First person report:
SnowFest's Polar Bear swim dishes out a hefty helping of humble pie
I couldn't hear the shirtless and slightly inebriated man standing next to me at the water's edge, but by the way he raised his head and eyebrows after his mouth was done moving, I knew he was asking me a question.
"How cold did the announcer say the water is?" the swimming-cap-clad man loudly repeated over the coaxing crowd that lined the pier jutting out into Carnelian Bay.
"Oh, I think he said 'an even 40 degrees,'" I replied.
As the words escaped my mouth with a cloud of steam and a hint of whiskey, the excitement fostered from encouraging friends, the crowd and the 26 other men about to join me for a swim was quickly replaced by the kind of unease felt when singled out in a sport you are clearly unprepared for -- missing that pop fly on the first day of T-ball came to mind.
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