Left for the beach at 9:45. Its been a beautiful but cold morning but the warmth is just beginning to take hold.

I get to the parking lot and at the last minute I decide to leave my backpack in the car. I’m feeling nice and toasty (in my sunny car with the windows up and no air running) and it just seems like overkill to haul down my backpack. I check the temperature on my phone (because why pay attention to how the temperature actually feels) and it reads 61. Well. 61! I’m just going to declare this a heat wave and bid good riddance to the backpack (with towel and sweatshirt).

I head down the stairs and maybe there is a bit of a cool breeze blowing. I try not to pay attention to this.

I get to the beach and it is quite lovely. No surprises there.

Just past the point where I usually start swimming, someone has stacked up a bunch of rocks. This is not your usual rock stack. These rocks are pretty large and it’s kind of impressive.

I make my way out into the water. If I had to use just one word to compare today to my last swim on Sunday, that word would be “colder.”

I’m beginning to wax sentimental over the backpack in the car. Oh Come on…it will be fine!

Spoiler alert: it is fine. Yes it is undoubtedly colder than Sunday morning but it’s not ice out here. It’s a nice swim. It’s sunny, the water is smooth enough with just a little bump. It’s sort of clear. Not at all as clear as Saturday but I can often see at least a glimpse of the ocean floor.

It’s cold enough where the first part of the swim feels like a sort of icy hot. This is likely the effect of my blood escaping into my core leaving my skin more numb. It feels kind of good.

There are certainly moments where the cold gains psychological dominance and I need to calm myself. As I relax, I feel more comfortable. This comes and goes.

The north bound stretch goes quickly with the beauty of the blue horizon. It really is a nice day.

I try to keep myself in this space of calm focus on the horizon and not think of finishing or getting warmer. That’s gonna happen. It always does. I have never ever not finished a swim. You can know this is true because this laptop I am writing with is not water proof.

I finish up and, sure, if I had my backpack I probably would stop to towel and put on that sweatshirt, but it’s not like I am suffering here and the walk up the stairs is nice.