Saturday 9 February 2008

When the going gets tough...

There's no way up, I can't breathe, there's a hell of a lot of loud static noise about and all I can see is white, and then some dark, and then white and a little yellowish-orange in there somewhere too I think. I'm spinning around, and not in a Kylie Minogue disco way, more a gymnast mid-air in a floor routine way, I'm not touching the ground here and there's no music, yet I am concerned that I might hit that ground at some point and know that could hurt. But air is my focus, and trying to breathe is beyond the concern about pain. I start to imagine what lifeless looks like, and note that my heart is doing that really fast thing, that really fast pounding thing, like it's telling me something I don't already know. And finally, after what feels like an eternity, I gasp to the surface. The wave has passed, I'm certainly a lot closer to the beach than I was a moment ago, and in the race training we're swimming I'm not doing too badly... but all my energy is gone, and I get to the beach panting, and coughing, and feeling like I've just fought for my life. And then we go out and do it all again...
It's a hell of a way to kick off the day, but I love it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

great picture!