Warriors & Scoundrels in Magical Realism

I should write:
- Good swims and fun times with A and my English Bestie Amy and all our other wonderful friends at the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships
- An amazing and luxurious impromptu Valentine’s Day trip with A to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to do my Africa Ice Mile while the water was still below 5C
- A truly magical night weaving our way home behind a procession of dancers after a religious celebration dancing and making music through back alleys of Casablanca on the way back from a (touristy but wonderful) dinner at Rick’s Cafe
- Retaining my two National Titles during a ridiculously grueling US Championships weekend
- Being feted in Belgium as a special guest at the 50th annual Traversée Hivernale de la Meuse, winning both women’s events, making a speech, and staying as a guest in a gorgeous castle
- An amazing trip to the Arctic Circle in Norway, staying in this brand new cabin with an awesome group of friends, becoming the first set of Polar Ice Milers and partying like rockstars, including being treated to the most fantastic display of Northern Lights I have ever seen, and skinny dipping under spectacular Aurora Borealis
- Successful North American Ice Mile in Boston less than a week later and some fun with other swimmers in town for the 1k event later that weekend - the 1k did not end up happening because conditions were tough, but it was still fun to see everyone
- Inagural Start-Up event for work went off well
- Successful Strait of Magellan swim after a beautiful but very stressful group trip in Chilean Patagonia
- Since then I’ve been hibernating a bit, still traveling for work 1-2 days a week since I’ve been home, but trying to buckle down with work and training with varying degrees of success
- I have a few things I want to do to wrap up this season, a few meaningful summer swims on the radar, but aside from that I feel like some changes may be ahead for me.
- I’m in a weird place where I feel like I’ve been doing well but not doing much beyond the minimum in a lot of parts of my life. I need to start choosing a few things to focus on, and clear a bit more space to breathe, reflect, and improve. It’s so hard to pick and choose though. Trying to be patient with myself. The highs are addictive but it’s not possible to go on like this forever. Is it?

“Poetas y mendigos, músicos y profetas, guerreros y malandrines, todas las criaturas de aquella realidad desaforada hemos tenido que pedirle muy poco a la imaginación, porque el desafío mayor para nosotros ha sido la insuficiencia de los recursos convencionales para hacer creíble nuestra vida.”

~ Gabriel García Márquez

Last updated May 10, 2017