before the swim: Tired this morning. My throat is sore, not from sickness (I hope) but from keeping the window just above my head open all night. Reviewed yesterday’s entry and thought more about a place-based MO swimming poem: Swimming in One Place in August or Swimming in Place in August. Swimming in place is about repetition and loops and returning again and again to here. Not accumulating time but becoming more and more aware of the world around me — the flashes and flickers, the color of the water, the sounds underwater, the bubbles just below the surface.
About time in the water: While I’m swimming, I have very little idea of what time it is. I know that a loop is about 20 minutes, so I can figure it out, but I can’t read my watch when I’m constantly stroking 1 2 3 4 5 breathe right 1 2 3 4 5 breathe left.
4 loops
lake nokomis open swim
81.5 minutes
72 degrees
Before the swim I reminded myself of how much I love swimming across the lake and how much I’ll miss it when it’s over in a week. Another season almost over. As always, it has gone by too fast!
The first loop was very relaxed — my stroke, my breathing, the water. A steady rhythm and hardly any waves. Between buoys 3 and 4, a V of geese flew low over the water. They felt so close, but probably weren’t that close; swimming in the water distorts your perceptions of distance and size. Buoy 5 was almost as far as it’s been to the left. So far, that I thought the course/the triangles the buoys make was bigger than usual. Nope. I’m not sure how this is possible, but the course was actually a little shorter this morning.
As I swam, I thought about place — swimming in place, returning to a place, becoming familiar with a place. I know I had more interesting thoughts, but now I can’t remember them. Oh well, if they were important, I’ll remember them.
10 Things
- a vee of geese, flying low
- a seagull flying/floating in the wind
- a place, parallel to the water, also flying low
- my sparkle friends — most of them swimming straight at me
- glitter paths! the rough surface of the water, glittering in the sun
- a big splash off to my left — another swimmer who is not that efficient with their stroke/kick
- the green buoy, way off in the distance, becoming lost among the white sailboats
- clouds then sun then clouds then sun then all sun
- a haze in the air — not smoke but humidity
- swimming from buoys 1 to 2 on loop 3 when the water was choppier — even harder to sight the buoys, imagining lifeguards on kayaks were right in front of me when it was just the strange effect of waves and trees on the shore
When I finished, Scott was still running, so I took my towel and sat on the beach. What a morning! two moms and 2 kids.
overheard/witnessed after the swim
Mom 1, carrying a small kid out of the water: let’s get you into your robe, it’s cold!
Mom 2, also carrying a small kid: I really wish I would have thought to bring a cover-up for her! I bet a cover-up would feed nice and warm. Mom 1: a towel should work.
(a few minutes later, after Mom and kid 1 left): Mom 2 to her kid, okay, let’s get you in this warm towel! LOUD SHRIEKS Fine, no towel it is. Let’s walk to the bathroom. Kid 2 makes noises like they’re very cold. I bet a towel would really warm you up right now, but you made it very clear that you didn’t want one.
At some point during the swim, I had an idea for my long (12+ mile) run tomorrow: a Hello Goodbye playlist. I brainstormed songs as I stroked: Hello/Lionel Richie; Hello/Adele; Hello it’s Me/Todd Rundgren.
Hello Goodbye Playlist
- Hello, goodbye/ Beatles
- Hello/ Lionel Richie
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/ Elton John
- Hello/ Adele
- Goodbye Stranger / Supertramp
- Hello it’s Me/ Todd Rundgren
- Goodbye to You/ Scandal
- Operator/ Jim Croce
- Here’s a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares/ Travis Tritt
- Call Me Maybe/ Carly Rae Jepsen
- Call Me/ Blondie
- Telephone ft. Beyonce/ Lady Gaga
- Where the hell is my phone?/ Lizzo
- Telephone Line/ ELO
- Mr. Telephone Man/ New Edition
- 867-5309/ Tommy Tutone
- Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You/ Sugarloaf
- Hello / The Book of Morman
- Bye Bye Bye/ N’Sync
- Hello I Love You/ the Doors
- So long, Farewell/ The Sound of Music
- Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love/ a Chorus Line
- Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee (Goodbye to Sandra Dee)/ Olivia Newton John
- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant/ Billy Joel
- I’ll Be Seeing You/ Billie Holiday
- Hi Hi Hi/ Paul McCartney and Wings
- Because I Got High / Afroman
- Why’d You Only Call Me when You’re High?/ Arctic Monkeys
- Rocky Mountain High/ John Denver
- Hey Good Lookin’/ Hank Williams
- Never Can Say Goodbye/ Jackson 5
- Welcome to the Jungle/ Guns n’ Roses
- You’re Outta Here/ Lorraine Feather
- The First Goodbye / 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
- The Second Goodbye / 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
- The Final Goodbye / 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
- Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye / Roberta Flack
- Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye / Steam
- The Goodbye Look/ Donald Fagan
- Goodbye Blue Sky/ Pink Floyd
I had wanted to make this playlist 2.5 hours, but I couldn’t quite get there. It’s 2 hrs and 23 minutes.