Shark sighting at the Polar Bear Plunge.

Some people have to do crazy things. Sometimes those things might be jumping into a swimming pool on January 1st--when the low temp was 28 degrees. It's actually fun when a few hundred friends show up to do the same crazy thing. And it's always even more fun to do it wearing a shark suit.

Picture by Chris Dial

Mitch Drummond and I were decked out as sharks. He was a little more famous being the Left Shark. I (as the Right Shark) was pointed out as a better dancer, but that almost HAS to be wrong, although I did flap my flippers around quite a bit. Actually, I was out of position here--being on the left. Maybe Mitch really was the better dancer. Tammy (in the middle) was to be Katy Perry, but had a wardrobe malfunction, having her costume just out of reach (actually on the other side of the state) so she was Katy Perry disguised as the blond gal running with the sharks.

Picture by Bland Bridenstine

 We tried to bull our way in to the costume contest, but were no match for sheer beauty like Jenni and Christal. 

Picture by Bland Bridenstine

We made three dives into the pool. Between each plunge was a little bit of running to get us spread out. That worked well except when we got to the water slides. 

Picture by Chris Dial

I went in head first for the first plunge. What a rush!! Our shark suits were actually pretty warm, and even soaking wet, they were warm--but HEAVY!! Between dips, I gave high fives and wet sloppy hugs to anyone foolish enough to get close to me.

Picture by Chris Dial

We had two choices--take the open slide, or the tube. It seemed to me that the tube sent sliders down much faster, and Mitch and I opted for that one. It was pitch black in the tube, and I landed butt down in the pool, and popped back up headless. Mitch helped me pull my head back up over my head. Up to that point, very few people really knew just who was in the suit.

Picture by Chris Dial

For the final plunge, we had to dive to the bottom of the pool to get our medals that they through out for us to retrieve. What a sick idea. It is nearly impossible for a shark to pick up a medal off the bottom of a pool having only FLIPPERS! But I managed, although it took a while.

Picture by Tulsa World

Mitch and I were the last two out of the pool, and a Tulsa World photographer was waiting for us--and we got a write up in the paper. The three of us had FUN. Thanks to Lifetime Fitness for letting TATUR put on this event at their marvelous facility. These are good times indeed.