Escape From Alcatraz 3

My little swimming adventure starts at 8:30 am on Sunday.

Today I did my final practice swim. 1.5 miles in Aquatic Park (a protected cove in San Francisco Bay) in 56 minutes 10 seconds. The swim was not without incidents. The wind was in my face so the waves breaking in my face made it hard to see. Also half the time I was swimming directly into the setting sun. I crashed into a man swimming the other way. We stopped briefly to confirm that no eyes were lost and continued. Then I swam straight into one of the buoys. My left arm, shoulder and cheek came down hard on the barnacles. A lot of scratches but, thankfully, no blood. While swimming in the bay, we don’t like blood. The swim is about the same distance as Alcatraz to the mainland, so I can feel fairly confident about Sunday.

Here’s what is interesting: I’m in the middle of a complicated life. Many commitments to many things. Clever boy here adds to all these commitments a heavy physical challenge. So yesterday I went to the barber. He asks “How are you?” And I blurted out something like “I’m so happy, it seems unfair…”