Okay, it was still cold… 54F/11C. Actually a degree warmer than last week 🙂 . But yes, still chilly. (And you know how I knew it was going to roll over last week… well, don’t get psyched out, I’m quite sure it will be warm again by this weekend!) But how, you ask, could it have been a “great swim” then?
Well I was thinking about that. Because the water was cold… but we had 65 swimmers (yes, we crushed the temp/swimmer ratio again!!! 54/65!!!) show up for a dip… and when it was all said and done and everyone was out of the water and walking away… everyone had a smile on their face. Everyone had fun. I didn’t hear a single soul grumbling about the water temperature and turning all sour on it. Okay, it may still have been the topic of conversation (or not), but I guess the answer is that the temperature of the swim wasn’t the only measure of a “good swim”.
To use an analogy I used to use with my kids when they were small. We’ve all been there when it is a beautiful summer day and the kids come moping around saying “there’s nothing to do, I’m bored”. And as the parent we’d say “there’s lots to do! You could: go play outside, read a book, go play ball hockey, go for a swim (okay, maybe only at our house), go play a game…” and on and on. But we knew what they meant… they were bored… but mostly they were bored because they had no one to play with, or at least no one to take the initiative and invent a game… not because there wasn’t a million things they could do. But eventually they would figure it out and find someone to play with and something to do. The something to do was easy, in fact the simpler the better. A sprinkler, some worms or sidewalk chalk went a long ways.
Well, here we are 20 or 30 or 40 years later… and things haven’t really change much. The fun part of LOST Swimming is getting out there and doing something “fun”, like acting like a little kid… but thing that really makes it is having someone to do it with. Or 64 other like-minded wacko’s to do it with!
That’s why there are so many people out… that’s why people drive 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there (Alyssa!)… that’s why you can be a little kid and come out of cold water with a big ol’ grin on your face!
Mike set the buoys up in a pretty tight triangle this week, because it was so cold… but you know what… everyone was still in for quite a while… 15-30 minutes! Some for several laps… some naked… some twice… but all smilin’!
So… keep comin’ out… because that’s what makes LOST Swimming what it is!
PS. special thanks to our newest LOSTies, the girls that qualified for the National Lifeguard competitions in France! (and loaded up a whole bunch of boards and a trailer and drove down from Guelph and have a swim with us!). Thanks girls, your welcome anytime!
Cheers,
Rob