Sheila and I swam at the Albany Bulb today in silky water, under semi-smoggy skies with wispy clouds and endless squadrons of Pelicans. We put our heads down and solidly swam out to The Big Tree. It felt good. On the way back we took our time, mostly chatting and floating and moseying along. We… Read More So Many Pelicans (Day 171)
It was wonderful to be back home in the briny, greenish waters of the Albany Bulb this morning where there are no waves to torment me. I met up with Arwen, Sheila, and Colleen and a squadron of pelicans flew over as we were getting in just to welcome me back. When I woke up… Read More Home Again Home again Jiggedy Jig (Day 170)
It was our last morning at our family gathering in Fallbrook; time to pack up the house, clean up and drive back to Berkeley. There wasn’t time to find an open water adventure so I swam in the pool this morning. Leading up to this family gathering, I imagined many of my daily swims would… Read More Fallbrook Swimming Pool (Day 169)
The waves beat me today. Kathleen and I took our usual early morning trek to the coast, this time with my Aunt Elaine. For today’s adventure, we went to Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach where there was a group meeting at 7. I wasn’t sure I wanted to swim with them because they looked a… Read More Fletcher Cove, Solana Beach (Day 168)
After opting (wimping?) out yesterday, I was determined to return to La Jolla Shores today and face my fears of ocean waves. Kathleen’s husband, Mike, who arrived at the reunion a couple of days ago and joined Kathleen and me on our morning swim excursions, promised to help me navigate the surf. It was another… Read More La Jolla Shores #2 (Day 167)
There weren’t any organized swims to join this morning so I planned to head back to La Jolla Shores and brave the waves while my buzz from yesterday was still intact. But sometime during my morning cup of coffee, I chickened out. Or maybe I just needed an easy swim after two challenging ones. In… Read More Mission Bay #2 (Day 166)
Today’s swim was exhilarating. I met up with a One With the Ocean group at La Jolla Shores for another coach-led swim, this time in the ocean. Again Kathleen drove me down there in the gray early hours and we arrived at the beach to find lots of swimmers already in the water as well… Read More La Jolla Shores (Day 165)
The San Diego Open Water Swimmers Facebook group has an excellent spreadsheet listing all of the regular swims in any given week. I checked it out last night and saw that there was a coach-led open water swim through Swim Open Waters meeting from 7-8 am at Ventura Cove in Mission Bay. Kathleen was my… Read More Workout in Mission Bay (Day 164)
One of the great pleasures of my annual family gathering is waking up at my typical too-early hour and finding my cousin Kathleen already awake, the coffee bubbling in the pot. I pour myself a cup, join her on the couch, and we spend the morning catching up in whispers as the rest of the… Read More Kellogg Beach, San Diego (Day 163)
I’m writing this at the end of a long day spent mostly in the car, driving along Interstate 5 from San Francisco to San Diego in temperatures topping 100 degrees. It was a slog punctuated by a joyful reunion with my extended family at the end and beginning with a delightful swim at the Albany… Read More Swimming then Road Tripping (Day 162)