Coming of Age in the West Neck Pod...

Annmarie Kearney-Wood was still dry behind the ears when she first came to swim with the West Neck Pod in the Summer of 2010, having been dragooned into exploring the open water by her friend and fellow lawyer Gae Polisner, who was herself still a newcomer to the Pod.  Now, two years later, both are seasoned -- and insatiable -- open-water veterans who share the distinction of having pioneered year-round swimming in the 2011-2012 season with the rest of the West Neck "Polar Pod." So it was no surprise when Annmarie announced, back in December or January, that she wanted to celebrate her upcoming fiftieth birthday with an open-water swim, and was looking for other Pod members to join her in the Salt on May 14th.  Of course we never expected that, with this incredibly mild Winter and summer-like Spring, we'd already have begun a regular weekend open-water swimming schedule in April so that a mid-May swim would seem somewhat anticlimactic, but nevertheless a small cadre of Pod-sisters assembled at West Neck Beach late this afternoon to help Annmarie realize her vision of an open-water swim to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her birth. 

Gae and I were the first arrivals, under a cloudy and threatening sky, and, when Annmarie -- a commercial real estate lawyer -- texted us that she was stuck at a closing and didn't know when she'd be able to get out, we suited up and headed into the water, hoping that Annmarie would arrive shortly and join us before the predicted rain began.  Having sustained third-degree wetsuit burns (or so it seemed) in my first "Sailboat Swim" on Saturday wearing a full wetsuit, I was swimming sleeveless for the first time since last season, but found the now-up-to-56-degree water not only tolerable but exhilarating as Gae and I swam back and forth and back and forth between the dock and the end of the Town beach (so that we'd be visible to Annmarie when she finally arrived).  Nearly an hour later, with Gae and I humming the tune to "Happy Birthday to You" in harmony on our exhaled breaths as we swam, she did, and, miraculously, so did the sun, which burned a hole in the clouds to welcome a bathing-suited Annmarie in a baptism into a new over-fifty life...

Afterwards, Carole Wickham joined us in the parking lot to sing "Happy Birthday" and share a delicious birthday carrot cake (procured by Gae from "A Rise Above Bakery" in Huntington) sumptuously served from the back of my CRV, then we all drove off into the sunset...

Wishing Annmarie another fifty years of open-water-swimming....See you in the Salt!

Taking the forecast with a grain of Salt...

As I sit here cozily ensconced in my favorite armchair writing this blogpost, the outside temperature is 34 degrees and a cold rain is falling, mixed with occasional sleet and even snowflakes, though it’s only late October. Mindful of the dismal forecast, I probably would have slept in this morning, but Annmarie Kearney-Wood’s urgent early morning text-message: "I’m coming but I might be late – don’t leave without me!" precipitated me out of bed and into preparations for yet another open-water swim – my 102nd of the season, yesterday’s late-afternoon swim with Annmarie having been my 101st. Happily, we arrived at West Neck Beach before the temperature plummeted and the first icy drops began to fall.  As the last several years have taught me, these late-season swims are often lonely affairs, and Annmarie and I now seem to be the only holdouts, Gae having passed up yesterday’s swim on receiving reports of the dwindling water temperature, Carole sidelined by her shoulder injury, Joye still nursing her broken ankle, and "the boys" having dropped off the radar altogether (Rob Martell, of course, excepted).

In this late-season, Annmarie has become my new Pod hero – having blossomed from a timid, tentative newcomer last year to a seasoned, fearless open-water swimmer, who adroitly finds the adventure in every challenge, whether it be whitecapped waves or 49-degree water...which she keeps assuring me "doesn’t feel that cold"! With my doubled-up bathing caps and insulated booties and gloves, I have to agree, but I am surprised to find Annmarie (who, by the way, is roughly half my size with no discernable body fat) so willing to push the envelope, and "to keep swimming outside as long as I possibly can." Humbled by Annmarie’s willingness to embrace the cold water, I’ve stopped shrieking like a girl when I first get in, so I too can focus instead on how, after only a few strokes, the bracingly cold water becomes supportive and invigorating and thrilling and beautiful, and I feel so lucky to be out here, one with the water and the waves and the clouds and the sky...Annmarie is right, this open-water swimming season is not over yet....not today, anyway...See you in the Salt!