This is both fascinating and bizarre.
Watching the video of this man free dive to the bottom of the deepest pool in the world is both mind boggling and incredible, and yet:
1. I don’t understand the desire to free dive. I cannot fathom (see what I did there?) the desire to swim as deep and far as possible on a single breath of air while risking your life in order to do so. And while it’s true that there are many other desires that I don’t understand (sky diving, marathon running, baking), free diving seems to hold absolutely no reward.
You can see the bottom of the pool with or without a tank of oxygen. I’m not sure how the lack of life sustaining air makes the experience any more compelling.
2. Who spends millions building a creepy-ass pool like this? Sure, you might want to build the deepest pool in the world, but does it have to look like the inside of a water treatment plant from a Bond film?
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At least six camera men in that water with him, given all the angles, and they all had oxygen they could given him a hit of if he got in trouble. Somehow reduces the thrill…
Agreed. Didn’t even think of that.
How do you not understand baking? The smell, the warm house, the taste of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie? I do not have enough adjectives in my arsenal. Oh you are missing out.
I love the results of baking, but with a wonderful bakery just down the road, I don’t understand the investment of time and money into producing something that I can simply purchase from a professional.
I also understand that not everyone thinks this way. My wife loves baking, and I love what she has baked.
I agree with Joy. In addition, don’t knock marathon running until you try it. Up until a year and a half ago, I thought it was crazy, too. But, now . . . I haven’t done one yet (only 3 halfs, and another half in a little over a week), but I see the draw and may be going for a full one in February. There’s really nothing like long distance running. You get to climb inside your head for an extended period of time while pushing your body to do what it should be good at. As animals go, we aren’t good sprinters, we’re awful swimmers, we can’t fly, but we can endure.
I understand the philosophy of not "knocking it until you try it," but I just can’t see the appeal of long distance running. I ran cross country in high school and hated it. I found it boring and lonely and unrewarding.
All that awful work for a single moment across a finish line… Not for me. I became a sprinter and a pole vaulter and was much happier.
Running is weird. Unless you are running at least five miles (and preferably more), I agree, it may not be worth it. The first mile is almost always rough. The legs are stiff, the heart doesn’t want to do more than it has to, breathing harder takes effort. Then, as you go, the legs loosen up, and your heart and lungs say, "Oh, this isn’t so bad after all." It takes me at least two miles to really get in the groove. If I’m running only four miles, though, I just get to the point where I’m loose and chugging along, and I start thinking about being almost done. But, if I’m doing 7 or more, that’s where you hit pace and have time to enjoy it. You get in three or four or ten miles where it’s you, legs pumping, heart and lungs just clicking along, working harder than normal, but not really that hard, you step inside your head and have time to think with relatively little distraction. It could be that some of the ambiance of my runs come from the fact that I run in the early morning. Few people are up. I’m out there alone. It’s dark and I can reside in my own little space. But then there’s also the time when you get home. You’ve just done 10, 12, 16 miles. The body relaxes. Legs are tired, but content. Endorphins wash through your head. The runner’s high. Ahhhhh. Don’t knock it until you try it.