Fear of Fish

I finally I did the thing I always dread every year: I swam in the lake.

I like colorful little pet fish in tanks, and have no problem visiting the aquarium. But put anything that grew up in water on a plate in front of me to eat and my stomach will clench up. I even had trouble taking prenatal vitamins with DHA that I knew had fish oil in them. My family finds this phobia rather amusing and has played terrible tricks on me throughout my life, including telling me that a swordfish steak was a pork chop when I was 9 years old, feeding me squid ink pasta when I was 20 years old (I thought the black color was just a novelty thing), throwing a shrimp tail on my bare skin at Ikea and dangling baby calamari (tentacles & all) in my face at an otherwise lovely family meal.

But for me, the only thing worse than eating a fish would be to inadvertently touch a fish/sea monster while in a lake, ocean, or river. Slimy! Cold-blooded! Potentially trying to eat me or drag me down to the depths to never be seen again!

It's like this.

Now, it is absolutely necessary to do some lake swims when you're training for the Chicago Triathlon, because this race's swim course is in Monroe Harbor, right by Buckingham Fountain downtown. You need to practice swimming in a straight line, experience the cold water, get used to being hit in the face with a wave right when you're taking a breath, and develop the endurance to keep going with no breaks like those you can take while turning around at the end of each lap in a pool.

So at 5:30 am in the morning I got on my bike and rode down the lakefront path (so much faster than running!) to Ohio Street Beach, which is just north of Navy Pier. This is the spot where many triathletes in Chicago do their training, because you can swim a full half mile north right along the seawall, and there are a few buoys to help guide you. I locked up my bike, struggled into my wetsuit, and waded in. I am always so scared that I am going to touch a fish - and there is plenty of gross seaweed that you can't avoid swimming into, as well as lots of fish-impersonating (imfishating?) trash such as sneakers, bottles, solo cups, etc.

Ohio Street Beach, just north of Navy Pier

But somehow, someway, it was a perfect day for a swim - the water was completely calm, plenty of other folks in the water, and I just DID it. And front stroke the whole way! And the only fish I saw were tiny little skinny 2 inch ones, which are not SO scary. I did a half mile, which is half of the full international distance, so I'll have to come back at least a few more times. Wish me luck!