Polar Bear Dip 2011

I believe in a Polar Bear dip. It’s important to me; a way of starting the year off right.

Id like to do it every year and so The Dip found its way on to “The List”;  the list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days. (To be precise, at the time of writing, Ive got 84 things left to do in 849 days.)

Adding it to The List is one thing; getting in the water on New Year’s Day is another.

We had celebrated New Year’s Eve with Heike’s sister and her husband. We drank a lot of Wodka. DDR style: straight, or as the Germans say, “pure”. And at some point between the first and second bottle, we became blood brothers. We danced, we set off a lot fireworks, we went to bed just before the sun. We sat at the breakfast table eating pickled herring from 11 until 3.

Heike and I got home round 4.30pm. Already dark. The trails to the river were a frozen treacherous mess.

From experience I packed a bag of dry long johns, socks, a warm undershirt, a warm fleece, and extra sneakers and most importantly, a towel. I put my swim trunks on under my running pants, wore wool socks in my old sneakers, and a thick polyester running shirt. A hat and a headlamp and I was all set.

The trick to getting in the water is getting good and warm on the run to the river. The sidewalks and trails were greasy and so i couldnt really run fast… still with a hat and gloves and everything zipped up tight i was soon steaming.

I carefully picked my way down the snow-covered steps to the canoe launch and even more carefully laid out my dry clothes so they were in the right order to pull on. Towel on top, my glasses right beside my headlamp.

On the run down Id been visuallizing the dip over and over again. Strip and jump. Strip and jump. When it came time, I did just that. I was terrified if I gave myself a second to think about it, if I hesitated, I would never do it.

The cold shock is the scariest part - there is no way to prepare yourself for it - you immediately start hyperventilating and panic wells up in you like a lightning bolt - get out of the water!

The first second when I came up, it was so dark, I didnt quite know where the shore was. When i saw the light from my headlamp, I swear I did a standing jump straight up onto the dock.

I immediatley noticed the air was a lot warmer, around +2, and part of my brain knew i was going to be okay. Another part was totally freaking out and couldnt find my towel. The calm part of my brain thought that was quite funny.

Once I got my fleece hat on, and my upper body towelled off, I was calm enough and exhilerated enough to take a break for fotos.

Yeehaw. This really is the way to start the year!

A cynic might joke, after such a cold miserable start, the rest of the year can only get better. The truth is, it is such a rush, such a blood-pumping, life-affirming shock, that the rest of the year has to be damn good to even compare.

Moral: the time to think is when you’re setting the goal, when you’re planning the trip. if you think of everything beforehand, then the only left to do, is just DO IT!