Calm and cool

San Francisco is an exciting place to be in general, but it's even more appealing when you can get a good, clear look at Alcatraz. Which, it turns out, you can, straight out the window of our hotel room. No haze. Perfect angle. The island looks so close as to seem fake.

I'm sure the distance will seem a little more real tomorrow morning when we all jump off the boat and into the water off the east shore of the island at around 9:40. The bay is calm and cool tonight and should remain so for tomorrow's swim. When I say calm, yes, I am remembering tides and currents. And when I say cool, I'm remembering that that, too, is relative. It's 56 degrees. I've swam in colder.

I'm calm and cool, too. The trip out here went well until we arrived in Oakland, and then friends picked us up and things turned terrific. Dinner was wonderful, and I made it to the pre-swim briefing in time to hear about the calm and cool nature of the bay, and now I'm calm and cool, too.

My shoulder feels good. Indeed, today's traveling gave me cause to think that the injury might not even be the result of swimming too much or too carelessly, but just as likely the result of schlepping big bags of heavy clothing and books over previous weeks. I'll swim well. Patty gets to watch. My coach Rich came down from Arcata to watch, and my cousin and her family are up from Los Angeles. All that is unbelievably flattering and appreciated; let's even say touching.

And now another morning for the lifetime highlight reel is just a sleep and a breakfast away.

Cool.