Alcatraz Update

I don't ever want to be one of those Dad's...

My son Michael and I went to San Francisco over the weekend to qualify for the Alcatraz swim in three weeks.

We hit the water on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday.

Michael made the distance on Saturday (with a lot of in-water coaching from me) but failed to complete the swim course on Sunday.

Quite simply, he couldn't adjust to the water temperature, the salt water and possibly the wide open expanse of the Bay.

The water was in the 50's on Saturday, but had dropped to sub-50 on Sunday morning and it was too much for him.

I thought about the cold water lake swims we had done in January and February to prepare for this day.

All the time and energy spent by both of us to prepare for the physical and mental challenge.

It drove me, to drive him, on Sunday morning, when I had a flashback of a parent-child encounter in 1993 in Bakersfield.

An unnamed coach was berating his 10-yr old football squad in front of the other team and the home fans.

He yelled how they were embarrassing him!!

I was floating in Aquatic Cove as Michael approached me, obviously frustrated by his failure to completely adapt to the 48-49 degree water.

He kept trying, but it wasn't going well.

I encouraged him for a couple more yards when it became painfully clear that I would be doing the swim without him on May 1st.

He turned for the shore and swam off with another group of kids that were headed for the beach.

I continued on without him, wondering if I forced him into this adventure.

I finished the swim and came out of the water to find my son looking discouraged.

We talked for a while and he mentioned that he thought he let me down.

I told him it couldn't be further from the truth.

There will be 50 kids in the water in three weeks, with only a handful of them 10 and under.

The overwhelming majority are teenagers.

He said he wanted to try again next year.

I told him I want us to do this swim together, hopefully before I turn 50.

So now I push on with my brother Bob, Tom and his son Colin.

But I'll be thinking of Michael the entire swim.