I feel pretty good today, even though I ran 12 miles in the morning and then swam a loop (1200 yds) at Lake Nokomis in the evening yesterday. It was the first swim of the Open Swim season! I love swimming across Lake Nokomis. A loop, which is 600 yards to the little beach and 600 yards back to the big beach, usually takes me slightly less than 20 minutes. That time, alone in the water, half-submerged between lake and sky, is even more dreamy than running time. So many things to pay attention to and write about!
Open Swim Sensations
- The textures of the waves.
- The smooth sand that gets wedged between my toes and makes my feet very rough.
- The shafts of light that, on especially sunny days, appear underwater, just in front of me, as I swim.
- The big orange inflatable triangles that mark the route, sometimes looming large, other times disappearing in the undulating water.
- Random encounters with fish, swimming below me, and other swimmers, swimming over me or into me or around me.
- The slimy, scratchy vines that wrap themselves around my arm or face as I stroke through the water.
- The mysterious sounds–the clanging and humming and buzzing–under the water mixed with the sounds of slapping and sloshing waves above.
- The warm soreness that I feel all over my body, but especially in my shoulders, after a long swim.
- The sand and dirt and lake sediment that gets trapped in my suit, causing me to feel itchy for hours after the swim.