Do I Have a Dive Problem?
October 5, 2023
Those that know me well, know of my passion for SCUBA diving. The ocean
is one of those things that gives me a gentle reminder to just stop to
charge my soul. And being fully immersed in the sea amplifies those
feeling for me all that much more.
The image below, was taken just after surfaced on a recent end-of-week
dusk dive at Nubble Lighthouse in Maine. This will be one of the many
fond moments I will remember about diving. This was soul food.
I’m also the type of person that when I find something that inspires me, I go all in like diving.
My wife Carol was a runner and suggested I try running. In the spring of 2015, I took her suggestion and immediately loved it. I was hooked and very quickly progressed to running over 1,000 miles a year. Between the spring of 2015 and 2021, I ran over 5,300 miles and, in that period, I ran my first marathon, countless half marathons 5K and 10K races. I know the question on everyone’s mind at this point. Yes, during this time, I was still diving.
To some it may seem like a decent amount- 82 dives in 2015 and 80 dives in 2016- but for those who know how much I dive, you would understand that is a fraction, less than half of the amount, of dives I normally do annually.
What’s worked out nicely to maintain a diving and running balance is that close to the spots I like to dive, there are also great areas to run. For example, Nahant (MA)-Canoe Beach to end of Causeway, Nubble (ME) to Long Sands, Fort Getty (RI) to Fort Wetherill and New Castle Island.
During my running phase, I also started skiing again. Both my wife and daughter were instructors at a nearby mountain so it only made sense that I should ski. It was just a matter of time I quickly ended up on leader board for the number of number of runs I completed. I was second, and only behind someone who lived near the mountain so for me I couldn’t complete with that.
The year I took up skiing, I somehow managed to juggle all 3 passions- running, diving and skiing.
Fast forward a few years to the winter of 2020, I started to up-my-level of diving. I completed the certifications needed to complete Dive Master and then earned my divemaster certification in Spring of 2020. I swear my car mileage tapered to just under 700 miles as I was spending more time in the water logging just under 200 dives that year.
The following year, I was full on diving and logged 263 dives. I have since logged 698 dives since becoming dive master.
This past year, I have already logged 178 dives and counting.
So, back to the title of this blog post, Do I have a dive problem? Does my diving interfere with my work, family, and personal relationships? The answer is no. As I stated at the start of this blog, diving, running and skiing keeps me whole.
As for work life balance, I need to be tremendously focused at work to find the time needed to train for races, dive and ski. I’ve been able to capitalize on my time- high focused at work, and wisely planning my days to accommodate the dives, runs or ski runs.
I wake up every morning thinking about my next dives and I’m constantly glancing conditions, tides, weather to scope out my next dive.
Oftentimes, I have a break in my busy schedule where can take a “mental
break” and duck out for a quickie. My company's office in the Seaport
has gym facility with showers so I'm able to change but have, on a few
occasions, come in smelling of neoprene!
Maybe I do have a dive problem ;)
As Ferris Bueller puts it in Ferris Buellers Day Off, Life moves pretty fast, If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
