Brrrr

Today was the first of the Polar Swims. I could quite happily have stayed in bed as it was pouring down and cold....but I’d told people I was doing it, I’d told myself I was doing it and I wasn’t being put off by a cold wet autumnal day.

I’ve decided to see how long I can go into the winter without a wetsuit. As my feet froze the minute they touched the concrete and I got goosebumps on my goosebumps I did wonder at my sanity. Actually, it felt better in the water than out of it. Victoria was there and we swam the circuit together. We decided to get our moneys worth and do a second circuit as we had gone beyond the numb feeling and were loving it. In fact we didn’t want to get out at all so we floated around for a bit. It was amazing to be swimming in heavy rain at one point as we were on a level with raindrops as they bounced down around us. I wanted to sing out from the sheer adrenalin rush exhilaration of it all.

But we did have to get out eventually. It was then we realised how cold we were. My feet were so numb I could barely walk and my hands were like foreign bodies on the end of my arms. It was a struggle to dress myself, shoelaces couldn’t be tied. I need to order a dry robe as I was freezing.

The whole atmosphere was great, everyone was chatting and supporting each other as we got in, swam and tried to get dressed. All dignity goes out of the window when you are in a small changing area on the edge of the Quays with fingers that flop around uncontrollably.

It took a couple of hours for me to thaw out but the buzz lasted a lot longer. I’m doing the Hallowe’en Swim on Tuesday evening at the water sports centre and I’m really looking forward to it now...even though wetsuits are compulsory.