The smile is frozen on my face.
It makes no sense, of course, to pay $25 to go jump into a cold pool in Redding on the first day of the year. I’ve held that thought since first hearing about the Polar Bear Plunge a few years ago.
But at a party in November, for some strange reason, I agreed to do the plunge. My friend Adam Mankoski was holding me to it.
“It’ll be a cleansing,” he said, “like a baptism.”
Sometimes in life you need to do things for no logical reason. If we did the safe and rational thing all the time, we’d end up feeling like a cardboard box.
So out there I was with about 25 others who ranged in age from 6 to 60. There were boys and girls, men and women.
First came a big splash contest with leaps from the high and low diving boards. Then came true insanity — a 50-yard swim.
“It’s so cold that you’re not even sure you’re breathing,” one boy told me afterward.
About seven males, including Adam, did the swim. Two females, a woman and a girl, also did it. The girl exited the pool about halfway through, and I think that was the smartest decision I’ve ever seen made.
Ready, set …
Then came everyone’s turn — the plunge. There was a countdown from 10, and then we all leaped into the deep end of the pool. As I submerged, an ice vice clamped down on my entire body. My only thought was, “OK, must get out. Now.”
Once I was out, it was no problem. It actually felt pretty good.
The real horror of the day was not the plunge itself, but the experience of looking at pictures of myself doing the event later on. There is a level of “white” and “pear-shaped” that I’m frankly not comfortable with at this point. In 2009, I know what I need: a haircut and a workout plan. I think I just became a runner. (I say all of this after downing half a pizza.)
In any given year, I’m sure there are plenty of things we need to cleanse out of our systems.
I’m looking forward to 2009 as being a year of love, creativity, friendship, meaning, hard work, survival and fun. Day by day, folks.
And wear your Polar Bear T-shirt with pride.
