That was a bad idea.

I would say the water in Quarry Lakes was about 45 degrees. I wore my wetsuit, which was lovely, but my hands and feet instantly went numb. Actually, that's not quite true: they hurt like the devil and then they went numb. I was thankful for numb. The best part, besides getting the water into your wetsuit so your body can warm it up, was swimming head-down and finally putting your face in the water. Apparently, your face and head do not like to be that cold and react not by going instantly numb, but by hurting so much it feels like someone is cutting off the various parts of your face. You also get a ragin headache from the cold that only goes away after a couple of "laps" and you are finally, thankfully, numb.

Jeezus.

We couldn't swim "open water," but there was a cordoned-off area for swimming that was at the shore of the lake. You know what hangs around the shore? Ducks! You know what ducks do? They poop all over everything and it gets in the water! The water was green and so murky all you could see was the murk floating in front of your goggles. I was actively spitting to avoid swallowing even the tiniest bit of water, and probably only swam between 500 and 750 yards. Apparently the practice was for sighting, which means picking an object on the shore while swimming and every few strokes lifting up your head to make sure you are still aiming at it. Open-water swimming results in lots of zig-zagging, so sighting helps you stay on target.

Had I know the whole goal was to practice sighting and not to really get a workout in, I would have skipped it. I got out of the water - oh, did I mention it was raining?! - and walked to the car with big goose-steps as my feet were so numb they felt like boards and I was afraid I was going to trip and fall. I left my towel and clothes and parka in the car (thankfully!) so they were all dry, and I stripped off the wetsuit in the parking lot (as we were all doing) and just put my big blue-and-yellow college water polo parka on and drove home. It took about fifteen freeway miles before I could feel my feet - I was driving barefoot to get maximum heat on those toes - and even after a hot shower I am shivering a bit.

Winter swimming is not my thing, clearly. I guess I'm glad I went. At least I can say I've worn my wetsuit now!

Tomorrow is either water polo or a swim with TNT, haven't decided yet. And maybe a morning run, we'll see. I'm starting to feel behind and am freaking out a little bit!