No one would ever accuse me of being athletic!

I attempted my first harbour swim this morning with my team! We've been trying to get out there for awhile now but the wind has been ghastly on the days we've scheduled so this was our first go. In fact, the coach said it was perfect weather, and judging by the lack of wind and calm water alone it was. However it was still only 14 degrees outside (57 F) and the water was FREEZING!!!

We arrived at the beach and I realized I'd forgotten my towel, not an auspicious start on such a cold day. Then we all helped each other into our wetsuits. I had my camera but was just too overwhelmed to remember to photograph the occasion, but I will next time. After that we inched our way into the water. My feet were bright red from the cold and almost instantly numb. I waded out as far as I could before actually beginning to swim, but when I could walk no more I had to buck up and put my face in. Oh. My. Word. It felt like I had been smacked and it took all my breath away. So I swam in what we call "chin on water" to our first buoy. I basically didn't put my head in again. After a much too short rest at the buoy we headed for our big swim to the fountain. 

This time I had to put my face in the water. Thankfully the wetsuit kept my body temperature pretty stable and as I exerted a bit more energy my feet eventually warmed up. The challenge now was to go the right direction. I kept drifting with the current and heading the wrong way. There were times I was swimming as hard as I could but it seemed like I was going nowhere. I had to flip over and do a bit of backstroke just to catch my breath, but I finally made it to my destination. Again a short rest and we were off to the third buoy. By this time I was used to the temperature and could breathe again, but I was still having directional issues. I stayed close to my friend Fleur and decided to let her navigate while I concentrated on surviving.

Lastly (for me anyway) we had the long swim to shore. On this swim I felt pretty good, but then I started thinking about the sea creatures the girls and I have been studying in science and I kind of freaked myself out. There was a bit of seaweed and if I saw a shadow it made me nervous, not to mention the fact that I was flat worn out and there was no way I'd be able to out swim a creature coming after me. Once we reached shore I got out with a few of the other girls and had a rest while the rest of the team did it all again. The "resting" girls made the mistake of doing one more "quick swim" to the buoy after we'd been out resting so I had to go through the shock of cold all over again - so next time I'll do my resting in the water I think.

After the swim came the fun bit - we all paid to shower at the pool so we could warm up and then headed across the street to a lovely cafe overlooking Oriental Bay and had coffee and treats. We've decided to keep doing sea swims on Wednesdays until Christmas, so I'm looking forward to participating, and hopefully improving, until my babysitting budget runs out. 

The girls are still happy and busy with all of their activities, Katie and Josie are preparing for their ballet recital now that the Musical Stars performance is over. Meggie and Katie are still riding horses as well as preparing for a small Christmas performance with Musical Stars, but nothing like the one they just did. They will also be in the Christmas Parade in downtown Wellington this weekend. All of the girls are still swimming and they think it's great that Mommy is taking lessons too :). Dugald is still quite busy at work so he's constantly trying to find the balance between work and home life, not always easy and I don't envy him but he does a good job. That's all our news for the moment!