Next year I am swimming the channel, so I have been doing a bit of training. Up until today I have been swimming down the Lagan or off the east coast, but today I decided I was sick of the ferries and radioactivite water and went for a swim off the west coast.
I drove to a bay where the uni surfing team have a clubhouse, the bay is about 8km across so perfect for a round trip. For some reason it didn’t occur to me that a bay chosen specifically for the requirements of surfing might not be so suitable for swimming. I surfed for a while and then got on with it.
About half way across the bay i realised how cold I was. It also never occurred to me that the Atlantic is a lot colder than the Irish Sea, so i was only wearing a swimsuit. The waves were making me a lot slower than usual and it took me an hour and a half to get 4km. At that point I decided to turn round and head back for the clubhouse. By the time I got back I was walking like a drunk and wasn’t thinking very clearly. I stumbled into the shower room, turned on all the showers and fell asleep on the floor.
My toes are still bright white. So, make me feel better about my stupidity, who else has done something silly today?
Have you seen a doctor? That was not only silly, it was dangerous. I hope you’re okay, but get to a doctor.
Psssh. I am a med student. Hence, I alm under the totally false impression that I am a doctor already. I’m sure I will be fine.
I hope so. I would imagine it would be hard making rounds at the hospital with no toes on your feet. 
Please tell me you did this with a buddy, at least! What if you’d passed out from the cold while you were still far from shore?
If I could hit you from here, I think I just might! (Imagine a well-meaning female relative, following you around for an hour after you tell this story, bopping you on the head from time to time to punctuate her rant about how dumb you were to do that).
Sorry to horrify you even more with my stupidity, but I didn’t even tell anyone where I was going, let alone bring them.
The surf club would have found me in the morning.
Why does no one else have any stories of comparable idiocy?
Probably because they are all still in Intensive Care, and so are unable to post right now.
Seriously, I hope you have made copious offerings to the deity or deities of your choice, and promised never to do anything so bone-headed again.
Now go and soak your toes in something warm, and drink a toast to your good fortune.
Obviously God cut you some slack this time. I wouldn’t try shit like this again. Best of luck with future thermoregulation!
One of my toenails fell off. But I was still alive when I woke up this morning so all is well.
I just got a new road bike, so I decided to do the Kings Mountain Loop, one of the local favorites.
Since I don’t have a car rack, I decided to ride the ~25 miles to the traditional loop beginning, at Olive Hill & Canada. The first 20 miles is the same as my commute to work, pretty much flat as a pancake, and I finished it in record time. The next 2.5 miles was a 600 foot climb, the most I’ve done in many many years, but only a fraction of what was to come.
By the time I’ve reached the course head, I’m down to just 1.25 water bottles. The first 1.5 miles is a very slight descent, and then it was a ~1800+ foot climb over the next 5.5 miles. After a short rest at the top, I’m almost completely out of water and still have 18 miles left to go. Fortunately, I remembered that when I bought the bike, and the sales dude was installing my sadle pack that he said that with a spare tube, CO2 injector, and a multi-tool, there was still space left for a pack or two of energy gel. Even more fortunately, I remembered that I put two packs in. That was just enough to get me through to the end of the trail (including another ~700 foot climb), and then back into town where I hit the local bike shop for a couple of power bars, and a 10 minute crash on their shoe bench. Interestingly, it was only after I stopped when I went from just tired to all out exhausted to the point of not being able to stand.
I can’t wait to do it again, but I’ll be bringing extra large water bottles next time.
Once I was tooling around on my bike and unexpectedly entered a road tunnel that was distinctly bike-unfriendly. I pedaled my little ass off until I was out of that, let me tell you. I’m pretty sure I was this close to street pizza.