Go fish

I don't like cows. I think we all know how much I don't like cows. It's a combination of a strong self interest against being chased (again) by an big unhappy cow, and a plain old irrational fear of cows. As it says, irrational; don't try to tell me how sweet and gentle cows are, don't tell me I won't get chased, don't tell me to get over it. I have problems running around cows and that's that.

So I understood when my swimming buddy freaked out because there were fish in the water. Laughed my head off, but understood.

Tonight Claudia and I again went to Shadow Cliffs for our swim. Although it's been hot lately, today had cooled down to only a high of mid-70's, and windy. By the time we got there it was only in the mid-60s. Again we saw the other people climbing into their wetsuits and we all smiled at each other. One lady asked us "trying again?" and we had a conversation about tri's and swims and wetsuits.

We walked to the water, this time empty of all other people. Nobody was playing around and the only other swimmers had just gotten out. There were some people fishing way off in the distance but we had the water to ourselves. We started walking in, slowly since it was cold, and Claudia shouted and hightailed out of the water. While I laughed uproariously glanced quizzically at her, she explained that she wasn't going to swim with the fish. I told her to get over it and get in the water. She said the fish was THIS big. I told her the water magnified things and it was smaller than that and to get her ass in the water. I kept inching deeper, she stood on the beach and said that she wasn't coming in.

Ok then. So I dove in and started swimming. I actually had a good swim. I had the entire lake lane to myself so I was able to swim my own pace, working on form and breathing. Since we had swum 5 laps last time I intended to swim a minimum of 6. Back and forth, back and forth, stroke stroke stroke breathe. The water was a little warmer than last week, thanks to the heatwave. Swim count breathe sight. Since nobody else was around the water was clear to the bottom. I was able to see clearly in the water and yeah, there were a couple of fish. But they weren't even keepers, just little guys.

Heading back on the 8th lap all of a sudden both calves cramped up. After an instant of brain freeze I rolled over onto my back, relaxed my legs, and tried to keep moving with my arms. It worked and I quickly flipped back over. I finished my lap and turned toward shore. Depending on whether you believe the lap is 120 or 16o meters, I swam either 960 or 1280. Probably somewhere in-between. For purposes of easymath I'm believing it's 150 and that I swam 1200 meters with only a short pause at the turnarounds to slap the lap button on my watch.

Claudia was sitting on the life guard tower, watching me swim back and forth. She had managed to take a picture of a big school of fish swimming right in front of her. They looked big but I'm pretty sure they were minnow size, magnified by the water. Irrational fear or not, she realizes that she'll have to get back in the water, probably Thursday night.

Oh, and one last thing: ha. Hahah. Hahahahah. Bwahahahahaha. HAHAHAHA!