Sometimes you try something new because you have no other choice. Some circumstance forces you to go another way, and then you wonder why you had not gone that way all along. It’s like zoom meetings after covid. In fact, if it was not for covid, I may have never tried swimming in the ocean. The gyms were closed and I wanted an exercise that could work my upper body. I got so much more.

Well today, I’m on day 12 of no swimming because my car has been in the shop waiting for some part and I have been unable to drive to the beach. This may be the longest I have gone without swimming since I started. The thing is I live just a touch over a mile from the water of Capistrano Beach and I’m an avid runner. You get where I am going here? It doesn’t take a genius to realize that I could just run to the beach.

I would have happily done this sooner but the rains we had a little over a week ago dumped a bunch of ash from the recent SoCal fires into the ocean. Last weekend the water looked black at the San Clemente pier and Doheny. I think Strands and Salt Creek are a little more clean. So I was not eager to get into the black Capo waters. Also, I wonder how good of an idea it is to be running in a possibly hypothermic state after the swim. Well the last couple of days the water looks a little more blue. It still looks more like coffee than ocean but at least someone added cream. The sun is shining, it’s a Saturday and it is well over 60 and on its way to 70. So I really can’t resist. I’m going to run to the beach.

I’m running in swim trunks and without my glasses. It’s totally fine. I’ll have to leave my phone behind - I’ll just be brave. No backpack and fortunately I run in Vibram five fingers so I can keep them on while I swim. I will only need to leave my shirt behind on the shore.

I start running just before 11:00 with my house key tied to my trunks. It’s super nice out. There is a bit of a breeze and the water is not as smooth and glassy as it was earlier this morning. I’m at the water in 15 minutes. What?! 15 minutes? That’s how long it takes to drive to the Strand. I’m not quitting the strand or changing the name of this blog but I assure you this will not be the last time I do this.

The water indeed looks brown. Do I really want to do this? Well there are lots of surfers out just a mile up the beach at Doheny and the Orange County Health Agency who regularly samples the water all along the coast is not reporting unhealthy numbers. So it my be dirty but not necessarily shitty? It’s the fecal matter we do not want to ingest.

I get in the water. There is a little surf. Right here at the water’s edge, the floor dips two or three feet and then rises back up to knee deep water. I walk out nearly past the surf. The water is cold but doesn’t feel too bad. I start to swim and oh my, was that a warm spot? Wait a minute. This water is definitely warmer than when I was last here. It feels close to 60. As the kids say, this is amaze balls!

Well there is the matter of the brownness of the water. I’m just going to choose to ignore it. It will be better that way. However it is a little difficult to ignore given that I cannot even see my hands in front of me. That’s ok. What do I need to see my hands for? I’m not that vain.

I’m so glad that I am here. The water is mild enough that I feel like I could swim here for quite some time. Maybe the ash possesses some kind of insulating property? This is the warmest it has been since early November. I did notice this morning that Oceanside and one of the Camp Pendleton buoys were registering 59 degrees. Lets keep this up! 60 isn’t far away. Regardless, it is just the right kind of cold. I can still feel the water wrapped around my entire layer of skin and it is good.

The current is definitely working against me as I head towards the harbor. I have my watch with me and would usually turn around at 30 minutes, but at 32 I’m just past the overpass pedestrian bridge near Olimendi’s and I want to go further.

Not much farther after this, I see something zoom past me out of the corner of my eye and it is not water. I stop to look up and it is a hydrofoiler surfing out here just past the surf.

I keep going and finally decide to turn around at about the 45 minute mark. I’m just at the outer edge of the very last hotel along Coast Highway before the State Park campgrounds. So I start to head back and now I have a beach front view all along the way which I enjoy.

As I pass by each hotel/condo building, it seems like I am swimming in place until suddenly it is behind me and I am starring at the next one. Wow, I’m still not cold cold. I’m cold, but not cold cold. Trust me there is a difference.

I’m definitely moving faster in this southerly direction. I can hardly believe it when I get to the rip rap (boulders). Then again, it feels like that Capo Beach parking lot is never going to end and then somehow I have overshot and am a couple houses in at Beach Road.

What took me 45 minutes to swim north took just 30 to swim back south. I head to the sand and up to the rocks where I find my shirt waiting for me. I don’t need to put it on. The sun feels great and I start to run. This is so great. What a lovely way to follow up the swim. It is so pleasant out as if July decided to come and pay a brief visit leaving its marine layer back home.