From the Shores to the Cove

I was standing there on the shoreline at La Jolla Shores looking out across the choppy water to the Cove. I had swam from the Cove out past the ¼ mile buoy, then to the half mile buoy, stopped and asked around for a buddy to swim longer. I found a willing body and we ventured off toward the Shores, about another half mile.

I stood there remembering the first time I had stood in that spot almost a year and a half ago. I had just moved to San Diego and had IMAZ looming a few weeks away. I knew I needed to be there, but the water was cold, a brisk 56ish degrees, and I really wasn’t excited to be freezing.

The swim leader announced there would be a group heading over to the Cove and I thought to myself, people don’t really swim ALL the way over there. They must just swim in that direction. Either way, I opted for the 500m-ish beginner swim and even that seemed like a lot to me on that day. It wasn’t the distance, it was the cold. Putting my face in the icy water for the first time literally took my breath away. I was so happy to finally have that swim behind me. I came back the next week and did it again and it was only slightly better. And that was it. That was my open water preparation for the April IMAZ race last year.

My how a year changes everything though. Most weeks I get a long open water swim in, usually 1.5-2 miles and this week was no different. I swam from the Cove to the Shores lifeguard shack and back. So now I know when people are standing on the beach at the Shores and say they are going to swim to the Cove, they really do, because now I do it. The added bonus is, it’s still warm enough to go without my wetsuit. How wonderful it is to be free!