It's less than a week now before I go to Siberia. The crazy thoughts are starting to inhabit my head. I don't have enough warm clothes. But truth be told, I don't know if I do or not because I seem incapable of laying out my stuff and beginning to think about packing. That might make this real. As long as I am just thinking about what I might need or shopping for some more wool socks, I can still change my mind, right? It's only money so far. I have bought a plane ticket, applied for an received a visa, and booked a hotel in Moscow. All of that is just paper, money and time. None of that is going to help me withstand the cold water of Tyumen! None of that will prepare me for just walking down the street in Moscow where it is currently 25F and "clear" according to my i-Phone, or Tyumen where it is 15 Below zero! Really? How am I going to cope with that in my bathing suit? .What have I gotten myself into? Up to now it has all been logistics and trading emails with people I met in Argentina on my first Winter Swimming Adventure. But this is real winter! Winter with a capital "W". It is 61F and raining at home right now. The water temperature in the SF Bay is a balmy 56F. I can swim for over six hours in 54F, I've done it. So 56 is joyful. But that means that 32F in Tyumen will be like swimming in concrete. Every part of your body hurts in water that cold, oh wait, how would I know? I've never experienced water below 37F! I don't know anything! That's why this is both scary and exciting. It's new territory. I keep thinking to myself, no mater what you will be fine. You will be cold, but so what. It's only a week! You'll be fine. And no matter what, you will have a blast! You know some of these people, and you are excited to see them again!
New! That's part of the definition of adventure! Go try something NEW!
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