesauce for my next feed in hopes that something semisolid might help settle my stomach. I remembered someone once telling me that visualizing the horizon is helpful for seasickness and realized that I couldn’t see the mountains to my east over the waves. Until the next feed, I forced myself to pick my head up further when I breathed to the right. I took the applesauce and Deedee asked if I wanted Zofran at the next feed. I wanted to give it another 30 minutes to see if the applesauce and horizon spotting would do the trick, and my stomach ultimately worked itself out without needing any medication.  

I took some pain medication at hour 6:00 and Maja joined me for another hour of support swimming. The water was marginally calmer, but I still couldn’t settle into a rhythm with my stroke. Having Maja with me broke up the monotony of swimming in total darkness. It had begun to seem like I was stuck in a time loop, reexperiencing the exact same events repeatedly with no end in sight. I became accustomed to Deedee’s rhythm on the boat and the predictability of her behavior became almost comical. She would turn on her red headlamp, move to the stern, then wave an illuminated wand to signal that it was time to feed. I would then see the white light attached to my feed bottle in the water. She had a handful of encouraging statements to cycle through, but her response to me reporting I peed was always the same animated exclamation – “You peed?! That’s AMAZING!”

It was easy to keep track of how long I was swimming because I knew when Maja would enter and exit the water. I anticipated this swim would take 12-14 hours, but because I never have my crew tell me how far I have swum, I can never calculate how much longer I might be swimming. When I finished my feed at hour 8:00, I did a little internal celebration. My longest swim prior to this was 8 hours, so every additional stroke was a new record! I told myself, “Only 5 more hours!” as motivation. At hour 8:30, I also told myself, “Only 5 more hours!” I had the same mantra at my hour 9:00 feed. I was using this mind trick to keep myself from obsessing about how much longer I thought I should be swimming.

The start of Maja’s next support swim was at hour 9:00 and she told me she would only be with me for 30 minutes. This was the first time my crew had given me any information that could potentially clue me in to how much longer I might be in the water. For context, the Lake Tahoe Open Water Swim Association maintains specific regulations regarding when and for how long a support swimmer can be in the water. Maja could be in the water for up to four hours total throughout my swim, but could only swim for up to one hour at a time, and must be out of the water for a full two hours in between each support swim.

My feed plan was ambiguous regarding the length of Maja’s support swim at hour 9:00 because I wanted to ensure she could swim me into the beach at the finish. My crew had to make a critical decision at this juncture. If I was projected to finish in under 12 hours, Maja could only be in 30 minutes to allow her space for a full two-hour break. If I was going to take longer than 12 hours, she could safely swim for a full hour. Either way, making the wrong decision here could exclude Maja from being able to finish the swim with me. I explained this all to Deedee before we embarked, but didn’t make note of it on my feed plan. When Maja told me she would only be swimming for 30 minutes, I concluded that I must be absolutely flying and that I was on track to finish with a time between 11:30 and 12 hours. I later learned that I was never on track to finish that quickly, but my crew decided to make the safest possible decision knowing that my priority was to share those final yards with Maja.

First light happened around my hour 10:00 feed. Friends who had completed this swim warned me that I may find myself yearning for the sun to rise, but this was not my experience. I felt like the night passed quickly and I would have been happy to continue swimming in the dark. I was also forewarned that the light pollution from Reno would trick me into thinking the sun was rising in the middle of the night, but I was certain that this light was the actual sun. I actually didn’t notice Reno at all during my swim! My trapezius muscles were beginning to ache, but I was feeling a lot stronger than I anticipated after 10 hours of swimming. As my eyes adjusted to the light of the new day, it finally dawned on me that I was swimming across Lake Tahoe. I made it to the sunrise, and if I could make it to the sunrise, I could make it to the beach.  

Kelly: You’re doing great, and it’s time to start pushing it!
Me: Why?!
Kelly: Because I want you to push it, and you are going to be happy you did.

At hour 12:30, I finally heard every marathon swimmer’s favorite words, “Last feed!” Maja entered the water and I kept up with the push pace. Soon, I was able to see a yellow buoy to my right. I hadn’t remembered seeing this buoy when swimming Kelley into the beach, so I still wasn’t sure how far away I was from shore. I didn’t have long to ponder this, as I quickly began to see boats and mooring buoys to my right. The water was clear, but I started hearing the cheering of my beach support crew before I could see the ground. I picked my head up to sight and immediately became overwhelmed with emotion and started crying into my goggles. When I finally reached water shallow enough to stand, I planted my feet on solid ground and ran out of the water towards my parents and some of my closest friends. 13 hours and 16 minutes later, I completed the Length of Lake Tahoe and earned the Tahoe Triple Crown.

I am forever thankful for the support of everyone who participated in this adventure. In 2022, I decided to start using my swims as an avenue to fundraise for social causes that resonate with me. This swim was dedicated to The Trevor Project, an organization that endeavors to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. My network raised $4,000 for a cause that is deeply meaningful to me, and I can not be more appreciative.

I would also like to give a special shout out to Paul Fitzgerald and his golf group, The Other Point Crew, for sponsoring this swim. Thank you for your generosity, interest, and support!