I left the house at 6:00. The days are definitely shorter than they were a couple months ago. I guess that should come as no surprise given how the earth travels around the sun and has been doing so ever since I remember. Until the time changes, 6:00 is now too early for swimming.

I start with a 7.6 mile run through the harbor, up Cove Road, and over the Headlands. It was very nice but I’m still a bit spent from a 10 mile run I took yesterday. I’m looking forward to getting into the water.

It’s overcast and I really don’t think it will clear up before I’m finished here. I love the texture of the clouds. They look almost liquid. I guess, technically, they actually are liquid. Go figure.

I finish the run and change into my trunks and head down the stairs. As I’m walking down the asphalt below the bathrooms, I see another guy walking barefoot and stepping gingerly and I strike up a conversation about the coarseness of the black top - always a hot conversation starter. He mentions that he likes it and finds that it massages his feet. A few moments after parting ways it dawns on me that I am completely approaching this road with the wrong mindset. I want it to provide luxury and comfort but he has managed to turn the whole situation around in his favor. It “works” (his words) and massages the feet. Of course it does!

I put my feet in the water and it feels nice - maybe a bump up in temperature from Friday’s swim. After I get past the small surf, I cross paths with another swimmer and we chat for a while about my Three Arch swim. After he leaves for shore, I realize how nice the water is. It is super super nice.

The water has quite a bit of lump to it. If you just look at the ocean this morning, it all looks pretty lackluster, but right here in the water it is great. It feels wonderful, partially I’m sure due to the run I just took, and while it’s not exactly smooth and glassy, it has some good life to it. I don’t feel like I’m fighting a current, it’s just kind of bouncy.

I reach the south end and all the way I’m just relishing how good my muscles feel in this refreshing and not at all cold water. Under water visibility is fair to poor but good enough to watch all the floating kelp hang from the surface of the water. I love that.

Swimming back north I seem to be drifting shoreward which is fairly unusual. Whenever I lift my head to look forward, I seem to be diagonally facing the end of the Strand estates or Niguel Shores. Every now and then I see a gull fly by but I’m too slow on the capture today to get a picture.

I feel like I could stay in this water forever. On the one hand my muscles are fatigued but on the other this is just what the doctor ordered. I find it easy to settle my mind today perhaps because it does not want to go anywhere else.

The swim inevitably does come to an end. I have places to go and things to do. When I reach the concrete ramp, another swimmer who is from Laguna asks me about the conditions here and I give him the low down on the better places to enter the water and where one might swim to. He asks about the water temperature and I am happy to tell him how great it is.

At the showers up top I do my regular rinse and notice a bottle of Herbal Essense shampoo sitting nearby. I think I remember seeing the same bottle when I got into the parking lot early this morning so I’m pretty sure it is fair game. For some reason I just can’t bring myself to use a stranger’s shampoo.