It wasn’t that cold. Or maybe now that it is over, that’s just what I am telling myself. </p><p>The sixth annual Polar Plunge at Longview Lake was a success. More than 900 plungers participated raising an estimated $165,000 for Special Olympics athletes in the Kansas City area. </p><p>But to tell you the truth, I was dreading it. I was OK all last week. Sure I knew it would be chilly, but I think I was hoping Jan. 30 would be one of those abnormally mild January days.</p><p>Then Friday hit — along with the snow and wind and temperatures in the single digits. That got me worried. But really it wasn’t bad at all, or at least it could have been worse. </p><p>The sun was out and the wind wasn’t blowing. Sure, there was snow on the ground, but most of that melted away by the end of the day. </p><p>I was the first group of plungers, scheduled to go at about 12:15 p.m. </p><p>That was lucky for me, that way I didn’t have time to watch other plungers come out of the water dripping wet and shivering. </p><p>Really, I had no idea what to expect. </p><p>Everyone told me to wear as little clothes as possible. But I didn’t listen. I couldn’t imagine standing out there in shorts and a t-shirt, much less the bathing suits that many wore. So I layered. I put on a long-sleeve t-shirt with my snazzy <i>Journal</i> kick-ball t-shirt over it. But the worst idea came when I decided to put on leggings underneath my black wind pants. Sure the leggings kept me warm while I stood outside waiting for the festivities to begin. But I did not anticipate what it would be like to peel soaking wet pants clinging to my skin. </p><p>Even Chief Joe Piccinini of the Lee’s Summit Police Department warned me before my name was called that I had too many layers on. But I didn’t listen. </p><p>So there I was, the first name to be called of the day. They considered me a VIP Plunger because I told them I would relay my experiences to you fine people. </p><p>I stood beside a flag and waited for the other VIPs to take their places. We were ready to begin. </p><p>1…2…3…Go. </p><p>Before I knew it everyone was running full speed into the water. I thought to myself, “What in the world did I sign up for?” But then my feet hit the water. Sure it was cold, but the adrenaline of the moment kicked in. I wasn’t sure how far out I should go, but everyone else seemed to run straight to the barriers — members of the Underwater Rescue and Recovery team — so I decided that’s what I would do too. </p><p>That was not the hard part. Like I said, the adrenaline had taken over. </p><p>The hard part was coming back to the shore. </p><p>That’s when the cold really started to set in. </p><p>I was out of breath, and tired of being wet and cold and my legs started to slow down. But I made it out of the water all right. And as soon as my feet hit the shore, my toes went numb. Luckily, there was a heated tent right off the shore where I was able to warm my feet back up.</p><p>I didn’t see a lot of the other plungers, although there were some great costumes, I made sure I changed my clothes as fast as I could, and then I headed home to take a nice hot shower. </p><p>All in all, it was a good experience. Will I do it again? I guess we’ll have to see what next year brings. Who knows, maybe I will have forgotten all of the not-so-fun parts of the day.