Dave Vasquez Animation

I thought I’d write this post about something I did recently…The Alcatraz Challenge! It’s this crazy race where 700 people swim roughly 1.5 miles from Alcatraz to the beach at Chrissy Field in San Francisco (there’s also a 7 mile run, but I only did the swim portion). I know Alcatraz is not exactly animation related, but for me being inspired is a huge part of being an animator. Also, there are times when inspiration seems to come from the most unexpected places. Swimming from Alcatraz has proved to be hugely inspirational for me and is motivating me in all areas of my life.

The Alcatraz Challenge began a year ago as a goal for me and my good friend Jackie who I work with. In fact, it was Jackie (and our other good friend Elise) who got me to start swimming again as an alternative to the gym. I thought I was in good shape until I actually tried to swim from one end of the pool to other. I barely made it. I even made the lifeguard nervous. But, I enjoyed swimming so I kept doing it. Eventually, I was able to swim laps. I even learned how to do flip turns. After a while though, both Jackie and I were feeling we needed to do something more to push ourselves with our swimming. That ’s when we decided that Alcatraz was the perfect goal for us: it was a challenge that would push us, it required new skills, and it was definitely out of our comfort zone.

My training spot - Aquatic Park, San Francisco

So how did we go about preparing for this crazy challenge? Jackie and I started by swimming at least a mile in the pool in 45 minutes or less, 3 times a week. There were definite periods of time where this didn’t happen (ie crunch mode at work, being sick, etc.) but for the most part we always stuck to this basic routine. About 6 months before the race, we started swimming in the bay. One of the best places to do that is Aquatic Park in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful location that sits right below Ghirardelli Square. We had to buy wet suits since the water temperature never gets warmer than 62 degrees in the summer! We also found some awesome clinics and coaching through an organization called SwimArt which specialize in training for open water swimming. These resources were invaluable to us and I highly recommend them to anyone considering open water swimming for the first time.

Jackie and Me

We spent many months training and preparing, until finally race day was upon us. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I was pretty excited and nervous, but mostly I was just ready to hit the water! It’s funny…they told us that the hardest part of the whole race would be what you’d go through before you actually begin. I have to agree. Your mind has plenty of things to focus on if you let it, especially as a newcomer to open water swimming. It’s very cold even with a wetsuit. The currents are strong, making the bay more like a rushing river than part of the ocean. There’s also that little detail about sharks. Still, as I stood in the doorway of the ferry ready to jump, none of these things really concerned me. I felt confident in my training and abilities to deal with whatever I encountered. That’s when I knew I was ready.

Ready! Set! Go!

When I hit the water, I didn’t even notice the cold. Maybe it was all that adrenaline! Or maybe I really had acclimated to the cold water. The currents were actually a little lighter than normal and nothing I couldn’t handle because of the training I’d received. Oh yeah…and that little fact about sharks? Well, here’s another fact that I learned: the first San Francisco swim club was organized in 1873 and since that time there has not been one single shark attack on anyone swimming in the bay. All this gave me the confidence to feel good about the race. So as I swam away from the boat, I was stoked! It was hard to take it all in. 700 swimmers all around me. 50 kayaks flanked on either side, forming a wide lane for us to swim in. Power boats everywhere outside the line of kayaks. But, here was the real beauty: I took a moment to just stop and look around. Floating at eye level in the water, I could see Alcatraz rise up in front of me. Something that always seemed small from the land now looked really big and menacing. I can see why they made it a prison! Rotating around, I could see the Golden Gate Bridge and then the entire skyline of San Francisco as I’d never seen them before. It was a humbling moment for me. I even saw my friend Jackie and we both did a high-five before continuing on.

Reaching the finish line

The rest of the race was a partnership between me and the ocean. I was continually sighting on the landmarks given to us before we left (first, the twin tower Fontana Apartments behind Aquatic Park, to Fort Mason, to the dome on the Palace of Fine Arts, to the finish line on the beach itself) while also being pushed west by the current of the bay. It was pretty amazing as I approached the finish line on the beach and could see several hundred people there. In fact, with ear plugs, two swim caps and having my head submerged in the water, I could still hear people yelling and screaming on the shore. Talk about a boost of inspiration! This was it. It was juice for a lifetime! I started thinking about all those endless days of training. How sometimes when it was really hard, you’d start to think it would never lead to anything. But, here I was finishing the race! When I finally stopped swimming and put my legs down, they were like rubber. I almost fell over and I think I might have bumped into a female swimmer on the way out (sorry about that whoever you are ). But, I got my legs together and ran up the beach to officially complete the race. I was super happy to learn that I did it in under an hour! Jackie was only a minute or two behind me. Not bad for a couple of first timers thinking it would take them at least 75 minutes.

All in all, it was an amazing day. One I definitely won’t forget for a long time. I feel very lucky to have found a challenge such as this one. The experience pushed me in more ways than I could have imagined. It also made me realize just how important it is to regularly have goals that are outside your reach and comfort zone. Because for me, it’s not really about the goal itself. In the end, it’s more about the process or journey you go through to get there. That part you get to keep. It’s something that I plan to apply in all areas of my life, including animation.

Me and the post-race crew

Lastly, I must say thanks to Jackie for being a great swim buddy and helping me to keep at it. Thanks to my family and friends who all wished me well and good luck. A super big thank you to my girlfriend Lisa who was always supportive and got up at the ungodly hour to drive us down there at 5:30 am! And another big thank you to my great friends Bobby (who kindly mentioned me on his blog) and Eva who drove a long ways to be there to cheer me and Jackie on as we finished the race. Good times!

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You can see a short slide show here:

SLIDESHOW

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.