Pumpkin Spice Warm Down

So today for the first time I thought to myself, this has stopped being sensible. Not that it is going to keep me from charging into the lake in the rain and dark for as long as I've got company, but today it really seemed silly.

Geoff, Liz and I met at Caulkin's Landing in the windy rain, shuttled to Luther Burbank Park, shivered down the path to the dock, and hopped in. For the next 2.5-ish miles, I never got warm. The water was surprisingly smooth until we rounded the north end of Mercer Island and the wind turned toward us. I love swimming under I-90. Something about it seems so naughty. Liz and I swam the distance in just over 1:10.

Despite the "flashdance" shower of hot water from a gallon jug brought from home, I stayed awfully cold. Liz sat on my lap as Geoff drove my car back to LB, which was snuggly and warmed me up a little. Geoff saw I was still shivering and suggested we stop at Starbucks for some tea top off our core temps, which to me meant only one thing: a Pumpkin Spice Latte. PSL, which Starbucks serves up between 9/1 and Christmas, signals autumn to my taste buds like little else. I felt smug drinking one after a non-wetsuit swim. Fall, you can't catch me.

We ran into Mike, Tom, Tatyana and Howard chilling out over coffee after their MSC swim. Why do swimmers make me laugh like no one else? Do other sports have things like pull buoy humor, clock nazis, upside down lane dynamics and fin throwing rancor at 5:08 am? I don't know. But I'm glad we do. Dude, I think your cap's too tight.

It's been a really fun long weekend of swimming. I know our ranks will thin in the coming weeks, between chlorine addiction and diminishing daylight, but I'm in it as long as I can be. Trick or Treat.