You may choose to ignore it, but there is life in the open water.
My training buddy and I were standing at water’s edge in San Francisco’s Aquatic Park today, when not 5 yards away, a harbor seal was scouting the beach.
I know what you’re thinking – you’re in San Francisco, wouldn’t that be a sea lion? Nope, nope, nope. I promise. It was absolutely a little harbor seal’s face staring back at us from the cold water.

Turns out, neither of us were going to have a good swim today. We both felt off, slow, and generally yucky. We cut the swim short at 1.5 miles, which honestly is probably right for me on a mini-taper. We did both feel lame afterwards, since a group was just finishing an “around the Rock” (from Aquatic Park and around) Alcatraz swim.
Once I got back to the East Bay, I threw on my running shoes and headed out for a quick 4-mile run. I felt good for the first 2.5 miles, and definitely overheated the last 1.5, but it’s just something to train through, right?
The lesson today is that the Bay’s sea life is the water’s version of an unleashed dog. Please don’t chew on me.
