Push the Button*

Yep, it was as cold as it looks.

Because I wanted to kick-start the New Year, at noon today Richard and I went down to the annual Polar Plunge event at North Ave. Beach.

I’m not normally one of these people that thinks it’s fun or cool to go for a swim in Lake Michigan on New Years, but this year it felt like something I really wanted to do. I don’t typically make resolutions but over the past week as I would reflect on 2007 there are some specific things I want to accomplish, all of which will take Strength, Courage, Commitment and Focus. For me to do a Polar Plunge would require at least three of those things, so I thought it would be a good symbolic test.

Plus, it helped having Richard there to encourage me. As soon as I even brought up the idea he was practically running for the car keys and the towel. Unfortunately for him (ahem), he had a really bad cold and decided to cheer from the beach instead of taking the dip with me.

When we arrived at North Ave., the parking lot was already full and people were gathering on the beach. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it was like we crashed a big beach party. There were probably 250 people there (I think about 100 of whom participated) and everyone was in a festive mood. Or still drunk from the night before.

WTF am I doing here???
[Have I mentioned how much I love my hat? I thought about wearing it into the water.]

Ten minutes before noon I took off my shoes to get my feet accustomed to the cold. Standing barefoot on cold sand in the middle of winter feels exactly as you imagine it would - fucking cold. A few minutes later I stripped off my pants and soon I was shivering from both the cold and adrenaline. Up to this point I really wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I pretty much figured that now there was no turning back.

Definitely no turning back now...

At about noon there was a big frenzy and everyone started rushing into the water, and I followed suit. It’s best not to think too much about what you're doing and allow yourself to go with the flow. Some people were immediately diving under, others were making their way steadily towards deeper water (I was one of those), others were running in and immediately running back out. Most everyone, however, was in and out of the water in seconds. I tried a few times to just fall into waves and get it over with, but I was so cold I kept losing my breath. I feared a complete loss of bowel control was imminent and unavoidable. I wanted to get back to shore.

As I watched more and more people do their business and head back to the beach I thought about just turning around and calling it a day. I had gone in up to my waist and thought, well, this is the best I’m going to do. But as I looked to shore I saw Richard there cheering me on and I knew that I would be really disappointed if I didn’t go all the way under since that’s what I came out here to do. It felt like one of those now-or-never moments and fuck it, you only live once (and I don’t plan on doing this again next year).

I wish I could say that as my body went completely under the surface I felt a tremendous sense of achievement, or that I felt “reborn” or some bullshit like that, but it happened so fast that there was no time to contemplate any great symbolic accomplishment. The next thing I knew I was running back to the shore, the feeling in my feet and toes completely missing. On the plus side, as far as I could tell my bowels had behaved themselves nicely (although my testicles were somewhere near my sternum).

Look closely at that thing going under water on the far left.
That would be me.

And that boys and girls, was that. Over the next few minutes Richard helped me get dressed back into warm clothing and feeling began returning to my extremities. I thanked him because if he wasn’t there I would have never done it, and he thanked me for the good show. For the rest of the day I felt high and it was a good way to start the year, I figure.

Happy 2007 Bitches!

* "Push the Button" is a kickass song from the Sugababes, that also may be my unofficial theme song for the year. If you don't know this song, you should.