SOMO News

Amy Wurst is a long-time volunteer as well as a SOMO Board Member. She is Vice President at Henry Wurst, Inc., in Kansas City. This was her fourth year participating in the Super Plunge.

Only 24 hours till the start of the SUPER PLUNGE!
I’m busy getting many outfits ready for my 24 plunges – there are a few new ones this year. I’m excited that my 10-year-old nephew is going to come join me for an afternoon plunge. Craziness must run in the family.

Thank you again for your generosity. I exceeded my goal thanks to you. The athletes of Special Olympics Missouri thank you as well. Without your support, they would not be able to train and compete year round in wide variety of sports.

SUPER PLUNGE is about to begin!
The good news is that the lake is not covered in a thick coating of ice this year! The search and rescue divers don’t have to do any chain sawing to clear us a path to plunge. And, the water won’t refreeze between plunges in the middle of the night. Yay!

The bad news is that the water is still VERY, VERY COLD!! The forecast is for rain later this afternoon – that would not be very pleasant. Let’s hope the forecast is wrong.

The first plunge is at noon and then every hour after that through the night. We are in a tent down by the water’s edge.

I’m all checked in and have my computer set up so I can get some work done between plunges and send updates.

Plunge #1 is over!
No matter how many times I’ve done it, the shock of that first plunge takes my breath away and feels like needles on my legs. Gee … only 23 more to go.

The three polar bears are Bill, Brian and me who are the lifers of the KC Super Plunge group. This is year #4 for the three of us and we just keep coming back.

The really great news is that as a group, the Super Plungers have raised almost $50,000! We couldn’t have done it without your support. Thank you!

Plunges #2 & #3
Well … in order to make up a couple of hours so we are done by 9 am tomorrow, we do a few double dips. We just finished plunges 2 & 3 – going in and out and in and out is pretty painful! My toes are still tingling.

Plunges #4, #5 & #6
We’re 25% done on plunges … time seems to be passing quickly. We’ll see if that trend continues into the wee hours.

We have a hot tub, but it sprang a leak and had to be refilled. Right now its water temperature is about the same as the lake water. I sure hope it warms up before nighttime!

A new Plunger takes a dip!
My nephew Andrew came out for plunge #7 –  he raised over $300 so he could do a plunge too. Gotta love his Root Suit! He says it didn’t help keep him warm at all. It couldn’t have been that horrible for him because he said he wants to do it again next year! Welcome to the craziness Andrew!

More Plunging
Thanks to Amy Skeels for coming out and bringing her dogs and all that chocolate! Plunging continues and now we have a country music band playing some kickin’ music for our entertainment. And big thanks to Andrew’s family for bringing me a fabulous gluten-free SPIN pizza – so yummy!

9 plunges down … 15 to go.

And the Plunging continues
We have now completed 13 plunges … over the halfway mark! Thank you to Amy & Ginger, Brenda & Stevie, Julie & Jackson & Mackenzie for coming out and bringing me some doggy love and great treats (hot tea, cheese soup, coffee, hot chocolate and snacks). You’d be surprised  how many calories you burn when you are running into freezing water and shivering! At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I continue to stuff my face.

Plunging through the night
Some dog visitors enjoyed watching me take a few plunges. I’m pretty sure Jackson the collie wanted to save me from the very large “well.”

It is now just after 6 am and we have completed 21 of 24 plunges. We double dipped at midnight, 2 am, 4 am and 6 am so that we can be done by 9 am. We’ve got to clear our stuff out of the tent by 10 so that it can be ready for the 1000+ plungers starting at noon.

We ran out of propane for the heaters in the tent so it is quite chilly now … makes it hard to warm up after being in the water. Thank goodness there are only 3 plunges left.

Rumor has it that Channel 9 will be out here for the remaining plunges – watch that clip here.

DONE!
Sunrise over the water sure was a welcome sight! We got some new propane tanks hooked up and got heat going again thank goodness. We made an executive decision after our 6 am double dip to do one more double dip at 8 and then a final plunge at 8:30.

I made it through yet another year of 24 plunges in 24 hours … next year will be my 5th anniversary! You’ll be hearing from me toward the end of the year for next year’s plunge! Thank you so much for your support.