I posted pics of my Polar Bear Plunge on facebook, and my friend Pam asked “what did it feel like”. I decided to answer with a blog post, because the answer isn’t so simple.
First, a little back story~ Though the thought of doing this has been floating around my head for a few years, I didn’t exactly approach it with determination. My wife made me do it. Sure, it was on my bucket list, but it was only penciled in. I stress it was a very faint pencil line. “Maybe this year will be the year I jump in the Atlantic”, I said on Saturday. What began as this fleeting joke morphed into psychological coercion.
Every hint at backing out was met with insurmountable enthusiasm, pressure and ultimately, threats. This morning, I faked oversleeping. But at 11:30, I was fake jolted out of my fake sleep. “Wake up, you have to get ready, we’re going to miss the Polar Bear Plunge”.
I “tested” my body’s ability to handle the cold by walking the dog without a coat. It was about 14 degrees F. I must say, it was not that bad. It reminded me of going on a long winter jog, where the first mile you think you’re way under dressed and then after that you overheat. Maybe I can trick myself, I thought.
And, at first, this was true. If you look at the pic below, you’ll notice a rope with red flags behind me. This rope extended from near the boardwalk all the way down the beach close to the water. Men and women of all ages & sizes waited in their coats alongside these ropes for their “wave” to be called. An event official near the water had a microphone and called out “Red Wave, start lining up”. I took off my coat and shirt, and was surprisingly warm as I walked across the sand in my bathing suit.
They had us wait behind a yellow rope. By then, I was laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of it all. Also, everyone was jumping up and down chanting, “red, red, red, red”. (For red wave) So at that point I was not generally cold, except for my FEET. By the time they let us proceed down the water, I was balancing on my heels where the callouses are thickest because the bottom of my feet were painful.
To keep things in perspective, it was about 17 degrees F. Other Polar Bear Plunges on the east coast were canceled that day, such as in Sea Breeze, NJ, not just because of the day’s temps, but because it was after a long and chilling wave of arctic temperatures. The Coney Island event was the coldest in decades.
I ran to the water laughing so much I did not feel a thing. Also, given the bitter cold spell we’ve been having, the water was downright WARM compared to the air and sand. Still, lingering was not an option. I dunked, and headed out. My feet at this point felt okay, and I was generally fine.
Then this happened. Extreme pain; Intense like a rotted tooth that needs a root canal. Except it was completely non specific. I couldn’t tell if it was skin or muscle or bone, nor could I point to a specific part of my body. How I could hurt so yet not know from what or where was STRANGE.
I tried to run back to my stuff, but was stopped by walls of people hanging out on the beach in their parkas. The pain got more excruciating by the second. By the time I reached my starting place, simply wrapping myself in a towel felt like Miami. By then, my hands and arms were tingling and immobile, so I had to wait for Cat to dress me. (She’d been parking the car) Once dressed, we walked over the Applebees and I couldn’t feel my toes. The numbness was so severe that I had trouble balancing.
Applebees felt like they never turned their heat on. Cat looked nervously at my blue lips and shivering attack. I suspected she was afraid I had hypothermia. Thankfully, other Polar Bears at the next table explained that it takes a while before your body warms up. So I ate lunch in my coat, hoody, two layers of shirts, long thermal underwear, velvet sweatpants, ski mask and hat for a long time before I could unzip or feel my feet again.
A few hours later in the comfort of my home I feel toasty, extremely hungry, and unusually grateful for the simple things in life. So would I do it again? No fucking way.
