I hadn’t been dropped into water that cold before. I was instantly aware of every bit of exposed skin: hands, neck, face, ears. I could almost see them leak warmth into the blue. I guess my ankles are still not temperature sensitive enough to complain. I wonder about this sometimes… how much warmer I feel sleeping now that my feet don’t get cold. It seems like cheating.

This Saturday morning I spent three hours losing body heat in Donner Lake. I swam on my back for slightly more than two miles. The low point was Ben, who was helping me sight the way, getting too cold in his armless wetsuit. The combination of my slow pace and a leaky suit did him in. He flagged down the support boat, practically jumped out of the water, and got covered in towels. I had a kayaker stay with me for the rest of the swim. I kept motivated by identifying landmarks ahead and watching the shore until they slowly passed by. The high point was my kayaker suggesting I drink some water and eat. It was pure joy to hang onto his plastic side and squeeze caffeinated chocolate gel into my mouth. I picked up the pace after that. But I didn’t make it the full three miles. And I really don’t care.

When I hit the last goal I set for myself, I signalled and my kayaker called the boat. As soon as I stopped swimming my body began to loudly protest. I cramped up, everything hurt… I was pulled into the boat and spent thirty very uncomfortable minutes warming up. And then I was totally fine. This swim was my longest and my coldest by far… at elevation… and I’m proud of what I could do under the circumstances. I could have chosen to do the 1 mile swim. But that would have been boring — an assured success. This kind of failure is much more interesting.

I’m really happy I was part of the Donner Party Swim hosted by the No Limits Collaborative. Everyone barbecued on the beach afterward. I got my fill of meat and beer and ice cream calories. I enjoyed talking to the other lovely people who made it out for the event. I played my part in supporting No Limits and their mission of SCI advocacy.

That evening I tried to take a bike ride but made it just four miles before my legs gave up. So we went to Alibi Ale House, instead. Sunday’s ride was more successful. I did twelve hilly miles along the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe. We also took a walk. Overall, it was the kind of weekend that makes Monday morning hard and happy.