I've participated in the GTD event since 2009. My annual mileage during that timeframe is as follows:

2009 -- 1,011.91 miles

For a middle of the pack swimmer like me who isn't going to be setting any records at the Harvard or WPI Masters meets, GTD presents an opportunity to achieve something special, and to do so on my own terms. Don't get me wrong, training with my workout group is the highlight of my day and competing at the meets is a blast, but when you've set a goal to crank out a thousand plus miles per year, you've got to approach things differently. Daily, my workout session changes from something I do that enables me to race my best into something that I do simply for the enjoyment received. Essentially, once the group practice ends, it becomes GTD "me time". There's still the competitive aspect to it: I'm keeping score of my mileage, checking where I am relative to everyone else across the country and then maybe going a little bit longer the next day, but the difference is that instead of focusing on speed and time, I get to focus on the experience of swimming itself: the feel of the water as I move through it and the solitude and elimination of distractions as the distance goes by. Ultimately, going long and slow allows me to enjoy swimming more.

My plan is to compete in events such as GTD for as long as I'm physically able to do so. I know that eventually I won't be able to log the big miles, but for as long as I can "Go the Distance," I'm going to do so.

Since I only got to compete in one actual event last year, that's an easy one: the 10-mile Kingdom Swim at Lake Memphremagog in Newport, VT. I've completed the 10-miler six consecutive years (2011 to 2016). I did it the first year to prove I could do that distance, but because the conditions were so tough that year I wasn't happy with my time, so I went back the next year and did better. The following couple of years it was, "Oh what the heck, I'll do it again." In 2015, I "had" to go back following the logic of, "You've turned 60 years old and this will be your 5th time doing it. Do it once more and you can look around for something new." Then, of course, USMS made it the 2016 10-Mile National Championship, so back I went. This year I'm going to enter the lottery for the Boston Light Swim. I grew up in the neighborhoods of Boston and am not getting any younger, so I better try for it now while I still have a chance of finishing. I'm also thinking of doing the Lac Massawippi swim in Quebec. That looks to be a really nice venue.