That’s right. No mamby-pamby triathloning for me. I went for the big 8-leg octathlon this morning during Day 1 under the heat dome. It turns out the weather forecast showing extreme heat was correct. We have 6 straight days of heat coming. For Day 1, I decided to cool off in the water for 1 leg of an octathlon.
But first, I had to get to the water, so off on my bike I went. It was mostly downhill, so I made it to the pond in under 4 minutes. Leg 1 completed in record time.
Then I had to navigate the hill descent. It’s weedy, tricky, and slippery. First time I tried it, I fell and punctured my hand on a stick. Today it was not an issue. I finished Leg 2 and stripped down to swim trunks for the swimming leg.
My wife called where I’ve been swimming an illegal pond.
Illegal sounds so unseemly. I prefer to consider it a private pond where there isn’t a “No Swimming” sign posted. It’s cold in the deep water which tells me that it is spring fed. There is no algae covering the surface. It is full of frogs and fish but not weeds. It is hidden from any prying eyes. Perfect! Just to be safe, I don’t submerge my face. But I did swim for 30 minutes to complete Leg 3.
Leg 4 required my ascent back up this hill.
It’s a good 45 feet/15 meters to the top. I always look to see if anyone’s around before emerging from the vegetation at the top. I don’t want anyone else to find my secret swimming hole.
I took a circuitous route back toward home on my bike for Leg 5. I wanted to log some cycling miles.
Of course, there was the mandatory berry picking for Leg 6. Although late in the season for mulberries, I’ve located a late-producing tree that gave me enough to garnish a few cereals, yoguts, etc.
Back on the bike for a short, but somewhat uncomfortable, Leg 7 to home. Why uncomfortable? Well, I emerged from under the mulberry tree covered in burrs. They were easy to pull off my shorts and shirt, but a bit painful to pull from my leg hair.
I was prepared to shave or cut them off at home, but the rules for Leg 8 clearly specify that the burrs must be pulled off. I found a quick yank to be most effective and the least painful. And it turned out that I was a quick Yank today as I posted the fastest (and only) time today in the octathlon. It was a cool way to start a hot day and week. 1 hot day down, 5 to go.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 