Vacation

I spent a week in a beach house in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. I did a pretty good job sticking to my workouts; I ran 3 days (includnig an 11-miler in horrific humidity) and swam laps in a channel between two islands. I don't know the distance across the channel, but I'm guessing it was at least 100 yards and I did 10 laps (20 lengths). I was also fighting the tide going out, so it was probably the longest swim I've ever done. The Channel:



Because of my new-found confidence in the water, I am now able to do things I've never done before, such as chicken fights. And because I had no experience, I did some pretty dumb things. I had a friend on my shoulders as we went into battle. All was good.

He managed to knock down the other guy, but then started to fall backwards. It's not a victory if both players fall, so I naturally backed up to help him regain his balance. I was very happy when I could feel he had regained his balance and we had won. However, it didn't take me long to realize that I had stepped into deeper water and my my head was still completely submerged. I had no idea which direction was the shallow water. Kind of a scary feeling to realize you're being held underwater. I had a mini-panic-attack, and sort of tossed him off my shoulders. On to a jellyfish. Which stung him. So I ran to shore gasping for air, he ran for shore gasping in pain.

But we won.