The “Dreaded” February 9th is an annual South End tradition with a grueling swim on what is often one of the coldest days of the year.

This year, we jumped in the water on Friday morning and got pushed by a nice ebb tide all the way around the city back to Aquatic Park. I made it the whole way, but my watch’s GPS decided to call it quits around Pier 39. All in all, I took about 1hr27min to make it back.

It was a gorgeous day, the sunrise was amazing, the water was flat, and there was nothing dreadful about the swim at all. 53ºF feels normal now!