Old Man Winter sure is a sprightly fellow. Just when you think he’s shuffled back into his dark hovel for the rest of the year, he turns up with a youthful vigor right outside your front door. And such was certainly the case on Saturday!
The crisp and clear skies that I viewed outside of my window yesterday morning should have served as a warning that there was a surprise in store for me. Indeed, I should have paid more attention to the prior night’s forecast for a 22F morning air temperature. But ignore it I did, and when I walked out my front door I immediately stepped into a time portal that cast me back to mid-January!
By the time I got to the swim site, the outside mercury had risen to a still-biting 24F that continually gnawed on my fingers whenever I removed my gloves to take pictures. Fortunately, though, the lake was a bit tamer than previous weeks.
We had some 1-3 foot swells that, while higher volume, were very predictable and swimmable. And the lake itself came in at 38.4F – slightly cooler than the previous week but more than tempered by the clear skies and very intense sunshine. So while the gearing up process was a tad bit uncomfortable in the colder air, things warmed up pretty quickly once we got in the lake!
I did just under 1/2 mile as my finger tips were starting to get very cold due to their exposure to the air. Also, I developed an incessant leak in my right goggle that was threatening to turn my right eye into a frozen melon ball. But I got in more than enough of a workout to make me feel that I met my fitness goals for the weekend.
The post-swim scenario was the usual race against time – but with an additional complication of having our wet towels and gear get frozen to the concrete. Indeed, it just seemed like Old Man Winter wanted to get in one last shot at us before retiring until next year. But I think that this was due more to envy than spite.
After all, we’ll be out at the lakefront all year – and he won’t!
Sunrise sequence
Plane and moon shot (with bonus Hancock antenna!)
