Mini-Post: Channel This!

Pleased to report that after 31 days of July, yours truly pulled off not 34 but 35 kilometers in the ol' pool. That translates to 22 miles, or the breadth of the English Channel. Whoo hoo!

Yep, that's me to the left there, at the 2k marathon swim. Well, half-marathon, anyway; I think 5k would be more fittingly marathonish. Maybe next year. As it was, I started off too fast, didn't realize it until I was almost through with the first hundred meters, tried to slow down, really didn't manage it all that well, and almost crashed and burned at about meter 900. But I kept plodding along, and roughly half an hour later I was done. If I'd known they were gonna let me finish the silly thing, I don't know if I would have signed up. I mean, they said I only had 45

minutes. I figured they'd stop me around meter 1600 or so. But no. They let me go the whole 2000. Those guys.

By the way, look at that crummy foot position, willya? Geez. Gotta work on that.

In other news, I finally have a sun-resistant bathing suit. Fittingly for this, the first day of Ramadan, it's called a burqini. No, this is not me; pictures of me in my burqini are not ready for prime time. But check it out! Hood covers neck, shoulders, and all the easy to burn areas. Long sleeves cover arms and, in my case, even fingers. I had to dispatch the pants forthwith; they were way too long and, uh, floopy. Swapped them for a pair of white leggings, which work fine. I can now go out and swim in the sun without fear for the first time in--like ever. Where was this thing when I was a kid? I could have saved myself certain melanoma. Well, possible melanoma. Well, it could happen, okay? I can't even tell you how many nasty sunburns I had between one and eighteen. I test-drove it last weekend at Hurricane Harbor and it worked fine. No, I didn't wear it for the marathon swim; it does have an unfortunate habit of slowing me down just a little.

And, by the way, to my Muslim readers, if I have any: I get it. Muslim women have told me time and again that they feel safe when they cover up. Yeah, it's a religious obligation and it shows their devotion to God and so on, but my tour guides to the Muslim world (both of them) told me that they just feel safe under the hijab. I get it. The second I put on the burqini for the first time and realized that nobody would be staring at my ass because they wouldn't be able to find it, I got it. Safe from the sun, safe from prying eyes. Too bad Buddhists don't make a fashion statement this way because I'd do it. I really would.