walk: 50 minutes
to loons coffee and back
79 degrees
humidity: 89%
The heat wave has hit. I had planned to get up early and run this morning, but when I checked the weather and realized that it would already be 76 degrees with almost 90% humidity at 6am, I decided to skip it. As I get older, my tolerance for heat gets worse. So, instead of running, Scott and I walked to Loons for a birthday coffee.
10 Things
- some screeching bluejays
- the feebee of a black-capped chickadee
- a willow in a yard bent over the sidewalk in a arch, creating cool, green shade
- a cacophony: 2 bus ticket machines beeping and calling out warnings beside each other, a woman yelling — this is annoying the shit out of me! — at her companion who had pushed the buttons too many times
- acquiring a sheen of sweat before reaching the coffee shop
- the sharp, truncated bark of a dog somewhere far off
- walking by a pick-up truck, hearing a man inside the cab call out, it’s siesta time! — later learning from Scott about the things I didn’t see: 2 construction workers sprawled out on scaffolding in the back of the truck, looking at their phones
- the loud buzz of a chainsaw, orange cones blocking off a street: someone getting a tree trimmed or removed
- the cottonwood three: 3 gigantic, towering cottonwood trees in the front yard of a 1950s rambler on the triple (or more) sized lot
- a bit banner draped across a neighbor’s fence: I’m not mad at you (Renee Good’s last words)
a response from minneapolis aquatics!
Since open swim began, I’ve been frustrated with the amount of milfoil at the beginning of the swim course. Frustrated, and a little anxious. I thought about complaining to open swim. I also wondered if it was even worth saying anything. Then I decided to contact Aquatics and ask about when and if they would be harvesting the milfoil this summer. I ended my email with, I deeply appreciate all that you do to make it possible for us to swim across the lake, and I meant it. I love Minneapolis Parks and I love open swim. I wasn’t sure if anyone would respond, but they did this morning. A long email outlining the different steps they’re taking to alleviate the problem, including another round of harvesting with SCUBA divers and possibly enlisting lifeguards to help. Can the milfoil be controlled? I’m not sure, but it helps to know that they recognize the problem and are trying to do something about it.
swim: 1.5 loops
cedar lake open swim
92 degrees / wind: 17 mph
Very choppy water, which I don’t mind, but I also don’t want to pull a muscle by working too hard to stroke through it, so I only did 3 cedar loops tonight. The water was warmer; I didn’t feel cold at all when I was done. Hooray! I mostly breathed every 4, with the occasional 5 or 3 or 2. Almost always on the right. The beach was very crowded and the vibes were very Cedar. Wading in the water, I could smell weed somewhere nearby.
10 Things the Wind Did
- open swim was delayed by at least 5 minutes because they couldn’t get the buoy to stop drifting away
- it was also delayed because the lifeguard was struggling to swim back with it in the heavy chop
- runners coming in at an angle, 1: the first half of the loop, they were at my back, which sometimes made it easier to swim and sometimes didn’t
- runners coming in at an angle, 2: the second half of the loop, I mostly swam straight into them, which made it harder to breathe and to stroke and to see anything
- with barely any visibility, I got very close to swimming straight into 3 women — I felt the current their kicking legs made in time and was able to shift my angle
- big splashes and sprays from flailing arms
- returning to point beach at the end of the second loop, trying to round the buoy, noticing it moving away from me: it had come untethered from the anchor — I gave up and didn’t try to loop around it
- returning to point beach at the end of the third loop, I saw that orange buoy way out and off course
- leaking goggles, dislodged through the force of waves battering my head
- only 3 loops today: too tiring to do more
A great birthday swim! I like swimming in choppy water, especially at the end of my June when I’ve built up my shoulders from 20+ miles of swimming already.