Last day of October, first Yeti swim!

It's Halloween. The last day of October and what felt like the first Yeti swim of the season. It's not so much that the water was very cold (it was a balmy 53° f) but it was windy and bouncy.The water was crisp and the wind chilling but after the first 5 minutes all of it felt like heaven. The water there even when cold feels like a massage. Once my neck is in I feel my whole body relax. I know this is opposite of what most people feel when they get into colder water but for me my body seems to say, "Oh we remember this. This is lovely you're going to feel great." There's something particularly special about Broughton Beach and swimming in the morning. It feels like going home after months away even if it's only been two weeks. There's a level of comfort, satisfaction, and acceptance I feel there that I have felt only kayaking on the Middle White Salmon. It was great great swim great familiar feelings of being cold and my body reacting to cold and the typical ways it has in the past. I swam for 45 minutes fully expecting that I would have gotten out after 30. I wanted to stay in longer but the wind blew my bag and towel into the water and I had to get out early and get retrieve it. The swim also served as good reminders about hazards and mistakes that are easily made with cold water swimming. Today my warm water foot bath was a little bit too warm and I scalded my feet. It's hard to realize this early it the process as it usually takes a minute or two of standing in warm water for my feet to feel again. This time when my feet started feeling again it felt like they were on fire. Not a pleasant experience. The best part about this morning was that my friend Jen showed unexpectedly. The sound of her voice and seeing her in the water just made the whole day that much more special it doesn't hurt that she brought amazing gluten-free chickpea chocolate chip cookies. Anyway it was a lovely swim great to be back at Broughton on a Sunday morning, and now, as per usual I must return to my cold back room cave-I mean desk- and work on projects for OT school.

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