The Dolphin Club's 'Old Goats'

8 am is a very pretty time to be awake. The light is soft and quiet and traffic hasn't yet congregated. This morning, at Aquatic Park, casual waves washed on shore and colored bobbing caps dotted the water's surface. At 8:30 am, I went swimming in the bay for the first time, and I can't think of a better decision I've made for a long time.

It was a warmer 54 degrees and I swam in a surf wetsuit. It wasn't easy. It's like swimming while wearing a really tight rubber band all over your body. Some folks, I noticed, just wore trunks. They're nuts! But then I realized these were members of The Dolphin Club. (They don't believe in wetsuits.) And I suddenly wanted to become one. Or at least be able to say I swam to Alcatraz and back in my lifetime, i.e., 1.2 miles each way. 

I never thought of myself as a strong swimmer, or even a decent swimmer, even though it's just swimming...kicking your legs and moving your arms in repetitive motions. Seems simple enough. What I didn't account for was forgetting to breathe. Apparently, some people have been known to hyperventilate due to the water's frigid temperatures or staying focused on that repetition. I was also amazed that I forgot how to swim. Like, really swim....for distances longer than a backyard pool. I thought this was a life skill I had already acquired, and even crazier to think I was capable of losing it! I found myself panting with short breaths, using only one leg to kick with and scared to put my face in the water. Switching between the back stroke, the breast stroke and one good old fashioned doggy paddle, I had been in the water for maybe 30 minutes, and swam 1/3 of a mile. Now that's really nuts. 

Tomorrow morning is another swim. I don't have a cap and goggles yet so my ears get cold and I'm forced to squint the whole time. Slightly unpleasant, but no more so than being a tourist wishing you lived in San Francisco and had a bay to swim in. The above slideshow is sweet and makes me excited about the potential of swimming without a wetsuit. They're 80. They swim. And they rock.