Downstream

state and spent much of the
first day of his world triathlon
just floating. But, more
importantly, I remember how
he said he regretted he didn’t
have time to appreciate where
he was.
So I tell myself: this is the
Thames, this beautiful, clear,
empty river, lined with
weeping willows. I’m part of
a tradition; I’m swimming in
a place where for more than a
hundred years women and