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)
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)
In retrospect, my close encounter with a shark yesterday did not fill me with the kind of fear I would have expected it to. As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I’m a total wimp when it comes to wildlife encounters (at sea or elsewhere). Each time I see a seal at a distance my… Read More Getting Back In (Day 138)
Thump. We were a twenty-minute swim from shore in the Berkeley Marina when something solid rammed into the side of my leg. “What…?” I barely had time to register that something was amiss when I felt the firm, slick skin of something very alive and riled-up slither under my legs; then back again along my… Read More Shark! (Day 137)
I was very happy to swim with Angie again this morning after more than two weeks of swimming separately. I’ve missed our chatty swims; the way that bobbing along in the water seems to imbue our conversations with an extra layer of meaning. The water was smooth and silky; occasionally ruffling in the wind, but… Read More Seal Sighting (Day 116)
It was another mountain bike race weekend, this time down near Monterey. Kevin and I spent the morning watching Hazel killing it on the track. And then, while she cheered on the rest of her team (mountain bikes races are ALL day affairs), we snuck away for a few hours to find a place to… Read More Lover’s Point Beach and (Not) Facing Fears (Day 79)
All traces of yesterday’s storm were gone this morning, except for the flotsam and jetsam bobbing around on top of the water. The air quality wasn’t looking great; a murky brown haze clung to the city when I arrived at the Albany Bulb. But the water was luxuriously flat; silky ribbons of silver, green and… Read More Solo Swim (Day 75)
My friend, Angie, comes from a family of swimmers. She grew up in Ireland swimming in the River Shannon with her brothers and sisters and in the sea with her grandmother, who swam every day. Her sister, Darina, who kindly put us all up for the night at her lovely house in Sebastopol, is also… Read More Doran Beach (Day 72)
It felt great to be home again at my familiar Albany bulb with my swimming gang. Crystal clear skies greeted us this morning, along with strong wind. I thought the water was going to feel warm after my significantly colder swims these last few days, but it did not. Maybe past a certain point, cold… Read More Home (Day 33)
Happy year of the Water Tiger! I’m feeling pretty chuffed that I’ve now gone a full month of swimming every day. It seems somehow appropriate that today’s swim was truly peak commitment to this goal. I drove 627 miles from my beautiful niece’s house in Portland back home to Berkeley and I still managed to… Read More Lake Siskiyou (Day 32)
Jenny Swimming 