Island dogs

We ventured to Coney Island today for our 2nd open water swim (my third, including the Pancake Triathlon). And it wasn't as bad as the first two! I never felt like I was drowning in the water or suffocating in my wetsuit. At one point, I did think I saw a shark fin but it turned out to be another swimmer. I left the water feeling a bit more confident about next weekend. Sunday is the real deal. It's finally in the 10-day forecast. And it's supposed to be sunny and warm.

After the swim, I met up with a Brooklyn friend on the boardwalk. We played in the surf with her dog (until we were told there's a fine for bringing dogs on the beach) and then ate a famous restaurant called Tatiana. Apparently it's in all the movies that are filmed at Coney Island. After lunch, we walked back down towards the subway. At a certain point, my Brooklyn friend said to me, "OK, we're crossing the crazy line." I didn't totally understand what she meant but apparently the Coney Island/Brighton Beach boardwalk is divided into two distinct areas. The family/locals area and the "crazy" area. And sure enough, as soon as we crossed the line, the crazies came out.


At one point, we ran into a woman with two tea-cup Yorkies. One had pink hair and the other had blue hair. We asked her why and she said, "Because pink is a girl color and blue is a boy color" and looked at us like we were the idiots. She also had a dog stroller with her and said that she has to put diapers on the dogs when they are in there so that they don't pee. And then I ran back to Manhattan. Where people are normal. Hah!