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Every year my work puts a team together for the Polar Plunge.  For those who don't know the Polar Plunge is a fundraiser for Special Olympics where after raising money you basically take a quick dip into some frozen body of water.  Not really sure what the point of it is, other than to watch others suffer, but hey it's for a charity right?  So anyway, every year my work puts a team together and I inevitably will donate cash to one of my co-workers.  This is my way of buying my way out of it.  So one recent cold snowy day downtown Chicago with Jessi she mentions that she wants to do the Polar Plunge one day...long story short I decide to do it.  Now this was one of the things I said no way in Hell would I do, but I got to thinking about bucket lists and living life for new experiences.  I once saw a quote somewhere that said it was better to look back and say "I can't believe I did that" than "I wish I had done that."  Well it was in that spirit that I created a bucket list, so I decided that I should take the Plunge, if for no other reason than to say I did it.

Well as the day approached I tried not to think about it too much, other than to say to myself that it was crazy and that I couldn't believe I was going to do it.  On the day of the Polar Plunge, it finally hit me that I was about to fully submerge myself into water that was barely above freezing.  Luckily that day was the first sunny day we had in a few days, and the temperature was a balmy 37 degrees.  All in all not too bad for a February in Chicago.  So after standing in the cold, wearing a t-shirt and bathing suit for about 20 minutes it was our turn to hit the water.  Apparently our team has one rule..go all in or don't bother going at all.  That means full submersion, underwater, head and all.  So as we got the go ahead I ran into the water, which quickly dropped off from just above my knee to about mid stomach depth.  I quickly dunked myself under water and tried to run out of the water.  I say tried, because by now the shock of the cold water was beginning to set in and I don't think my brain knew what to do about it.  Strangely I didn't notice the water temperature when I first ran in, it wasn't until after I had dunked my head that I realized just how cold the water was.  So after a bit of a struggle with my motor skills, I ran triumphantly from the water and into the heated changing tent.  Total time at the event, about an hour and a half, total time standing around in shorts in the cold, about 20 minutes.  Total time in the water, about 6 seconds.  Was it worth it you ask, I would have to say yes, for the experience and the bragging rights to say I did it.  Would I do it again you ask, probably not.  However...

#64 Do the Polar Plunge